Drawing on your experiences in school analyse the contribution that speaking and listening make to children's development in reading and/or writing.

University Degree Education and Teaching

AndreaElizabeth Melling, Adrian Copping 3UD, 2029 words

Drawing on your experiences in school analyse the contribution that speaking and listening make to children’s development in reading and/or writing.

Speaking and listening takes up one third of the National Literacy Strategy’s teaching requirement, therefore it must be seen as an important skill to be taught in the primary classroom. Speaking and listening is also mentioned in the National Curriculum (hereafter NC) as being of “central importance…as the means of teaching and learning both reading and writing” (DfEE/QCA, 1999, pg 11). Therefore, according to the NC there is a contribution made by speaking and listening to a child’s development in reading and writing. The teaching of reading and writing requires children to have good speaking and listening skill as “these underpin all successful writing” (Grugeon et al. 2001, pg 18).

Speaking and listening can take part in both formal settings (turn taking, answering questions, listening to a guest speaker) and informal settings (observation of children speaking with each other and other adults, or listening to their peers). Children taking part in speaking and listening is important in the classroom as good verbal work increases pupils’ understanding of language in both the spoken and written forms, aiding children’s use of language as a way of communication (DfEE, 1998, pg3). Speaking and listening skills are a readymade resource that most children bring with them to the classroom, unlike school made reading and writing resources (Grugeon et al. 2001, pg. Vii), consequently it should be something that is easy to plan and thus encouraged to be an active part of the teaching process in all primary classrooms.

In order for guided reading and writing to take place there must be talk, an “oral exchange” (Grugeon et al. 2001, pg. Vii) between the teacher and the children. When children take part in talk with the teacher and other pupils their language becomes more developed in both their written and verbal forms as they learn about the way language can be used as a way of written and verbal communication through this talk. The teacher has a very important role during guided sessions. On placement I asked questions of the children to prompt them to think about the text we were looking at in order to extend their thinking processes and to encourage discussion. These discussions allowed children to share their ideas with each other, helping build their familiarity and therefore confidence about a text. This confidence was then shown in their writing, as they were eager to start their work and the work level increased.

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I planned for discussions, even if only for a couple of minutes, during the first half of every literacy hour. Discussion is a method of talk that I feel is very important in the classroom, with the children usually very keen to join in and, as motivation is the key for learning, I feel the children benefited from this teaching style. For example; during my second week on placement when I read the book Goodnight Mr Tom with my year 4/5 class I used discussion on several occasions when introducing a new idea to the children (see lesson plan – appendix A). During this lesson I talked about time connectives and how they are used in Goodnight Mr Tom and other historical novels. I then used talk, in this case discussion, to help engage the children in the lesson. I also felt that in this case discussion about time connectives helped the children improve their written work. This is due to the facts that as a class they managed to come up with many more time connectives as a group then they would have done if they had worked individually. This aided the children’s writing as they increased their vocabulary and then they were able to use their newly learn words, with aid of the list we drew up (appendix B), in their written work. In their written work they were asked to look at a paragraph which had time connectives missing and, useing the time connectives that we had discussed, fill in the gaps (see appendix C). This knowledge of time connectives was used again by the children later on in the week, with the talk they had taken part in during that lesson influencing the work they completed (appendix D).

Talk in the primary classroom is essential as it gives children who find it hard to express their words on paper, for example children with Special Educational Needs (hereafter SEN) or English as an Additional language (hereafter EAL), an opportunity to express their views and feelings about a topic. The more children are able to practice their speech, the more confident they will become with the use of language and the easier their speech flows, therefore making it easier for them to write their words down. The more words the children use, the more confident they will become and the larger their vocabulary will be, and as a result they will have a larger number of words to choose from in their written work.

Speech can also help children with their writing through the use of their phonemic awareness. When a child struggled to spell a word I asked them to sound the word out. This allowed them to hear the phonics present in the word and therefore they were able to spell the word successfully in most cases, a direct link between speech and the written word. This type of speaking can be seen as exploratory talk as the children are exploring language by sounding out the words. This also works in reverse; speech can help a child with their reading. When children read a word they can sound the letters out, helping them work out what the word says.

