English- Spoken Language and Oracy
'Oracy refers to the skills involved in using spoken language to communicate effectively.' (Cambridge University)
‘Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.’ (Voice21)
Curriculum Intent
At Our Lady’s, we believe that spoken language and oracy are fundamental to pupils’ success both in school and in later life. Oracy — the ability to articulate ideas, listen actively and engage thoughtfully with others — underpins learning across the entire curriculum and supports pupils’ personal, social and academic development.
Our oracy curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils develop the confidence, vocabulary and communication skills needed to express themselves clearly in a range of contexts. From the early years through to Year 6, pupils are supported to speak in full sentences, justify their opinions, ask purposeful questions and adapt their language for different audiences and purposes. Oracy is embedded throughout classroom practice so that pupils regularly engage in discussion, collaborative talk, presentation and performance.
We aim for all pupils to leave primary school as confident communicators who can listen respectfully, contribute thoughtfully and use spoken language effectively in both formal and informal situations.
Implementation
Oracy is taught explicitly and implicitly across all areas of school life. Teachers model high-quality spoken language, sentence structures and vocabulary so that pupils hear and practise ambitious language daily. Structured talk opportunities are planned into lessons, including partner talk, group discussion, debates, storytelling and presentations.
Classrooms promote purposeful talk through the use of talk partners, questioning frameworks and sentence stems that support pupils to explain their thinking and build on the ideas of others. Vocabulary development is prioritised so that pupils can communicate ideas with increasing precision and confidence. Assemblies, class discussions and cross-curricular learning provide regular opportunities for pupils to rehearse and refine their spoken language skills in meaningful contexts.
Inclusion & Adaptive Teaching
Our oracy curriculum is fully inclusive and designed so that every child can participate and succeed. Teaching is adapted to meet individual communication needs and reduce barriers to participation.
Adaptive strategies may include:
Visual prompts, cue cards and sentence starters
Pre-teaching of key vocabulary
Small-group rehearsal before whole-class speaking
Additional thinking time before responses
Alternative ways to participate such as paired talk or recorded speech
Targeted adult or peer support to build confidence
These approaches ensure that pupils with SEND, speech and language needs, or lower confidence levels are supported to develop their voice and communication skills in a safe and encouraging environment. As pupils grow in confidence, scaffolds are gradually reduced to promote independence.
Enrichment
Oracy and spoken language are enriched through a wide range of experiences that give pupils authentic opportunities to perform, present and communicate beyond everyday lessons. These may include:
School assemblies where pupils share learning or lead worship
Nativity performances and seasonal productions
Class assemblies and class performances
Whole-school performing arts shows
Drama workshops and role-play activities
Poetry recitals and storytelling events
Debates and pupil voice groups such as School Council
Reading aloud opportunities and paired reading
Visits, visitors and themed celebration days
Transition performances or collaborative projects with other year groups
These experiences allow pupils to practise public speaking, develop stage presence, build self-esteem and recognise the importance of clear communication in real-life contexts.
Impact
The impact of our oracy curriculum is evident in pupils who communicate with growing confidence, clarity and respect for others. Pupils develop the ability to listen attentively, articulate ideas in full sentences and justify their thinking using appropriate vocabulary. They become increasingly comfortable speaking in front of different audiences and participating in discussions across the curriculum.
Pupil voice, classroom observations and performance opportunities demonstrate clear progression in confidence, vocabulary and communication skills as pupils move through the school. By the end of primary school, pupils are equipped with the spoken language skills needed to succeed in the next stage of their education and to engage positively with the wider world.
What is Oracy?
Oracy is a combination of learning to talk, learning about talk and learning through talk. This means that children will be taught
specific speaking and listening skills and that talk will be used as a central part of their learning across the curriculum. Learning through talk will be visible in all subjects in school from PSHE to Maths and PE to Writing.
What is Spoken Language?
The national curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.
Why does Oracy matter?
Oracy improves children’s outcomes in all areas of learning. It also fosters wellbeing and confidence enabling all children to have a voice and to be heard.
Oracy equips children with the skills they need in their lives beyond school and to be active members of the community
Who does Oracy help?
