Theory

The importance of high-quality oral language

Speaking and listening are vital skills for pupils to acquire. Not only do they form the foundations for competency in reading and writing, but they are also essential for thinking and communication (Higgins and others, 2015). And while the ability to think and communicate enables pupils to access the curriculum, these areas are also essential for all aspects of life – during, but also importantly, beyond schooling.

In addition, disciplinary literacy recognises that oracy skills are both general and subject specific (EEF, 2019). For example, the ability to respond in full sentences is a general skill, whereas the ability to correctly interpret the word “evaluate” is subject specific. This is because some vocabulary can carry different meanings in different subjects. In English Literature, “evaluate” questions often require pupils to justify their answers with reference to a personal response. Whereas in Physical Education, evaluation could ask pupils to consider the consequences of particular choices relating to diet or exercise.

Therefore, developing pupils’ general and subject specific oracy skills should be a high priority for all teachers. Some ways you can develop these are by requiring pupils to respond to questions in full sentences and by teaching the meaning of vocabulary in the context of your subject.

During lessons, pupils need receptive and expressive language to access the curriculum. Listen to Kelly Challis, from the Driver Youth Trust, talk about the difference between expressive and receptive language, and ways you can develop both in the classroom.

Developing high-quality oral language - Kelly Challis

Video transcript

Having a focus on high-quality oral language in the classroom is developing the foundation of good literacy skills. The first step in developing language skills is to consider your own language in the classroom:

• How accessible is it?
• How much you provide in one go?
• Do you use metaphors, sayings or subject specific vocabulary without explaining the meaning? These are all important questions to consider.

Language can be split into two types: receptive and expressive.

Receptive language helps pupils understand spoken language by enabling them to:

• attend and listen to the speaker
• apply meaning to spoken words
• and understand grammatical markers. Expressive language enables pupils to share their thoughts and feelings by:
• retrieving appropriate vocabulary from their memory stores
• recalling speech sounds and patterns
• and then mentally constructing the sentence according to grammatical rules. To support pupils’ receptive language in the classroom, you should give instructions:
• in small chunks
• in the order you want them completed
• And use prompts such as first, then and lastly. To ensure pupils have understood, you can encourage pupils to repeat back instructions that you have given, whilst listening out for any misunderstanding.

To support pupils’ expressive language in the classroom you should:

• Model and teach high-utility vocabulary
• Model the correct response if the learner has made a grammatical error - pay attention to errors with plurals or tenses
• Model the correct response with sensitivity
• Encourage pupils to respond to questions in full sentences When modelling and teaching vocabulary, you can introduce it by sounding it out and explaining its meaning before using it in a sentence. Plan to discuss unfamiliar terms before reading or writing them and use these terms in a context that the pupils will be familiar with to help them better understand.

Make discussion part of your classroom activity and use as a precursor to written work. During discussion, ensure you model good listening skills as well as oral language. Set the parameters for the discussion before it takes place and scaffold pupils’ responses by provide sentence starters such as,  ‘I would like to raise the point about…’ and the response to that which could be ‘I hear your point but I would like to say…’. By providing stock responses you support pupils to construct a good answer.

When asking pupils to share their ideas, ensure you give pupils time to think and work through a response. I always use the analogy of dropping a feather, rather than a stone, in a puddle, to increase the thinking time I give pupils. To further support pupils who struggle to speak with clarity, consider recording their response for them to listen to. This will help them understand their current use of language which may help to identify where they can improve.

Without high-quality oral language, pupils struggle to access the curriculum. Therefore, every teacher, regardless of subject or phase, should be a teacher of literacy.

As Kelly identifies, both receptive and expressive language enables pupils to access the curriculum. Pupils require receptive language to understand what is being asked of them, and expressive language to communicate their thoughts and ideas, and to demonstrate their learning. You can develop pupils’ vocabulary by:

• Modelling using full sentences to respond to questions and encouraging pupils to do the same
• Implicitly and explicitly teaching vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary

In their guidance report on developing literacy in schools, the Education Endowment Foundation (2017) recognise the importance of both implicitly and explicitly developing language.

Implicit teaching

To implicitly teach vocabulary, the teacher might model using a word when speaking, point it out during shared reading and use it when modelling or completing shared writing activities. Implicit teaching ensures pupils encounter regular repetition of the word, making it more likely that the word will transition into the pupils’ vocabulary.

