‘All learning across the whole curriculum, could be said to begin and end with speaking and listening. It would be almost impossible to introduce any new topic or revise an old one without some form of questioning or discussion by the teacher or children.’ (p. 64 in Grugeon et al. (2001) Teaching Speaking and Listening in the Primary School)
This entry concentrates on speaking and listening in the classroom. I have begun with a quotation from Grugeon et al. because they remind us of the central place of oracy in all learning. What is written here is best read in conjunction with the entries on language acquisition and language and thought, where you will find some analysis of the theoretical contributions of the developmentalists Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner and the socio-linguistic perspective of M.A.K. Halliday.
In the classroom, it is helpful to keep in mind that speaking and listening have three main aspects: social, cognitive and linguistic. These elements are present in all episodes of speaking and listening, but often one dominates. A teacher may aim to stress the social aspect by encouraging children to take turns in putting their points and listening to each other. On another occasion the cognitive function of talk might be uppermost, if for example children are hypothesising, summarising points, inferring or referring back to previous points. The linguistic element is always present, but comes to the fore when teachers encourage children to rephrase to make their meaning clearer or to show flexibility in their language use according to context.
We must also remember the teacher’s use of language is of great importance. Not only have instructions to be clear and intervention helpful – sometimes the teacher has to sharpen the focus with a question or comment – the teacher also provides a model of mature language use. It is the teacher’s role to create contexts where children will feel comfortable and able to contribute. The teacher’s own ability to tell anecdotes and stories is of great value.
Planning for speaking and listening
Children use their speaking and listening abilities in every lesson. In English much talk centres round children learning to read and write, responding to literature and creating roles and incidents in drama. Story telling is an ability worth nurturing as it is a source of great enjoyment and satisfaction and helps children develop a sense of characterisation, pace and sequencing of events. Evaluation of all that they do is achieved through discussion. Although teachers often work within official frameworks there are some general planning questions which will always be helpful. The following planning diagram is adapted from that in Teaching Talking and Learning by Kate Norman (1990).
1.
What do you want the children to learn?
2.
What are the stages in the activity and the time scale?
3.
What is the role of speaking and listening in the learning?
4.
Is the work to be done collaboratively?
5.
What kinds of groupings (issues of special needs, gender and young learners of English as an additional language to be considered here)?
6.
What resources are needed?
7.
If the work is in groups how will the reporting back to an audience be organised?
8.
How will the children’s evaluation of what has been achieved be built into the work?
9.
How will I record the work?
The Early Learning Goals
These are objectives children are expected to meet by the end of the foundation stage in the UK (3–6 years). As far as speaking and listening is concerned: by age six years children should be able to: enjoy listening to and using spoken (and written) language, using it in their play and learning; explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts; listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, poems and so on and make up their own; use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences; talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events; sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard by relevant comments, questions or actions; interact with others and take turns in conversations; extend their vocabulary and retell narratives drawing on the language patterns of stories; speak clearly and audibly with confidence and show awareness of the listener; hear and say initial and final sounds in words, and short vowel sounds within words; link sounds to letters and name and sound the letters of the alphabet.
The National Curriculum
The Year 2000 National Curriculum English Programmes divide En 1 (and En 2 and En 3) into two parts: knowledge, skills and under-standing; breadth of study. At Key Stage 1, teachers help children to build on the early learning goals in supporting children’s development as clear, confident speakers and thoughtful listeners, aware of the needs of others in the group and of their audience. Language is used in imaginative ways to express feelings as well as thoughts in class and group discussion as well as in drama and role play. Children learn to use some of the main features of spoken standard English and about language variation according to context and audience. At Key Stage 2 they progress to in speaking in a wide range of contexts with increasing sensitivity to purpose and audience. They take up a variety of roles as speakers and listeners in class and group contexts and think about the language used as well as the content and sense of what is said. Progress is made in becoming able to use different ways to summarise main points, reviewing what has been said, clarifying, drawing others in, considering alternatives and anticipating consequences. Teachers help children gain further control over standard English and to go deeper into how language varies between standard and dialect forms and between spoken and written language. Drama activities are important in giving the opportunity for children to create different roles and to use dramatic techniques to explore characters and issues.
Framework for literacy and mathematics, 2006
This renewed Framework (replacing the 1998 Literacy Framework) is part of the Primary National Strategy. There are opportunities for speaking and listening, particularly exploratory and presentational talk, within the structure of Literacy Time at Key Stages 1 and 2. Shared text work with the whole class provides a context for exploratory talk about texts and about writing. Focused word and sentence work encourages children to explore patterns in language and to contrast and compare. Group work with and without the teacher is accompanied by talk about texts and about writing tasks while the whole class plenary is a good context for presentational talk to share what particular children or groups have achieved.
