Oracy

Our Oracy policy has been developed as a result of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service's (EMAS) year long training on the Development of Oracy with the Institute of Education. As facilitators of the language acquisition of English as Additional Language (EAL) pupils we cannot stress the development of oracy enough. If children are to be proficient in the English language, we have to provide opportunities to use it orally. Only in this way can it be internalised and embedded.

The Oracy strategies acquired on this course have been adapted and taken one step further by the EMAS team. They have been developed within the context of the curriculum being delivered in our schools across all Key Stages and presented in a book form. They have been tried and tested in the classroom.

Often bilingual pupils make only minimal and superficial responses to the demands of subject and classroom. They often participate in class discourse by responding to questions with single words and phrases. Class discourse is inevitably dominated by teacher's talk. We hope the use of these strategies will give pupils opportunities to participate in various forms of interaction in everyday classroom life.

Many of the activities suggested can be used in group work, giving children a role in a group or with the whole class. They provide opportunities for drama and models of using good language features through oral presentations. Some encourage children to make meaning explicit through the task they are given e.g. giving directions or questions followed by questions for exploratory talk. Children get turns at talk, opportunities to perform different functions through talk and take initiatives by investing and extending talk. They offer opportunities for the use of language for different functions by varying the context e.g. discussion and instructional language, i.e. the language of genre. Some tasks can be used as they are, provide a stimulus for adapting the task or prompt the talk before writing, Remember that key visuals are important to give focus to the talk.

As a Service we have measured the learning outcomes of our bilingual target pupils and have found that since our emphasis on oracy, we can see an increased progress in speaking and listening. Using this knowledge, we have developed oracy strategies as exemplified in a booklet to focus on writing outcomes. We expect there to be a tangible improvement in writing as result of oracy activities.

Copies of EMAS Oracy Handbook are available on request from our centre.

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