Talk in the primary curriculum: seeking pupil empowerment in current curriculum approaches

Abstract

At the time of writing, primary English education is, once again, at a crossroads. Within the context of a continuing focus on underachievement in writing for key groups of learners and a large body of research, which suggests that classroom talk is a powerful means of improving children's success in all areas of the curriculum including writing, this article considers two current approaches to talk in the primary curriculum – Talk for Writing and Towards Dialogic Teaching. In doing so, it critically analyses these texts through the theoretical lens of education as social reproduction with a view to identifying their ideological assumptions about the purpose of talk in the curriculum. Discussion considers how such assumptions may influence classroom practice and contribute to the teachers’ understanding of the role of oracy within the primary classroom. The article concludes that whilst both texts might suggest a socially reproductive approach to education, both have the potential to empower the learner through the skilful implementation of oracy as the foundation of teaching and learning.

New Literacy for Reading Using ICT

“…In fact, ICTs can help improve overall comprehension, evaluate general perspectives and raise awareness of the value of cooperation and, as a result, the essential quality of individuals and their contributions, «although only» from literary mimesis … which is unlikely to result in capital goods or goods for consumption, neither manufactured nor «useful» tools in the short or long term … Their contribution is deeper, more strategic (Finch, 2012). This is why writing -meant as the written word -and reading are not just about reading itself, but are also felt in oral expression and can result in education based more on dialogue which, in turn, leads to social change (Bignell, 2012).…”

Oracy and cultural capital: the transformative potential of spoken language

“…Some of these norms may not align with what is valued in the school setting, leading to arguments for all students' rights to access the language of power (Delpit, 2006). At the objectified level, despite the fleeting nature of talk, artefacts such as the Oracy Framework (Mercer et al, 2017) and resulting school‐created progression tools codify its accepted hallmarks, while talk‐based curricular materials can both perpetuate and challenge the language conventions of the dominant culture (Bignell, 2013). Finally, while the assessment of talk at qualification level in its own right remains fairly unusual ‐ France's recently‐launched Grand Oral being something of an outlier – success in a job interview could be said to serve the same ‘institutional’, or certification purpose in practice.…”

Comparative analysis of the approach to L1 oracy in Polish and Portuguese early education curricula

“…Dialogic teaching exemplifies a Student-Organized Interaction. It is based on five principles: collectivity (teachers and children engage in learning tasks together), reciprocity (teachers and children are both speakers and listeners), support (children are encouraged to voice their ideas and negotiate meanings with other students), cumulation (teachers and children expand each other's ideas into comprehensible lines of thinking and inquiry), and purposeful-ness (teachers implement dialogic teaching with a particular educational goal in mind) (Alexander, 2008, as cited in: Alexander, 2010Bignell, 2012;Jones, 2010).…”