“Effective Talk for Learning : Developing Oracy in Literacy, Mathematics and Beyond’’

Literacy MattersChildren in Scotland Conference 5th June 2015

David ReedyPresident United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA)Co- DirectorCambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT)

Focus of session What does research say about talk and

learning? Examples of classroom discourse which

demonstrate key practical features that lead to deeper learning

To consider the understandings that teachers need when they talk with pupils to develop spoken language and promote deeper learning

Talk is centrally important

‘Language is the essential condition of knowing, the process by which experience becomes knowledge.’ M.A.K.Halliday (1993)

‘Knowledge is developed in the discourse between people doing things together’ Gordon Wells (1999)

‘It is in the talk between teacher and pupil that education is done or fails to be done’ Edwards and Neil Mercer (1987)

Nothing To Be Afraid Of!In pairs read the two versions aloud.nsider: What is similar? What is different in terms of the teacher’s talk

and the pupils learning? What does the teacher do which makes the talk

more challenging/effective in version 2?

Culture and Pedagogy: international comparisons in primary education

©2000 Robin Alexander

Blackwell

Teachers need to know about:

The repertoire of teaching talk and its application

Five kinds of teaching talk: The repertoire

1. Rote (teacher-class)2. Recitation (teacher-class, teacher-group or

teacher-individual)3. Instruction/exposition (teacher-class, teacher-

group or teacher-individual)4. Discussion (teacher-class, teacher-group, pupil-

pupil) 5. Scaffolded dialogue (teacher-class, teacher-

group, teacher-pupil, or pupil-pupil)

What do we mean by dialogue?

In monologue, classroom talk is closely controlled by the teacher, with the aim of transmitting knowledge which students are required to remember. Dialogically organised instruction, on the other hand, is based on a different kind of relationship between teacher and students, in which students are asked to think, not simply to remember.

i.e. teaching which treats students not as empty vessels to be filled with received wisdom by the teacher, but as competent thinkers in their own right.

‘Conversations with cognitive challenge’

Based on the work of Robin Alexander

Principles and characteristics of dialogic talk Achieving common understanding through structured

and cumulative questioning and discussion. There may, or may not, be a right answer but justification and explanation are sought.

Pupils’ thinking is challenged and so understanding is enhanced. The teacher is likely to share several exchanges with a particular child several times in order to move the thinking on.

The pupil’s response is the fulcrum of the exchange.

Robin Alexander (2000)

Martyn Nystrand: ‘Discourse moves’ ‘ the most common purpose for classroom discourse was to recall and

display assigned information to report on what was already known.’( 2006 p.139)

… even though there is a strong and statistically significant association between student achievement and the extent to which classroom discourse moved away from recitation to classroom discourse that recruited and highlighted student ideas and voices as indicated by :

the teacher asks more authentic questions, the teacher responds to the content of the pupil’s answer when

replying (‘uptake’) pupils have opportunities to ask questions, there is time devoted to discussion

Transcript discussion

Group dynamic Examples of student-student support Teacher identifies herself as one of ‘us’

Mathematical talk and understanding Key words independently

used in context Explicit realisation of

interconnections / other methods

• What do you notice about the teacher and pupil talk? • What effect does it have on student understanding?

Ground rules, structures in place Students listen, and build

on each other’s thinking Teacher gives opportunity

for a challenge

Transcript discussion Here are the teacher’s questions from the

transcript: I need 150g of butter to make one cake. How much

butter will I need to make 4 cakes? How do you know it’s multiply?OK, let’s seeOK, which method have you used there? Good. Can we find an alternative method? Good. Can we find an alternative method? Do we agree or does anyone want to challenge?

What (authentic) question might the teacher ask next?

What is effective about this series of questions?

Which of Nystrand’s ‘discourse moves’ are present?o the teacher asks authentic questions,o the teacher responds to the content of the

pupil’s answer when replying (‘uptake’)o pupils have opportunities to ask questions,o there is time devoted to discussion

‘What ultimately counts is the extent to which teaching requires students to think, not just report someone else’s thinking’ Nystrand 1997

Sustained Shared Thinking

‘two or more individuals ‘work together in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend thinking’

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project (2005)

Sustained Shared Thinking 1.Context: Group of nursery children and practitioner are looking at various items floating on water.

Boy: Look at the fir cone. There’s air coming out.

Practitioner: It’s spinning around.

Boy: That’s cos its got air in it.

Practitioner picks up the cone and shows the children how the scales go round the cone in a spiral, turning the fir cone around with a winding action.

