S10 E10: How language skills shape reading success, with Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and MaryKate DeSantis

Susan Lambert is joined by emeritus professor of psychology and education and the University of Oxford, Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and founder of Left Side Strong LLC, MaryKate DeSantis. They dive into the critial connection between oral language development and reading comprehension. They also explore exactly what oral language development is, how to screen children for deficits in oral language abilities, and the most effective strategies educators can use for intervention. Show notes: Submit your comprehension questions! Access free resources on our companion professional learning page . Connect with Charles on LinkedIn . Learn more about Charles . Connect with MaryKate on LinkedIn . Learn more about Left Side Strong LLC . Listen to our episode with Wesley Hoover, Ph.D. Listen to our episode with Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D. Listen to our episode with Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D. Listen to Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast . Join our Facebook group . Read Book Language: What It Is, How Children Can “Get It” . Connect with Susan Lambert . Quotes: "Language comprehension is really what leads us to reading comprehension." —MaryKate DeSantis "We talk about learning to read, but we also need to talk about reading to learn. A lot of what we learn in our lives is through reading, and reading is certainly a powerful drive of vocabulary and language development." —Charles Hulme, D.Phil. "Language skills are unconstrained, meaning the sky's the limit. As long as you continue to engage in any sort of way, your language skills can continue to develop throughout your lifetime." —Susan Lambert Timestamps* : 00:00 How language skills shape reading success 06:00 Defining reading comprehension 08:00 Reading is language. Without language, there would be no reading. 12:00 Importance of language skills for comprehension 16:00 Our main purpose in life is to communicate with others 21:00 Development of language skills 23:00 Moving the needle on literacy achievement 28:00 How students can help develop students' language capacity 31:00 Screening to assess oral language skills 35:00 Why early language instruction is effective and sustainable 39:00 Key takeaways 41:00 Focusing on language is worth the time 43:00 Closing thoughts *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

You can listen to S10 E10: How language skills shape reading success, with Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and MaryKate DeSantis online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

S10 E10: How language skills shape reading success, with Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and MaryKate DeSantis is an episode from Science of Reading: The Podcast by Amplify Education.

This episode is 45:16 long.

This episode was published on Jan 28, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Science of Reading: The Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.