One of the most interesting ideas from today was oracy: not simply getting children to talk more, but deliberately teaching them how to speak, listen, reason and communicate.
I think my simplest definition is that oracy is both learning to talk and learning through talk. Voice 21 breaks this down into four areas: physical skills such as pace and projection; linguistic skills such as vocabulary; cognitive skills such as reasoning and organising ideas; and social and emotional skills such as listening, turn-taking and responding to others.
This matters because spoken language is deeply connected with learning. The EEF finds that oral-language approaches have a strong evidence base, particularly for reading comprehension, and can be especially useful for disadvantaged pupils. The current Ofsted school inspection toolkit also explicitly asks whether pupils are taught to communicate effectively through spoken language — using the word “oracy” — and gives particular attention to opportunities for pupils learning English as an additional language to talk with staff and peers.
What I liked most about the session, though, was how ordinary oracy can look.
It might be think–pair–share, followed by cold calling. It might be asking “What do you see, think and wonder?” about an image. Children might debate which character from a book would make the best Prime Minister or dinner guest; argue about the odd one out when several answers could be justified; or work in trios where two pupils discuss something while the third observes their listening and communication.
I particularly liked the idea of active listening, where pupils know they will have to report back what their partner said rather than simply waiting for their own turn to speak. Another possibility is a one-minute monologue in which a pupil has to retrieve and explain something they have just learned.
There are interesting connections here with retrieval practice too. Kate Jones’ retrieval grids, for example, can include think–pair–share and feedback after pupils have first attempted to retrieve something independently.
Making the rules together
Another idea I want to take into my own classroom is the co-creation of discussion rules. Rather than simply presenting pupils with a finished list, I could ask them what helps a conversation feel fair, thoughtful and safe — and what makes it harder.
The class might agree expectations such as listening to understand, building on another person’s point, giving people time to think, disagreeing with an idea rather than a person, and making room for quieter voices.
Making these rules together could give pupils a clearer sense that talk is something we are responsible for collectively. The rules would not just sit on a display: they could become a shared reference point before a discussion, and something we return to afterwards when reflecting on how well we communicated.
The caution I am left with is that more talk does not automatically mean better learning. As Robin Alexander’s work on dialogic teaching makes clear, the quality and purpose of classroom talk matters.
So perhaps the question is not simply, “How can I get children talking?”