CEC CPD Journal 2021

Laura Burnett - The Impact of Oracy on Writing The teaching of English covers a plethora of topics and skills that are inextricably linked to communication.

Whether students are tasked with writing an analytical paragraph on the presence of deceit in Macbeth, a persuasive letter on an inspirational figure or a short story, students ultimately need to be able to coherently deliver quite complex ideas in writing and communicate these with confidence. A retrospective glance at the purpose and aims of English from the national curriculum, reaffirms the importance of communication in the subject: ‘we must teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through and their reading and listening, others can communicate with them.’ (DfE, 2014) So often in my teaching practice, I see that pupils’ ability to ‘communicate’ with others is somewhat hindered and restricted by confidence. A student feels they know what to say, but cannot say it for fear of being incorrect or because they simply lack the vocabulary to express themselves. As discussed in Dialogic Teaching (Alexander, 2008) exercises for talk form an essential part of ‘empowering students for lifelong learning and democratic engagement’- a process by which confidence is grown in a ‘collaborative and supportive’ way.

Over the course of this year, I have positioned oracy and purposeful talk in the classroom at the forefront of my practice in a bid to help students avoid becoming ‘disenfranchised’ (DfE, 2014) by an inability to speak and write ‘fluently and confidently.’ Opening up the classroom as a ‘safe space’ with myself as an ‘orchestrator’ of discussion (Barrs and Cork, 2002, p.76). As research and findings from School 21 has shown, schools which place oracy at the ‘heart of its provision’ find that pupils ‘reach standards in the top of all schools nationally, at primary and secondary’ with particular benefits for those from ‘disadvantaged backgrounds.’ (Myatt, 2020, p.147). The benefits of planned and strategic discussion for analytical reading and writing have been clear, but this is something I often neglect when it comes to preparing students for creative writing tasks. To what extent can verbal discussion and communication develop students’ confidence in approaching imaginative writing? Underpinned by the research and resources from School 21, I will explore this idea and refer largely to Back on Track, Fewer things, greater depth and The Reader in the Writer (aimed largely at key stage 2 learners, but with some highly transferable findings for the secondary environment) to consider the purpose of ‘high quality talk’ (Myatt, 2020, p.147) in the imaginative process.

Mary Myatt’s Back on Track takes a post-pandemic look at the education sector, posing the idea of doing fewer things really well. Myatt refers to oracy and the importance of stories and story-telling throughout the text, asserting that ‘high quality talk, and its twin, listening, underpins reading and writing’ (Myatt, 2020, p.147). In approaching more creative tasks, I often notice that students, across year groups, approach imaginative writing with an immense amount of enthusiasm. It is hard to quantify exactly why this is the case.

Perhaps students enjoy the flexibility the process of creative writing provides and the chance to exude a sense of their own personality in their work. As Myatt suggests, perhaps because it is ‘enjoyable […] it doesn’t feel like work’ (Myatt, 2020, p.64). It is always exciting to see students relishing the creative process and I frequently encourage pupils to bring their own personal experiences and worlds to their writing, whether it may be gaming, a hobby or a personal story of their own. As Myatt suggests, ‘we need to be fed. We cannot create something out of nothing. We need stimuli. We need ideas…the idea that everything needs to spring from inside us, without food or nourishment, does not hold true.’ (Myatt, 2020, p.61). As with analytical writing, I often provide students with loose writing frames and vocabulary mats containing keywords to help students write with ambitious vocabulary and develop their use of semantic fields. However, this can be a prescriptive approach and isolates students from their own individual imaginations – limiting ‘children’s confidence in taking control of the writing’ (Barrs and Cork, 2002, p.76). Students, particularly in key stage 3, often say ‘can I change this so that...? Is it okay if I write it like this…? Do I have to use these words in my writing…?’ Students want to write, but wish to use their imaginations and inspirations to guide them. This is their response and I realise that I do not often gives students enough time to discuss their imaginative ideas with the ‘nourishment’ they need. Myatt proposes that ‘it is through talk that our ideas become concrete’ (Myatt, 2020, p.147) and that by allowing students the chance to communicate their ideas, they will 232