Oracy is for everyone. We know that children’s confidence and skills in Oracy vary and our teaching will enable all children to make progress. We are working alongside our speech and language therapist to ensure children with additional speech and language needs can benefit from a quality Oracy education. Children will be supported and challenged to become confident and skilled speakers and listeners.
What does Oracy look like in the classroom?
The Oracy framework helps define the skills that are needed to communicate effectively. They are broken down into physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional skills.
We are developing two main types of talk. Exploratory talk which involves participating in high quality discussions and Presentational talk where children share formed ideas with a range of audiences.
All classes have a set of agreed discussion guidelines. They are learning about different talk roles and how to actively participate in group and class discussions.
In class this might look like:
- Talk partner work including talk tasks Discussion tasks
- Use of ‘My turn, your turn’
- Clear vocabulary identified in all lessons with definitions taught
- Use of sentence stems
- Vocabulary and sentence stems displayed and referred to on working walls.
- Staff modelling and repeating expected sentence structures
- Role play and drama tasks Visual aids
The Oracy Framework
This is what we use to focus on teaching the composite parts of oracy. The oracy framework is split into 4 strands: physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional.
These posters are displayed in classrooms to communicate the Oracy Framework to our children:
We have broken the 4 strands down into progressive steps for EYFS, KS1 and KS2.
In FS1, we develop the children’s talk through all teacher led sessions giving feedback and regularly reminding the children of how to be a good talker focusing our feedback on the focus skill.
In FS2, we develop the children’s talk through all teacher led sessions giving feedback and regularly reminding the children of how to be a good talker focusing our feedback on the focus skill. In addition to this all children engage in a formal oracy small group session to develop their talking capabilities.
In Y1 to Y6 each week all children work on a skill selected from one of the strands during a 20minute weekly session.
Spoken Language National Curriculum
The National Curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing. Teachers should therefore ensure the continual development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills.
Pupils should develop a capacity to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions. Pupils should also be taught to understand and use the conventions for discussion and debate.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
- Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
- Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
- Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
- Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
- Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
- Speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English, participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play,
- Improvisations and debates
- Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
- Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
- Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication
Here at Our Lady’s we have taken the 12 National Curriculum statements and devised a progression document from FS1-Y6. The statements have been linked to the four oracy strands.
The teaching and implementation of the Spoken Language curriculum at Our Lady’s Primary School is based on the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum; it is supported by ensuring a well-structured approach. The spoken language skills are taught in all areas of the curriculum using the 'Voice 21 Oracy Framework' (See above).
English Writing Curriculum
Our Writing curriculum acknowledges the significant role spoken language plays in a child's overall development. It is designed to help children build both confidence and competence in speaking and listening. At Our Lady's, we recognise the importance of setting spoken language objectives within our English units. Throughout English lessons, children will be given numerous opportunities to demonstrate and develop their spoken language skills, enabling them to express ideas clearly and engage effectively in discussions. For more information, please refer to the document below, which outlines the specific spoken language outcomes for each class.
What can parents and carers do to support children to develop their oracy skills at home?
Talk about their day…and yours!
The tried and tested ‘What did you do today?’ often yields a disappointing ‘I can’t remember.’ So, find different ways to talk about what your child has been up to. Eating your evening meal as a family is a great way to encourage conversation – definitely no screens on! Older children are often more chatty in the car, where they feel less like they are being interrogated.
Read aloud to your child
Reading aloud, particularly with texts that are well beyond the age that they can read for themselves, combines the benefits of talking, listening and storytelling within one activity. This helps children to build their vocabulary, learn to express their thoughts and understand the structure of language.
Ask questions
Ask your child questions about what they say and encourage them to ask you questions too! Having regular conversations with your child in your home language is also very valuable in terms of developing your child’s oracy skills so please do not worry if your first language is not English.
Phone a friend
Persuade your child to move away from simply WhatsApping friends or relatives and develop their speaking skills by making an actual phone call. Encourage them to speak to different family members on the phone or on a video call and, again, this can be done in your home language. It’s all about building confidence as a speaker.
Play Games
Here are some games you can play at home:
