Communication Literacy
Literacy Doesn't Stop at Reading. Neither Should We.
The Global Literacy Framework gives IMSE something most competitors don't have — a comprehensive, research-grounded vision of what literacy actually looks like across all its domains. But right now, the Communication Literacy piece is incomplete. We've built the foundation, and the opportunity in front of us is to finish what we started. By developing async courses in Oral Language and Syntax alongside the existing framework, IMSE doesn't just fill a gap — it builds out the entire Communication Literacy domain and establishes what a gold standard for global literacy looks like in practice. And here's the strategic play: when Communication Literacy is complete, it becomes IMSE's signature focal point. It's the thing no one else has built this comprehensively, and it positions IMSE as the authority on the full scope of how language works — not just phonics, not just decoding, but the whole picture.
Oral Language+
The Foundation Hiding in Plain Sight.
Oral language is the foundation that every other literacy skill is built on — and it's the one most programs skip right over. Kids can't comprehend what they read if they don't have the vocabulary, the background knowledge, or the sentence-level understanding to make meaning from spoken language first. And yet, most literacy training treats oral language like a warm-up activity instead of a core instructional domain. An async course in oral language gives IMSE the chance to change that narrative. This course would ground educators in the research — how oral language develops, why it predicts reading outcomes more reliably than almost any other early indicator, and what high-quality oral language instruction actually looks like in a classroom (not just "turn and talk" and call it a day). Building this out doesn't just add another product to the catalog. It fills the most foundational gap in the Communication Literacy domain and sends a clear signal that IMSE understands literacy starts before a child ever picks up a book.
Syntax+
The Missing Layer Between Vocabulary and Comprehension.
If oral language is the foundation, syntax is the architecture. It's how words get organized into sentences that carry meaning — and it's one of the most undertaught, underappreciated areas in literacy instruction. Most educators can tell you what a noun is, but far fewer can explain how sentence structure affects comprehension, why syntactically complex texts trip students up, or what to do about it instructionally. That's a problem, because syntax is a major driver of reading comprehension — especially as text complexity increases in the upper grades. An async course in syntax would give educators a practical, research-based understanding of how English sentence structure works and why it matters for reading and writing. This is the kind of content that most literacy programs don't touch because it's hard to make accessible. But that's exactly the opportunity. If IMSE can make syntax instruction clear, practical, and usable for teachers, it owns a space nobody else is filling. Pair it with the oral language course and the existing framework, and you've got a complete Communication Literacy domain that's unlike anything else on the market.
