When polls are conducted on people’s greatest fears public speaking always come out near the top and surveys of employers highlight the quality of young people’s verbal communication skills as one of their key areas of concern. At SCHOOLS NorthEast events and consultations, Head Teachers regularly identify the standard of speaking skills in the classroom and the use of appropriate language by students as an area for development within their schools.
It is perhaps not surprising then that the recent report from the expert panel leading the Government’s curriculum review called for a greater emphasis on oracy in the new national curriculum, due to be introduced in 2014. The expert panel highlighted the need for oracy to become a stronger feature in teaching across the whole school and not solely an issue for the subject of English.
Giving evidence to the panel, Jean Gross, former Government ‘Communication Champion’ emphasised the particular importance of the development of language skills for students in deprived communities, stating “in areas of social deprivation, you have to do extra to develop the language of those pupils. They are disadvantaged compared with articulate peers.” Gross’s evidence demonstrated how at age 6, the gap in reading age between children with good oral language skills and those with poor skills is only a few months. However, by the time they are 14, this gap has widened to a five year difference in reading age. Gross argues that if teachers pay explicit attention to children’s speaking and listening skills they can start to reduce the deficit.
In addition, a major report by the Sutton Trust found that the vocabulary of children from the poorest backgrounds lags more than a year behind that of their classmates from richer homes by the time they start school. The charity called the problem a "tragic indictment of modern society".
In the last few months, many reports and media stories have highlighted the decline in language ability amongst children starting school and the increase in demand for speech and language therapy. Just this week, a new study recommends the introduction of a simple test to identify toddlers struggling with speech before they reach school. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) who compiled the test suggest that by comparing a child's speaking ability against a checklist of 310 basic words, parents can determine whether they are at risk of language-related difficulties that last into adulthood. The researchers found that children who could speak fewer than 50 words on the list at the age of two were more likely to be behind their peers in their vocabulary, grammar and reading ability at 17. According to Prof Rescorla "Children really need to have people talk to them in order for them to acquire a language - not that they don't learn anything from videos and television, but really they need language partners."
To address these problems, many schools have developed innovative activities and projects to encourage language skills in the classroom and beyond. In a pilot programme cited in the TES, the University of Sunderland and TV Presenter (and SCHOOLS NorthEast Commercial Supporter) Kim Inglis took part in a year-long project working with school children to enhance their speaking skills through weather forecasting.
In related news the issue of ‘correct speech’ has been hotly debated this week following reports of a schools banning the use of slang and introducing elocution lessons for pupils. Pupils at Sheffield's Springs Academy have been ordered to stop using slang while at school to improve their job prospects. Teachers introduced the policy to encourage their pupils, aged from 11 to 18, to use only Standard English inside the school gates. The Trust that runs the academy said it wanted children to cut out slang words and phrases such as "hiya" and "cheers" in favour of the more correct "good morning", "goodbye" or "thank you".
And a school in Essex is giving students weekly elocution lessons with a private tutor to improve their writing skills after the primary school’s teachers had found the area’s accent had damaging effect on children’s spelling and grammar. Terri Chudleigh, the school’s literacy co-ordinator, insisted: “This is not about being ashamed of the Essex accent – it’s about helping the children to speak properly so they can improve their reading and writing. They weren’t saying words correctly and were therefore misspelling them. We had lots of youngsters writing ‘sbort’ instead of ‘sport’ and ‘wellw’ instead of ‘well’”
SCHOOLS Northeast would be very interested to hear about your school’s approach to oracy. How do you encourage speaking and listening throughout your school’s curriculum? Do you think that schools in the North East, an area well known for its distinctive accents and dialects, should consider a similar approach to the school in Essex? What innovative methods are in action in your school and what help would you like to improve the speaking skills of your students? Let us know your views think@schoolsnortheast.com
