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��Session 1 – Supporting all pupils to access the curriculum – developing high-quality oral language

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Session overview

You can support pupils’ literacy development whichever phase or subject you are teaching. To support you to do this, in this session you will explore:

The importance of high-quality oral language
Teaching vocabulary

Developing language in Early Years
Developing language in Primary and Secondary settings

Approximate session length: 45 minutes

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The importance of high-quality oral language

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqxZ_8d2oc&feature=emb_title

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.

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The importance of high-quality oral language

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

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Teaching vocabulary

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.

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Which words do you need to model and teach?

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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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ9qciOOtuw&feature=emb_title

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Developing language in Early Years

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)

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.

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Developing language in Early Years

Sustained Shared Thinking

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?’

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Sustained shared thinking in action

Watch the video and observe how the teacher uses the following;

tuning in
showing genuine interest
asking children to elaborate
recapping
giving their own experience
clarifying ideas
using encouragement to extend thinking
suggesting
reminding asking open questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91BSUnDYlvM&feature=emb_title

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Activity

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. An adult 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.

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

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Activity feedback

The adult 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.

The adult 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.

The adult 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.

The adult 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).

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Developing language in Primary

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.

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Morphology

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

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.

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Teaching vocabulary in practice

There are many ways that vocabulary can be explicitly and implicitly taught. Watch the videos to see this in practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZB9Rx5Upv4&feature=emb_title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odEsJ4VOUvE&feature=emb_title

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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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umJqMRbwiLQ&feature=emb_title

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Activity

Think carefully about a topic you are teaching or are about to teach. 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

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