Explicit teaching

To explicitly teach vocabulary, a teacher would present the word along with explanations and examples of what it means, and then ask pupils to experiment with using the word.

A balanced approach

It is important that you both implicitly and explicitly teach new vocabulary, so that pupils are repeatedly exposed to high-utility and high-frequency vocabulary, in any phase or subject, throughout the school day.

Which words do you need to model and teach?

Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown (2013) have created a helpful model that splits vocabulary into three different categories - Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. These are outlined in the figure below.

‘Tiers of Vocabulary’, adapted from Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown (2013)

What’s the difference between these tiers?

Listen to Kelly Challis explain how each tier is different, and how you might teach them in the classroom. Record notes in your notebook.

Tiers of vocabulary – Kelly Challis

Video transcript

A rich vocabulary not only allows a pupil to communicate effectively, it broadens the reading material they can access and allows them to develop their written work. A concept popular in education is the use of tiered vocabulary, which is the theory from Beck, McKeon and Kucan.

The three tiers are all important but how they are taught and built and when they become a focus in the classroom differ.

Tier 1 are basic high-frequency words. Words like clock, baby, big and small. Most of these words are learnt through speech in Key Stage 1. However, some of these words may continue to challenge a pupil if they are trying to spell them. Therefore, tier 1 words are great taught little and often through one-to-one spelling activities, where appropriate.

Tier 2 words are words which add richness to communication, whether that is verbal or written. Tier 2 words are the ones which we build over years of reading a variety of text, of talking to different people with different experiences. They should be taught directly in the classroom, explored from both a reading and a writing perspective. Tier 2 words cross subjects – they are applicable to many contexts and can be used in both speech and text.

An example of the difference between tier 1 and 2 words would be ‘nice’ to ‘wonderful’ or ‘silly’ to ‘absurd’.

If you are working on a piece of text, it’s the Tier 2 words that should be drawn out of that text before you teach it or read it as a class. This can be done by looking at meanings, finding synonyms of that word, putting it into a context that the pupils are familiar with, before giving examples of when that word is being used in a sentence. During reading, highlight the words which have been pre-taught to draw pupils’ attention to them in context.  You should limit the new vocabulary you teach to 5 words or so a week and revisit them throughout the term to strengthen pupils’ long-term memory of them.

Tier 2 words can also be instruction or command words and these, for older children, are useful to be taught explicitly and identify the differences between them. For example, you should teach pupils what it means to write analytically as opposed to writing a discussion.

Finally, tier 3 words are subject specific. They have a narrow reach when it comes to applying to other subjects. It is important for pupils to understand their meaning and application to the subject. What is less important is being accurate in their spelling, because they can be complex words. For those with literacy difficulties, to understand that word and to apply it in the right context is much more important than spelling it correctly. Tier 3 words are often introduced at the start of a topic, but teachers need to remember to refer back to them throughout the topic in order for them to become embedded in the memory of pupils.

Let’s summarise how to address each tier in it in schools. Tier 1 words, if pupils are still finding these a challenge after Key Stage 1, teach them discreetly and targeted to that particular pupil.  Tier 2 words should be a whole-class activity to explore new vocabulary on a weekly basis. They are great for word walls because they apply to lots of different subjects. If they are used in a word wall, they should be supported by strategies of how to break those words down and how to write them. And finally, tier 3 words are subject specific so should change when the topic changes. They should be highlighted in text and if they are part of a worksheet these words should be given as a scaffold to pupils with literacy difficulties to remind them to use them and reduce the anxiety of having to spell them.

How can you develop pupils’ language?

There are a variety of ways that you might develop pupils’ language, and this is likely to vary depending on the age range you are teaching. Click on the most relevant link below to explore ways you can develop pupil language in the classroom.

Early Years

Primary and Secondary

Developing language in Early Years

It is important that you provide high-quality interactions to pupils to support their language development.

This can be done through strategies which engage pupils in discussion about the activities they are completing, or experiences they are having. There is a distinction here between talking with pupils and talking at them (EEF, 2018). Talking at pupils tends to be more passive, while talking with pupils is more interactive; it’s the interaction that is important for language development, because it gives pupils the opportunity to practise their speaking skills.

