Transcript Oracy and the English Classroom 4 File

Oracy and the English
Classroom
Aims
• To consider the importance of speaking and
listening in the classroom
• To consider what makes for effective exploratory
talk
• To explore a range of ways to organise group
talk
Objectives
• Know a range of ways to organise group talk for
different activities/purposes
Oracy Session
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The importance of oracy
Exploratory talk
Good and bad speakers and listeners
Group structures and sizes
Recent developments around oracy
The Importance of Oracy
• On your table briefly brainstorm as many
reasons as you can to answer the
question:
• ‘Why is speaking and listening important in
the classroom?’
Ways in which oracy is important in the
learning process
• Helps students to acquire new knowledge, concepts and
understandings
• Helps students form and revise their view of the world
• Helps students gain insight into others’ perceptions,
ideas and opinions
• Provides an opportunity to try out theories and new ideas
• Provides opportunities to collaborate with others in the
formulation of new insights
• Offers opportunities to interact with others and develop
personal relationships
• Helps students come to terms with their emotions and
feelings
• Helps students explore their individuality in the context of
a social group
Insights from the Work of Vygotsky
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The relationship between thought and language
Language as a tool for thought
The Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding
“The implications of these ideas for pedagogy are, or
course, enormous. If speech in childhood lays the
foundations of a lifetime of thinking, how can we
continue to prize a quiet classroom?”
• Vygotsky’s contribution to pedagogical theory,
James Britton in Brindley, Teaching English
Exploratory Talk
“Exploratory talk is that in which partners engage
critically but constructively with each other’s ideas.
Relevant information is offered for joint
consideration…..
“Knowledge is made publicly accountable and
reasoning is visible in talk….
“It is an effective way of using language to think the
process of education should ensure that every child
is aware of its value and able to use it effectively.
“However, observational research evidence
suggests that very little of it naturally occurs in
classrooms when children work together in groups.”
Neil Mercer, Words and Minds (2000)
The Importance of Group Talk
• Choose one person in the group to be the
observer
• Remaining members of the group read the
statements in the envelope
• Using the statements, and your group’s own
ideas draft a statement under the title ‘The
Importance of Group Talk in English’. This
should be no more than 3 sentences.
• During the exercise, the observer must note talk
behaviours, but not participate.
What Does a Good Talker and Listener Do?
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Shows sensitivity to others
Makes eye contact
Uses good body language
Sometimes shows willingness to change opinions
Has a sense of self-esteem
Shows confidence in self and others
Doesn’t dominate
Supports speakers with comments and questions
Avoids big chunks of delivery
Shows interest/enjoyment
Interrupts rarely and carefully
Makes tentative comments
Good and Bad listeners- generated by a Year 3
class following role play
• Bad listeners
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Look around
Ignore the speaker
Make faces
Start talking to someone else
Interrupt
Look at their watch
Daydream
Roll their eyes
…..and the speaker feels….
-cross
-angry
-unpopular
-irritated
-like hitting the listener
Good Listeners
-say ‘Cor!’ ‘Yeah’ ‘Really?’
-nod
-get close
-agree
-look closely at the speaker
-are very interested
-Laugh in a friendly way
….and the speaker feels…..
-very pleased
-important
-popular
-happy
-successful
Golden Rules for Effective
Groupwork
• Given the work we’ve done on effective
talk and group sizes and structures, agree
on your table on a list of 5 golden rules
you should follow as a teacher to ensure
that effective group talk happens
Group Structures
• Pairs – talk partners, easy to organise, quick
• Pairs to fours- a quick way to compare ideas
• Snowball- pairs to fours to eights, etc…. A useful way to
organise whole class debate and discussion
• Envoys- one member of each group is sent out to find
information from other groups. Less troublesome that
completely rearranging groups
• Rainbow- students work in groups on a topic, and then
form new groups (e.g. numbered) to share ideas
• Jigsaw- expert groups work on a particular area, new
groups formed containing an expert from each group to
share information. Original groups reform to discuss
ideas
The Teacher as Talker
• Should provide models
• Should sometimes be explicit about what
she is doing
• Should use questions skillfully
• Should not be afraid of areas of ignorance
• Should take care to listen carefully
Questioning
• Should be seen as a key method of
differentiation
• Should be seen as a useful tool to assess
learning and reveal misconceptions
• Questioning models how experienced
learners seek meaning
• Questions should be planned to lead
students from unsorted knowledge to
organised understanding, helping them to
structure thinking
Questioning – Things to be careful about
• Overuse of closed, particularly one word
answers and questions that don’t need thinking
about
• Use of pseudo-open questions (where the
teacher has a pre-determined answer)
• Not giving students time to think and rehearse
answers
• Always taking answers from ‘hands-up’
• Handling wrong answers
• Rephrasing or repeating students responses
• Going off at tangents
• Questions that are too open