‘Thunk’ Oracy ‘All too often we have seen an over emphasis on group work – in practice children chatting to each other… to quote the great American president Lyndon B Johnson - ‘you aren’t learning anything when you’re talking’ Gove, 2013 What are your thoughts on talk in the classroom? When does it work? When does it not?

The decline of Oracy National Oracy Project replaced by ‘Literacy Hour’ 1990s ‘Now write about it’ – ‘Folk’ Pedagogy Spoken Language now unweighted Teacher-led pedagogy Nick Gibb – Minister for School Standards ‘teacher focus is turned away from ensuring all pupils are taught the core of academic knowledge that they need, and instead teachers attempt to inculcate creativity and problem-solving as if these skills transcend domains of knowledge.’

Dialogic Teaching - Rationale Child-centred pedagogy A false dichotomy (Barbara Bleiman, English and Media Centre) ‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk’ Not only does this improve life chances for all students long term, it also improves the metacognitive reasoning necessary to learn at all. (Alexander, 2017). Learning is a social process – talk is the mediator. ‘Talk’ scaffolds and enables the process of learning (Bruner, 1978). Language should be used as tool to stimulate the subsequent development of a variety of highly complex internal processes in children’s thinking.

Oracy - Dialogic Teaching Dialogical teaching is: - Collective: Learning tasks are addressed together, either as a group or a class. - Reciprocal: Teachers and children listen to one another and share alternative viewpoints. - Supportive: Children are free to articulate ideas without fear of incorrect answers. - Cumulative: Ideas and developed and ‘chained into particular ways of thinking and enquiring’. - Purposeful: Teacher guides talk to meet a particular goal. Note: All types of talk are valid. A dialogical approach will sometimes involve sharing knowledge didactically and is never ‘guess what’s in the teacher’s head’. Rather, discussion moves basic knowledge forward - reasoning and dialogue underpin everything.

Types of Talk - Mercer & Alexander Talk in the classroom: Disputational talk in which… • There is a lot of disagreement and everyone just makes their own decisions. • There are few attempts to pool resources, or to offer constructive criticism. • There are often a lot of interactions of the 'Yes it is! – No it's not!' kind. • The atmosphere is competitive rather than co-operative. Cumulative talk, in which… • Everyone simply accepts and agrees with what other people say. • Children do use talk to share knowledge, but they do so in an uncritical way. • Children repeat and elaborate each other's ideas, but they don't evaluate them carefully. Exploratory talk, in which… • everyone listens actively • people ask questions • people share relevant information • ideas may be challenged • reasons are given for challenges • contributions build on what has gone before • everyone is encouraged to contribute • ideas and opinions treated with respect • there is an atmosphere of trust • there is a sense of shared purpose • the group seeks agreement for joint decisions Oscar and Carl – 1minute – 2 minute Girls `:`17 Which type of talk?

Common ‘mistakes?’ When planning group work? When talking to/questioning the class?

Common ‘mistakes’ Too short wait time Only hearing from the most able/likeable students Paraphrasing things students say Hearing what you want to hear Not pushing student’ answers forward Teacher always leading discussions Repetitive IRE sequences (Teacher Initiate, Student Respond, Teacher Evaluate) Students not ‘trained’ in group work. E.g. stock phrases, targets, roles etc.

Effective Classroom Talk – Top 10 Toolkit 1. PPG or FSM Focus – students from different backgrounds experience different types of questions or talk at home (Bernstein, 1972). That is not to say that one is better but that some may be excluded from the ‘middle class’ code of school. 2. Explicitly teach vocabulary – Students from low income families hear half as many words by the age of 3 – Hart & Risley 1996) E.g. discourse markers (Furthermore, However etc). 3.Ask authentic questions – Why use that word? How does this topic relate to that topic? 4. Ensure students NEED to work together during group work 5. Start with an IRE sequence to test basic understanding but move beyond this. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a good place to start. E.g Evaluate 6. With lower attaining/SEN students share YOUR internal dialogue and reasoning. E.g. I first spot this key word which reminds me that the topic is… I know I need to use a statistic at this point. I ask myself… 7. Accept that a noisy classroom can be a sign of learning. Talk sometimes may meander but allow conversations to develop naturally (as with adults!) 8. Explicitly train your students in ‘talk’. Share with them the criteria of ‘exploratory talk’ and assign question types, thinking hats, roles etc. to structure group work for lower attainers. 9. When possible assess through talk to break the ‘now let’s write about it’. 10 Practise!