Gender issues
Although there are quiet boys and exuberant girls, teachers often find that boys are more dominant in discussion, particularly where activities are organised round technology like the computer. Because boys seem more noisy and demanding – more of a threat to classroom order perhaps – teachers sometimes unwittingly reinforce such behaviour by giving boys more opportunities to participate in discussion. In a much-quoted research study, Swann and Graddol (1988) provide evidence for this. We can use strategies in our planning to achieve more balance: girls can be encouraged to be more assertive by direct invitation of their views and boys can be praised when they interact with other children in a group discussion and listen to contributions. Some teachers set up non-stereotypical role play for younger children’s interactions in the home corner and older children’s role play in drama. It is a matter of making sure that some contexts encourage girls to be more forthcoming while boys are given the chance to ‘engage in activities that will enable them to use the quiet, sensitive, caring aspects of their natures’ (Browne, 1996). The role of talk in helping boys reflect on their reading and writing has a strong emphasis in the QCA and PNS research project Raising Boys’ Achievement, (Warrington et al., 2006) and on the Safford et al. project Boys on the Margin, CLPE, 2004.
Sometimes it is appropriate to make issues about boys’ and girls’ language development explicit by discussing them. Two books which I have used to encourage thoughtful conversation with older primary children are The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp and The Tunnel by Anthony Browne. Literature has a wonderful distancing effect, enabling children to talk about issues without making direct reference to themselves unless of course they want to.
Children learning English as a second or additional language
A young bilingual child’s receptive English may be ahead of his/her productive English and this needs to be kept in mind when talk contexts are planned. Teachers also need to record information about the languages spoken in the child’s home.
Special Educational Needs
Pupils who appear to lack concentration and involvement in small group talk may suffer from a physical disability, for example hearing loss or speech impairment. Visual disability may mean children miss facial expression and gesture which give meaning to what other pupils say. Such pupils need support, possibly by the sympathetic understanding of other pupils who can repeat instructions if necessary. Other children may be reluctant talkers because of lack of confidence. After raising the matter with the child and his or her parents, teachers may place a child with a sympathetic partner so that they feel confident to speak. Sometimes children who are shy are much more forthcoming when they use a puppet allowing them to talk ‘in role’. A Year 6 girl who had literacy difficulties was encouraged to tell stories to younger children using a puppet. She greatly improved her skill and her general self-image as a learner was transformed (see Teaching Talking and Learning in Key Stage 2 by Kate Norman (1990)).
Teaching and learning contexts
Suggestions for developing children’s speaking and listening appear in a number of entries. ‘Drama and English’ introduces the powerful kinds of talk which can accompany improvisation. Entries which consider fiction as a starting point for talk include: ‘Fiction: choosing and using’; Play and Language and Literacy’; and Story telling’. Talk round the computer is discussed in the ‘Information, Communications Technology and English’ entry. I recommend two inspirational books which illuminate examples of classroom talk. They are Gordon Wells’ The Meaning Makers (Hodder & Stoughton, 1986) and Aidan Chambers’ Tell Me (The Thimble Press, 1993).
Assessing and recording progress in speaking and listening
Many otherwise good schools seem to have a problem with assessment. Yet once you have a good system working it becomes part of the teaching and learning cycle. A good approach in my view is systematic, economic of teachers’ and children’s time and worked out and monitored collaboratively within the school. There are two main aspects when we turn to the assessment of speaking and listening: assessment of speaking and listening and assessment through speaking and listening.
Assessment of speaking and listening
This is to do with assessing pupils’ capacity to use the spoken language and their listening skills for different audiences and a variety of purposes. Schools choose or create a format for summarising children’s progress over a period of time; such assessment is formative in that it helps the teacher give help where it is needed. But it can also provide the basis of a summative assessment as it is a record of achievement.
Let us look at the main stages in the learning and assessing cycle. We begin planning for a range of speaking and listening contexts across the whole curriculum. And then we introduce them into the teaching programme. We establish routines for observing and recording the progress of individuals in some different settings. Some teachers use a ring binder file for notes, allocating several pages to each child; others prefer a box file. These notes (and perhaps evidence from photographs, short transcripts or even occasional video-film) can then be summarised, perhaps twice a year, in a useful format. What is a useful format? One which a school constructs collaboratively and which communicates effectively the achievements of each child. Many schools use the speaking and listening part of the Centre for Primary Literacy in Education’s primary language record or a similar system. One of the many strengths of this record is that there is space for the views and observations of the children’s parents. There is also a slot for the child’s own perception of his or her progress. The notes, and the record which summarises them, provide an evidence base which shows us what has been achieved so far and provide useful information about how we might help a particular child to progress further. Thus the assessment of progress feeds into our planning and the next round of teaching. Where a summative assessment is required, the information on the record can be matched with level requirements. In the United Kingdom, primary children’s level of achievement is judged at seven and eleven years according to brief descriptions of six achievement levels in the statutory orders. Class teachers often work with the English/Literacy Co-ordinator or another colleague to establish common standards of comparison. The notes and observations and the summarising record provide rich material to share with parents on open evening.
But so far we have not considered exactly what we are looking for. When observing speaking and listening, three overlapping categories are helpful: social, cognitive and linguistic. Social aspects include the ability to listen to and value what others say as well as making a contribution to the discussion. In the cognitive area we look for a growing ability to use talking to think through and organise ideas and to build on what we have heard others say. Articulation of how children feel about important issues also fits here. Linguistic aspects are to do with becoming able to express ideas and thoughts clearly in appropriate language. But of course all three aspects come into play in most discussions and conversations. If a group of ten year olds are arguing a case, perhaps about how we can preserve the environment, and from time to time summarising their viewpoints they need to draw on their intellectual or cognitive ability to organise the ideas, their social skills to respond to others as well as to attract and keep their attention and their communicative ability to clothe their ideas and feelings in appropriate language. From these three main headings, more detailed lists can be drawn up. For example, under ‘cognitive’ at Key Stage 1 (5–7 year olds) we might include ‘listening to others’ reactions’ and ‘taking different views into account’. At Key Stage 2 (7–11 year olds) we might include giving/ responding to instructions, asking/answering questions, summarising an argument, planning a group activity and responding to a story or poem. Teachers following the National Curriculum often organise the items listed in the orders under the main headings of social, cognitive and linguistic.
We will also need to make sure our observations of the children’s speaking and listening cover different kinds of groupings – whole class, small groups and pairs. Some groupings will place the children in a more formal setting than others.
Assessment through speaking and listening
Here we are concerned with a pupil’s progress in understanding skills and concepts in an area of study. Often we can judge their linguistic development at the same time. The focus of our assessment depends on our purpose at the time. We can judge children’s degree of knowledge and understanding in every lesson by what they say. However, we have to keep in mind that children may know more than they are able to articulate. This is especially the case where children are very young, where the context is unfamiliar and where children are at an early stage in learning English as a second or additional language.
Teachers judge children’s prior knowledge of a subject by helping them organise their ideas through talk before beginning new work. Work on amphibians might begin with the teacher asking if anyone has touched a frog or toad and what the skin felt like. These discussions show a teacher where the children are in relation to the topic and helps inform good planning of how to proceed. This process of listening to what children say as they go about their work contributes throughout the learning and assessing cycle. Both closed questions (those where there is a definite answer) and more open questions (those where several different answers or opinions are welcomed) often encourage children to reveal what they know and where some help is needed, perhaps with a particular concept. Where the emphasis is on sensitive intervention, assessment is of a formative kind and the teacher helps the children by improving their learning opportunities. At the end of a series of lessons teachers often seek evidence about what individual children have learnt by setting up class and group discussions. Here, children often find it satisfying to evaluate their own learning and the quality of the resources they have been using.
A final thought
This entry has had to refer to the speaking and listening requirements in the official frameworks. Over-prescription – the sheer anxiety of meeting termly objectives – can risk sapping the vitality of teachers’ planning and practice. But as good teachers put the requirements into effect they take control and interpret what is set out flexibly and creatively. They insist on keeping talk in a central role in promoting reading and writing. They make time for the kind of discussions that generate excitement and energy, keeping alive what Chris Powling calls ‘the rumour of magic’ in the classroom (Powling, 1998, p. 1).
Browne, Ann (1996) Developing Language and Literacy 3–8 London: Paul Chapman.
Grugeon, Elisabeth, Hubbard, Lorraine, Smith, Carol and Dawes, Lyn (2001, second edition) Teaching Speaking and Listening in the Primary School London: David Fulton (Third Revised Edition, 2005).
Norman, Kate (1990) Teaching Talking and Learning in Key Stage One and Teaching Talking and Learning in Key Stage 2 London: National Curriculum Council and the National Oracy Project. (Although these works have been published some time, they include the insights of many excellent practitioners who took part in the National Oracy Project in Great Britain. They also make a valuable contribution to our understanding of how children can be helped to use spoken language effectively and imaginatively to communicate and learn.)
Powling, C. (1998) Talkback: Antidote to the Worst Excesses of Educational Reform. Reading: University of Reading.
Safford, K., O’ Sullivan, O. and Barrs, M. (2004) Boys on the Margin: Promoting boys’ literacy learning at key stage 2 London: CLPE.
Scottish Committee on Language Arts (1982) Mr Togs the Tailor (although this was written a long time ago it is one of the most inspiring accounts ever written about situating children’s talk, listening and learning in a strong human context).
Swann, J. (1992) Girls, Boys and Language London: Blackwell.
Swann, J. and Graddol, D. (1998) ‘Gender inequalities in classroom talk’, English in Education, 22(1), 48–65.
Warrington, M., Younger, M. and Bearne, E. Raising Boys’ Achievement in Primary Schools Maidenhead: Open University.
This is the complete article, containing 3,193 words
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