Which statement best reflects the relationship between oral-language development and reading comprehension?

• A. Having multiple, varied opportunities to interact with oral language will positively affect reading comprehension.
• B. Weakness in phonological awareness is generally unrelated to future reading comprehension.
• C. Reading comprehension develops independently of oral language.
• D. Decoding skills alone determine reading comprehension.

Answer: (A)

Strong oral-language development supports reading comprehension because it builds the word knowledge, sentence understanding, and discourse skills readers rely on to make meaning of texts. When students hear and use language in varied ways—conversations, stories, explanations—they expand their vocabulary, learn how sentences relate to each other, and develop the ability to infer, predict, summarize, and monitor understanding while reading. All of these language-based abilities help readers map print to meaning, making comprehension smoother and more accurate.

Consider that phonological awareness is connected to decoding and early reading success, so saying it’s unrelated misses a part of the picture about how language skills support reading. And decoding alone doesn’t guarantee comprehension, since understanding written text also depends on vocabulary, background knowledge, and the ability to interpret and connect ideas.