There are a variety of different frameworks that can be used as a guide to support you when interacting with pupils during everyday activities, such as Sustained Shared Thinking (EEF, 2018). This framework enables teachers to expose pupils to Tier 1 and 2 language.

Sustained Shared Thinking

Sustained Shared Thinking is when two or more people work together to solve a problem, clarify an issue, evaluate activities, or extend a narrative (Siraj-Blatchford and others, 2004). During a task, the pupil(s) contribute their ideas and the teacher aims to extend and develop their thinking further by (EEF, 2018):

• tuning in – listening carefully to what is being said and observing what the child is doing
• showing genuine interest – giving whole attention, eye contact, smiling and nodding
• asking children to elaborate – ‘I really want to know more about this’
• recapping – ‘So you think that…’
• giving their own experience – ‘I like to listen to music when cooking at home’
• clarifying ideas – ‘So you think we should wear coats in case it rains?’
• using encouragement to extend thinking – ‘You have thought really hard about your tower, but what can you do next?’
• suggesting – ‘You might want to try doing it like this’
• reminding – ‘Don’t forget that you said we should wear coats in case it rains’
• asking open questions – ‘How did you?’, ‘Why does this…?’, ‘What happens next?’

Sustained shared thinking - Early Years at Reach Academy If you require an audio description over the video, please watch this version: Sustained shared thinking - Early Years at Reach Academy [AD]

Through these strategies, you can probe pupils to engage in conversation about the activities they are doing, which in turn develops their language. When doing this, it is also helpful to model using full sentences to respond to questions and encourage pupils to do the same.

Implementing Sustained Shared Thinking

Now you are going to apply elements of Sustained Shared Thinking to a scripted interaction. In this activity, we ask that you focus on specific elements of Sustained Shared Thinking, which are outlined below.

Read the script of an interaction between a teacher (Saima) and a pupil (Pedro) that has taken place whilst the pupil built a tower block. Extend or amend Saima’s comments to include the following elements of Sustained Shared Thinking:

• clarify ideas
• use encouragement to extend thinking
• suggest ideas
• ask open questions
• encourage pupils to respond in full sentences (although not included in Sustained Shared Thinking, this is a good way to develop pupils’ language)

Record what you would say in order to do this in your notebook. You will share and discuss your response with your mentor in your next meeting.

Scenario: building a tower block

Pedro emptied the box of building blocks and sat down. He began to gather blocks and stack them on top of each other. Saima sat down next to him and began to observe what he was doing.

Pedro placed a small cube on the floor and then picked up a 3D semi-circle and balanced this on top. He then picked up another larger cube and tried to place this on top, but it fell down.

Saima said, “Oh no, it fell down!”

Pedro began to build the tower again. He picked up the large cube this time and then placed the 3D semi-circle on top. He picked up a cuboid and tried to place this on top of the semi-circle, but the blocks fell down.

Saima said, “Oh no, it fell down again.”

Pedro said, “I use this one now.”

This time Pedro started with the 3D semi-circle at the bottom and tried to place a cuboid on top. He did it carefully so that it balanced.

Saima said, “Wow, that’s balancing.”

Pedro then placed another cube on top which stayed, and then another. He then reached for a large cube and placed this on top, but the tower fell.

Saima said, “Oh no – silly big block. It made the tower fall down.”

What could Saima have said to:

• clarify ideas
• use encouragement to extend the pupil’s thinking
• suggest ideas
• ask open questions
• encourage the pupil to respond in full sentences. Although not included in Sustained Shared Thinking, this is a good way to develop pupils’ language

Extend or amend Saima’s comments and record them in your notebook.

Feedback

There are many ways Saima could have clarified ideas, extended Pedro’s thinking, suggested ideas, asked open questions or encouraged the use of full sentences. Below is one example of how this could have been done, which you can compare to your own.

Pedro emptied the box of building blocks and sat down. He began to gather blocks and stack them on top of each other. Saima sat down next to him and began to observe what he was doing.

Pedro placed a small cube on the floor and then picked up a 3D semi-circle and balanced this on top. He then picked up another larger cube and tried to place this on top, but it fell.