There are different forms of talk that can take place in the classroom for example talk in pairs, talk in groups, and talk with the teacher. Talk amongst children should be allowed, where possible, during a lesson as a child’s imagination can be captured and their understanding collaborated with both other pupils and the teacher (DfES, 2003b, Pg 3). Children can feel too embarrassed to ask a question because they do not want to show the teacher, or other children in the class, that they do not understand. Therefore talk amongst each other is important as children make “meaning through talk, supported by their peers” (Des-Foundation and Howe, 1992, pg 146). Discussion helps them make sense of the new information and the work set so that when they start to write their own work they will fully understand the task. Therefore if talk is allowed then it allows children to help each other and as a result their writing will improve (Grugeon et al. 2001, pg 13). Children can talk freely about their ideas without the constraints of writing, which can be a benefit to children who find writing difficult due to SEN or EAL. Talk is non permanent and consequently children feel less threatened than when asked to write ideas down as it is a permanent record. After discussion they will also feel a lot more confident about what they are writing as they have ‘rehearsed’ with their friends (or even the teacher) first. This is especially true for children who find writing difficult; this could be true for SEN children or children with EAL.

Speech is very important to those children lower down the school, for the use and development of communication is “at the heart of young children’s learning” (DfEE/QCA, 2000, pg 3). These younger children have been ‘talking’ since a very young age, however a written form of communication is new to them. Through talking with children about a text and what they can write about it, they will become confident in their use of words and have an idea of which words to use in their own writing. There is a lot of importance in young children practicing talk, with young children being taught nursery rhymes from a young age. Nursery Rhymes help make children aware of words which they can then use to help predict words when reading.

Drama is a way of introducing speaking, and listening into the classroom. Children learn a lot about feelings and emotions, even children who are usually shy often join in as it helps some children come out of themselves while in role. “Drama provides many opportunities for children to use heritage languages and knowledge of a range of cultures to experiment with styles of speaking” (DfES, 2003a, pg 1). During drama pupils need to interpret what how the author wishes the sentence to be read. Through drama the children can use their voices, and actions, to show what a person is thinking; this knowledge can then be used to inform their own writing. Listening to how somebody performs a sentence demonstrates to a child how to express themselves.

Listening is just as important in helping children develop their reading as it is with their writing. It is important that children listen to other children as well as adults in the classroom. Through listening to talk in the classroom children identify and respond to the many patterns in language, helping them develop their knowledge of phonics and become aware of patterns in the words they use.

Listening is especially important for those who do not have English as their main language as they are being introduced to a language unfamiliar to them. Through listening to the English language while focussing on a text EAL children will become familiarised with concepts and vocabulary that they hear. They can use the phonemic knowledge they already have from their ‘own’ language and use it to help them learn how to spell and read English words. It is important to link work given to EAL pupils with writing, listening, reading and speaking so that developments in one area of the English language can support weaknesses in the other areas. Reading can also aid these children in their speech as writing can provide visual models of the English language (Grugeon et al. 2001, pg 19).

Speech is important in the classroom as when most children start school they are able to communicate through the use of speech. Speech is also important for those who have SEN or EAL as they often find written communication hard. Speech can often be a practice run for what the child is going to write. Speech allows children to become familiar with word and letter sounds, which in turn helps them with their phonetic knowledge. As a result their spellings improved as they sounded out words and used their phonetic awareness to spell the word(s). Listening is important as it aids their reading as they listen to the words and sounds and use these to predict what a word says, with speech also playing a major part. They use their knowledge of words (vocabulary) to predict and read the words. “Talking goes hand in hand with listening, so does writing with reading” (http://www.outerquest.co.uk/oaklands/ prospectus.htm). Listening needs to take part at the same time as speaking, however listening can take part independently, however both influence a child’s reading and writing.

Bibliography

Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), (1998)The National Literacy Strategy. Framework for Teaching, London: DfEE.

Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (1999), The revised National Curriculum for English. London: DfEE/QCA

Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), (2000), Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. London: DfEE/QCA

Des-Foundation and Howe, 1992, ‘Pupils Working together on understanding’, in Norman, K. (ed.) Thinking Voices. The work of the national Oracy project. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Grugeon et al. (2001), Teaching speaking and listening in the primary school (edition 2), London: David Fulton Publishers.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), (2003a), Primary National Strategy: Speaking, Listening, Learning: working with children in Key Stages 1 and 2. Drama – making it work in the classroom. Publisher: DfES/QCA (no place of publication given).

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), (2003b), Primary National Strategy: Speaking, Listening, Learning: working with children in Key Stages 1 and 2. Handbook. Newton: DfES/QCA.