The literature review summaries research findings on the role oral language plays in children’s reading development reported by Taiwanese researchers from 1990 to 2008, including 12 articles published in peer-refereed journals. Mostly based on sectional-comparison research, researchers concluded that, compared with normally developed children, children with limited reading ability or reading difficulties tend to have lower oral language proficiency. Low or medium levels of correlation between oral language and reading can be observed at different grade levels of elementary schools. However, research findings are inconclusive on the aspects of the relationship where the strongest correlation exits and the mechanism under the relationship between the two language abilities at various developmental stages. Suggestions for future research on the relationship between oral language and reading were discussed.