Saima said, “Oh no, it fell down! Why do you think it fell down?” (open question) ... “What could you try next time to stop this?” (extending thinking).

Pedro began to build the tower again. He picked up the large cube this time and then placed the 3D semi-circle on top. He picked up a cuboid and tried to place this on top of the 3D semi-circle, but the blocks fell down.

Saima said, “Oh no, it fell down again.” Pedro said, “I use this one now” “So, you want to start with the curved shape at the bottom to see if the tower remains standing?” (Clarifying question).

This time Pedro started with the 3D semi-circle shape at the bottom and tried to place a cuboid on top. He did it carefully so that it balanced.

Saima said, “Wow, that’s balancing”

Pedro then placed another cube on top which stayed, and then another. He then reached for a large cube and placed this on top, but the tower fell.

Saima said, "Oh no – silly big block. It made the tower fall down."

“That was a great try! Why don’t you try starting with a shape that has flat surfaces, like this one?” (Suggesting). “Which one would be best to put on next?” (Extending thinking).

Summary

Sustained Shared Thinking is a powerful framework to use to develop pupils’ early language. When done well, it exposes pupils to high-utility language and extends their thinking. In your next mentor meeting, you will discuss your response with your mentor and practise using Sustained Shared Thinking.

Developing language in Primary and Secondary settings

Vocabulary in the English language is extremely complex; one word can carry many meanings which are context and subject specific. For example, the word ‘prime’ in Maths has a different meaning to the word ‘prime’ in English, which is why developing pupils’ disciplinary literacy is incredibly important. Pupils need to be explicitly taught the meaning of words in different contexts and subject disciplines. Therefore, every teacher is responsible for developing pupils’ literacy, including the teaching of vocabulary. This can be done by ensuring pupils have the opportunity to learn new words and explore ways to use familiar words in new contexts.

Vocabulary should be taught to pupils both implicitly, through modelling high-quality oral language, and explicitly, via the direct teaching of new words.

When explicitly teaching new words, it is important that you do so in a meaningful way. If you provide pupils with a long list of words without attaching meaning to them, they are unlikely to understand or use those terms at a later stage (Quigley, 2019). Instead, to make words more memorable, you should help pupils to attach meaning to them. This can be done in many ways, but this session will focus on teaching the morphology (parts) and etymology (origins) of words.

Morphology

Morphology is the study of the structure and parts of words. Words can be broken down into their parts (morphemes) and each carries a meaning. By asking pupils to study morphemes, you can help them to attach meaning to abstract words.

The common morphemes pupils will learn about are:

• root: the primary part of a word which conveys most of a word’s meaning
• prefix: a morpheme added before the root of a word
• suffix: a morpheme added after the root of a word

Teaching pupils the meaning of different roots, suffixes and prefixes enables them to expand their vocabulary repertoire significantly. They will also develop an understanding of word-building, which they can apply to other vocabulary. Understanding word building helps pupils to decode unfamiliar words when reading, as they can infer what the word might mean if they understand a part of it, such as the root, prefix or suffix.

In the primary setting, you might teach pupils that the prefix ‘in’ can mean ‘in’, ‘on’ or ‘not’. After teaching this, you might ask pupils to explore the prefix in different words such as, ‘inject’, ‘influx’ and ‘insane’.

This develops pupils’ receptive and expressive language, as they gain an understanding of what the prefix ‘in’ means and how to use it in their own speech.

In the Secondary setting, you might combine morphology with etymology.

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the origin of words. Many academic, subject-specific words have Latin or Greek origins (Nagy and Townsend, 2012). Pupils may find them trickier to understand as they are less frequently encountered in everyday language. You can teach these abstract words by helping pupils to attach meaning to them. This can be done by teaching the origins of their constituent morphemes. The example below helps to illustrate this.

Example:

To help pupils understand what photosynthesis means, you might teach them the morphology (photo-syn-thesis) and etymology (light-with-setting) of the word:

Figure 2: ‘The morphology of Photosynthesis’, taken from

Teaching vocabulary in practice

When teaching any vocabulary, it is helpful to ensure that it is related to the topic that pupils are learning about (Teaching and Learning Toolkit, 2015). Teaching word meanings at the start of a topic and revisiting them throughout means pupils are more likely to comprehend the content being taught during lessons. It also means they are regularly exposed to the vocabulary throughout the topic, making it more memorable. They can hear it being used in context and have multiple opportunities to apply it during speaking and listing, reading, and writing.

