Oracy

5. What helps and hinders oracy in schools?
Research indicates teachers’ engagement with oracy-based activities
can be limited due to:
• Pressure to maintain a fast pace to deliver other outcomes 135
• Insufficient knowledge to confidently model and discuss language
with their pupil 136
• Anxiety about handing control over to pupils, which talk-based
activities can entail 137
Nearly a third of class teachers believe that nothing limits how often
they initiate activities involving talk and only a very small proportion
overall feel oracy-based activities are not effective in supporting pupils’
learning (1%). xxxii On the other hand, lack of time and fears about how
pupils might respond are important barriers to more widespread use
of such activities. These factors are far greater barriers than a lack of
willingness on teachers’ and schools’ part.
Top three factors that can limit
secondary school teachers’
use of talk (n=409):
• There is not time (32%)
• These activities make
shy or quiet pupils feel
uncomfortable (32%)
• These activities can lead
to distraction or disruptive
behaviour (29%)
What limits whether you initiate activities that involve your pupils talking? 562
Not applicable - nothing limits how often I initiate activities that involve
your pupils talking, either with you or with one another
There is not time
31%
31%
These activities make shy or quiet pupils feel uncomfortable
25%
These activities can lead to distraction or disruptive behaviour
21%
My school prioritises pupils producing written work
There is nothing to show for these activities afterwards
These activities are not relevant to external assessments or exams
Pupils do not have the skills they need to undertake these activities
effectively
My subject does not lend itself to these activities
18%
16%
14%
13%
12%
The school leadership team does not encourage such activities
I am nervous about what my collegues would say if they walked into my
lesson during such an activity
Don’t know
Other
These activities are not relevant to the content of our school’s curriculum
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
These activities are not effective in supporting pupils’ learning
There are fewer barriers to initiating talk-based activities in
independent schools. 39% of those working in independent
schools say nothing limits how often they initiate such
activities, whereas this is only true of 29% of respondents
in local authority schools and 27% in academies or free
schools. Interviewees suggest this may be because of the
expectations the parents of independent school pupils
have that their children will leave school able to speak well,
which in turn legitimises teachers’ use of talk in lessons.
56
1%
0% 20%
40%
The prevalence of barriers to talk-based
activities also varies between phases.
35% primary school teachers say nothing
inhibits how often they initiate talk-based
activities, significantly more than the 27%
of their secondary counterparts. Over
half (55%) of Early Years practitioners say
nothing limits the number of talk activities
they initiate.
xxxii
Practitioners were asked what limits their engagement with oracy, defined as ‘the development of children’s capacity to use speech to
express their thoughts and communicate with others in education and in life, and talk through which teaching and learning is mediated’
(based on Alexander, 2012: 10).