Oral language development is also vital to literacy development. Students can predict meaning in picture books read to them by looking at the illustrations and discussing how the images compliment the text. When teachers and parents read aloud they model strategies for responding to literature, teach lessons on literary techniques, broaden students' reading interest and build appreciation of the language and sounds of literature. Reading aloud is valuable at all grade levels. Memorizing poetry or dialogue from plays and stories can engage students in listening closely to the sounds and rhythmic sequences of words.
Young children delight in making a poem their own by committing it to memory.
Rhyming is regarded as one of the earliest phonemic awareness skills. Phonemic awareness is the recognition and understanding of sounds in spoken words.