There are many ways that vocabulary can be explicitly and implicitly taught. Choose one of the videos below to watch this in practice:

Teaching vocabulary - Early Years at Reach Academy If you require an audio description over the video, please watch this version: Teaching vocabulary - Early Years at Reach Academy AD[]

Teaching vocabulary - Primary at Reach Academy If you require an audio description over the video, please watch this version: Teaching vocabulary - Primary at Reach Academy [AD]

Teaching vocabulary - Secondary at Reach Academy If you require an audio description over the video, please watch this version: Teaching vocabulary - Secondary at Reach Academy [AD]

Application to practice

Identifying key vocabulary to teach, and planning how you will do so, can be tricky. Listen to Liam Milne from St Anthony’s Academy as he discusses his approach to this:

Teaching vocabulary – Liam Milne

Video transcript

Developing language and vocabulary is critical in a pupil’s ability to succeed across the curriculum. English is both a subject in its own right and often the medium for teaching within many lessons. As such, developing language and vocabulary has a profound effect on whether a pupil is able to access all areas of the curriculum. Without developing language and vocabulary in lessons, pupils can struggle to access content and even exam and assessment questions, so it is vital, when considering the impact it may have upon their attainment. In addition, it can give pupils more confidence to discuss topics and consequently deepen their knowledge.

At the beginning of a year I usually have around 30 key terms that my pupils need to learn in order to gain a deep understanding of the topics I teach in a year. I want them to be able to use this vocabulary both during discussions inside and outside of the classroom, and when answering assessed questions.

I stagger the learning and application of these terms over the course of a unit. For example, in year 9 we teach a module on Judaism, so at the beginning this unit, the pupils are presented with 8 key terms which centre around Jewish festivals, rituals and places of worship.

At home, pupils are asked to revise and prepare to be tested on these key terms. Formative testing is used to strengthen recall and assess whether pupils have improved their understanding of the vocabulary. This usually takes the form of a basic quiz where I read the key terms and the pupils write down what they think the definition is.

Once pupils have mastered their knowledge and understanding of the key terms and definitions, I set formative exam questions which assess a pupil’s knowledge on a topic and their ability to apply key terms and definitions in their extended writing. I encourage pupils to use key vocabulary by making the link between using it and their attainment explicit. For example, in our Judaism module, pupils are aware that if they don’t use key Jewish terminology, they are unable to achieve the highest bands and the top marks.

Pupils are given verbal feedback on their exam essays and are encouraged to discuss the feedback given and how it could be implemented in their answers – giving them greater scope to use and apply subject specific terms, therefore building their vocabulary.

‘Learning talk’ is also a powerful tool for building language and vocabulary and is something I regularly build into my lessons. ‘Learning talk’ is when pupils verbalise what they understand about certain terms, topics or issues.  For example, I have, in the past, placed the word ‘Synagogue’ or ‘Bar Mitzvah’ onto the white board and set a timer of three minutes, asking pupils to discuss what they know about these key terms and consider how these words link to their own lives. This gives pupils a chance to explore vocabulary in a safe space where they can share their ideas and learn from their peers, which helps to build their more general and subject specific vocabulary.

Now, think carefully about a topic you are teaching or are about to teach. Choose to identify Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 vocabulary that needs to be taught to support learning.

Tier 2 vocabulary - words that you could expose pupils to as part of a whole-school approach to developing language.

Tier 3 vocabulary - subject specific words that pupils need to be explicitly taught to access the topic being taught.

When trying to identify vocabulary to teach, it is important you consider the topic or material you are teaching. When reviewing the topic or material, try to identify words that:

• Pupils must know in order to understand the key concepts or material they encounter
• Words that are unlikely to be in pupils’ background knowledge
• Words that can’t easily be inferred

It may be helpful to talk to a colleague who has taught the topic or text before and can share their experience with you.

Record the vocabulary in your notebook

You will discuss when and how to teach this with your mentor during your next meeting and will be observed teaching vocabulary in the following mentor meeting.

You can use this example of Tier 1, 2 and 3 vocabulary used in a year four English unit to support you if you wish.