SST 1 (Cont.)

Practitioner: When the air comes out in bubbles it makes the fir cone spin around.

Girl uses a plastic tube to blow in the water.Girl: Look bubbles.Practitioner: What are you putting into the water to

make bubbles? What’s coming out of the tube?Girl: Air.

Some talk in an OPEN FORUM

Reception Observing snails In the outdoor area, five snails have been

placed on a large tray with compost, cabbage, etc. While the children talk, they wash the shells with water. Discussion has already touched on what snails eat and the describing of different parts of a snail’s body.

GRACE: Do they grow eggs?

TEACHER: That’s a really interesting question. Does anyone know the answer to that?

CHAMIQUE: I KNOW! They grow eggs.. They.. They… They… Baby eggs – they small because sometimes the eggs are small and sometimes they big for crocodiles and they are small for, for, for

GRACE: They are small for lions

CHAMIQUE: No, SMALL. They are small for snails. A little one can come out. A baby one… In the ground

TEACHER: You’re right. Snails do lay eggs in the compost, then they grow into snails.

CHAMIQUE: (TO GRACE) I’m correct, so you’re not correct

TEACHER: Lions have baby cubs, don’t they?

GROUP: YEAH!

TEACHER: They don’t lay eggs in the ground, though – like snails and crocodiles, do they?

GROUP: No!

TEACHER: Where do the cubs grow then?

CHAMIQUE: I know. The baby lion grow in a cottage. A great big cottage. They grow in a house, where their mums and dads live.

TEACHER: Do you think so? What about before they were born?

THREE CHILDREN in unison: Oh! They’re born!

SAMMY (whispering): They come out of their tummy…

THREE CHILDREN: Yes! … That’s right! …

CHAMIQUE: It comes out of their tummy.

GRACE: It comes out of the tummy and then that… and then that…

BILLY: It comes out of the tummy!

TEACHER: It comes out of the lion mummy’s tummy.

GRACE: My mummy had a baby and then it came out.

TEACHER: That’s right. When the baby grows and is born as a baby it is called a mammal

CHILDREN: Mammals, mammals…

Examples of talk: Sustained shared thinking planning practical contexts that give rise

to thoughtful responses If it is worth doing/thinking about then

pupils will be interested to listen to each other’s ideas

Pupils talk is the fulcrum: we have to listen to what they say to have proper conversations!

The basic processPreliminary StepKnow your stuff!Step one: Getting goingPlan learning objectives and ask questions/set problems/plan engaging contexts to initiate and focus the talkStep two: respondingRespond to children's answers in a way that challenges thinking and deepens understandingStep three: consolidate and deepenPlan follow up activities that consolidate and deepen the collective learning

Getting the talk going

Some simple maths starting points

Make a statement

99 is the closest number to 100

Is this always, sometimes, or never true?

Following up the children’s responses

Talk Science http://inquiryproject.terc.edu/

Goals For Productive Discussion1. Help individual students share, expand

and clarify their own thinking

2. Help students listen carefully to one another

3. Help Students deepen their reasoning

4. Help students think with others.

Starting points: a short self evaluation checklist for teacher reflection Did your opening question/comment give rise to

thoughtful extended answers rather than simple recall? Did pupils have an opportunity to discuss in

pairs/small/large groups? Did pupils have an opportunity to formulate and ask

questions? Did you respond to pupils’ answer and build

conversations over 2 or more exchanges? Where your responses a mixture of questions,

comments and statements, some of which were designed to challenge thinking?

Did the pupils’ talk show that their thinking had moved on?

Discussing transcripts and reflecting on teaching and learning

What evidence is there that the child has learned something?

How could I have moved learning on more effectively? What would have been a better thing to have said at xx

point? What will be the next step for me in my classroom?

To summarise

Effective talk occurs when the teacher:

Knows what she wants pupils to learn (but is flexible!);

Plans a context that is worth engaging with; Asks genuine questions which do not merely

ask children to guess what they are thinking or recall simple and predictable facts;

Expects pupils to provide extended, thoughtful answers,

Gives pupils time to formulate ideas, views and questions through small and large group discussion;

To summarise Effective talk occurs when the teacher: (cont.) Shows pupils what they expect. Provides models of the

patterns of language and helps pupils to work together productively;

Expects pupils to speak clearly and audibly and doesn’t repeat the pupil’s answers;

Listens and responds to the content of the pupils answer, building a dialogue rather than closing it off;

Varies their responses to what pupils say; debates and tells pupils things rather than just asking questions.