Oracy and the Pandemic

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Oracy and the Pandemic

30 July 2021

Practical techniques for improving your students’ communication

The extent of the disruption to the education of children and young people across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic is now surfacing in the classroom. Sometimes it is manifesting itself in behavioural issues, a lack of engagement or an attitude of ‘why should we bother?’.

Responses to our poll paint a devastating picture regarding the pandemic’s impact on pupils’ oracy development. Teachers believe school closures will have a far more negative impact on Pupil Premium pupils than the most affluent. Many teachers feel teaching online negatively impacted upon opportunities to develop pupils’ oracy, with English and languages teachers feeling this most acutely.

The Centre for Education and Youth (Millard et al, 2021)

After such a long period of enforced isolation, a focus on the development of oracy skills can have a profoundly positive impact on student wellbeing, reducing conflict in the classroom, rebuilding strained relationships and reconnecting with others to build purposeful relationships.

After so many remote lessons, where there has been little scope to develop oracy skills, here are some top tips to help you in your classroom and encourage the development of the oracy skills of your students.

Sharing anecdotes

Sharing personal anecdotes builds the bond between student and teacher. Students will be more confident to co-operate and communicate in a class where the teacher/student boundary is not an immovable line.

Anecdotes arouse student interest and establish a friendly atmosphere in the classroom, building a positive rapport, as personal experiences no longer belong only to the individual. Anecdotes boost genuine communication in the classroom – students ask questions for clarification or for extra information – and often give their opinion just as in real-life interactions.

Socratic questioning

Socrates is credited with a method of engaging people in dialogue, which requires deep and critical thought. Given that this is our ambition in the classroom, it is an extremely useful model to build into our day-to-day practice in order to provide the catalyst to encourage classroom communication.

Questions include:

Why do you say that?

Could you explain further?

Could this always be the case?

Could you see this another way?

But if (…) happened, what else might happen?

How does (…) impact (…)?

Why do you think I asked you that question?

Why was that question important?

Ask Why?

Keeping asking the question: why?

While boosting inference skills, further explanation from a student will teach others in the room that might not have fully understood the original response. Explain to your students that you are asking the question not because you think their response is incorrect, rather that you want to understand their thought process and that their explanation will help their classmates to understand in more detail.

Group discussions

Lead classroom discussions as a starter or a plenary in your lesson using prepared questions that focus on life and spark interest. Always follow up with…why?

What winds you up?

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

What would your superpower be?

Would you travel to the past or to the future if you had a time machine?

What film do you think everyone should watch?

What do you spend your money on?

What is your favourite time of day?

This blog was first published by the National Education Union.

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