ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews research on the extent to which first-language oral proficiency is related to the development of literacy skills in English. Research on children learning to read in their first language has shown that word-level reading skills are linked to phonological processing, but only marginally related to oral proficiency skills. In contrast, both phonological processing and oral proficiency skills have been implicated in reading comprehension. It is important to examine whether the same relationships hold between first-language oral proficiency skills and second-language literacy development.
