Oral Proficiency and ESL

Q.  How is oral proficiency useful in ESL learning?

A. Oral proficiency is important in learning English, but is often overlooked in instruction. RA Grant, et al. Reading Research Quarterly  (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 599.

[Comment: Learning to read in English for native speakers of English means identifying the words in their listening and speaking vocabulary and matching them with the same words in print. Unfortunately, ESL students are not proficient in oral English. They can learn to say the words, but they will have difficulty in understanding them, particularly  with idioms. Use the DRA or Directed Reading Assignment to achieve ESL proficiency in oral English and academic language. Adjust the DRA by using discussion with each step. DRA: Build background on topic. Survey--Title, sub-titles, first pragraph, first sentence of each paragraph, last paragraph--set purpose for reading. RayS.]