Teachers know that reading and writing don’t happen in a vacuum.
Long before a child can read a word on a page, they are already learning the music of language — how words sound, how sentences fit together, and how stories carry meaning.
That’s why understanding the difference between language and literacy is essential for every teacher of English, as well as Spanish, Mandarin, and all other languages.
Language comes first.
Children learn to understand and express ideas long before they learn to read or write. They experiment with sounds, play with words, and listen to stories that shape how they think about the world. This oral foundation—built through listening and speaking—is what allows reading and writing to make sense later on. Without understanding what words mean, sounding them out on a page has little purpose.
Literacy builds on language.
Reading and writing are not new skills separate from language—they are extensions of it. Literacy turns spoken language into symbols on a page. Each letter, character, or word is a visual representation of meaning that children already know through speech. The stronger their internal language system, the easier it is for them to connect print to meaning.
Without strong oral language, literacy stalls.
Many students can “sound out” words — or recognize them in print at a surprisingly young age — but they often still struggle to understand what they read. This is because decoding alone isn’t comprehension. Without a deep oral vocabulary and an understanding of sentence structure, students can’t fully grasp complex texts. Fluency without meaning is like singing a song in a language you don’t understand.
With rich language experiences, literacy will thrive.
When children hear, use, and play with language in meaningful ways, they build the mental models that reading and writing depend on. Conversation, storytelling, and listening to complex texts give learners the words, patterns, and ideas they need to comprehend what they later encounter in print. In every language, literacy flourishes where language is strong.
Language is at the Core of StoryWorld.
That’s why StoryWorld’s program begins with language — spoken, heard, and understood — in every story. Whether students are learning in English, Spanish, or Mandarin, they first experience each story through rich oral language, with audio support and visual context that make meaning come alive. Then, literacy skills grow from that foundation with extended work in reading and writing.
By supporting language first, StoryWorld helps students build a strong and enduring foundation for literacy. Because when children understand the stories they hear, they can soon read, write, extend their knowledge, and eventually write their own!
Cynthia Harrison Barbera
Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International. She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.