ay in Talk is an essential part of anyone’s learning, Goodwin (2011, p56) suggests this when he says “It is a commonplace that talk is fundamental to thinking and learning”. He is not the only person who believes this, according to Mercer and Hodgkinson the best way for children to understand the teaching point is to use classroom talk (Mercer and Hodgkinson, 2008). Throughout the essay I will refer back to Mercer’s three forms of talk, consequent to Barnes’ work these are the 3 types of talk he came up with:
• Exploratory
• Disputational
• Cumulative
(Mercer, 1996 in: Dunne and Peacock, 2012)
Mercer (1996 in Dunne and Peacock, 2012) describes disputational talk as “single word utterances” before moving onto cumulative talk where “ideas are repeated and reinforced”. Finally, exploratory talk is when children reach a stage where they can use “’I think… because…’ to co-construct understanding through their talk”. In reference to the core subjects, one of these forms of talk may be more applicable to the subject than the others. This is something which will be examined further into the essay. Talk in general should be used throughout the primary curriculum. McDonagh and McDonagh say that “talk is also a means by which learning across the curriculum can be developed into understanding” (2009, p9), so they support the idea that talk can be used for learning in all subjects.
For talk to be effective in classrooms there must be a sense of safety and security in the classroom where children don’t feel pressured or judged so that they can air their ideas with no worries. “Open-ended discussions underline the importance of creative thought and applying and linking knowledge and emphasise that there are no right or wrong answers” (Earle and Serret, 2012, p120). This idea of no right or wrong answers is supported by what I have seen on placement. My class teacher has created an environment where the children aren’t afraid to give an answer. This means that everyone is involved in the lesson and more importantly, engaged in the lesson, so they are not only coming up with answers themselves, but they are listening to their classmate’s ideas.
Reading and early reading plays a big part in the development of a child’s talk. From when children are read to by their parents to when they read alone, all of this practice and listening to speech helps the children to develop their own. “From the start, reading aloud to children is essential” Goodwin (2011, p5) believes that reading to children from a young age is crucial to their learning, and Gamble (2013, p5) supports her views; “Parental involvement in their child’s reading has been found to be the most important determinant of language and emergent literacy”. The Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, 2009) believes that a child’s academic performance is dependent upon the involvement of the parents. This supports Goodwin and Gamble, but it also suggests that parents are the main factor in their child having a good education. This would be unfair to suggest because there could be motivational issues with the child, or issues in the classroom which no one knows about, such as bullying. Putting so much pressure on the parent could cause them to hinder their child’s learning by pushing them too hard.
This idea about children gaining knowledge and understanding from teachers/parents reading to them can also be found in the National Curriculum where it states “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” (Department for Education, 2013, p13). Essentially, what is being said is that being read to (at any point during childhood) will benefit the individual in terms of their learning. On placement I have been reading with children aged 10/11 and the children who aren’t encouraged to read at home, or who weren’t read to as much as a child are much more apprehensive. They also choose simpler books with more pictures and larger writing and when I ask them about the book, they give a brief overview. Whereas when I talk to one of the more advanced readers they describe the book in detail and are excited about it.
Part of the teacher’s job in a class is to provide opportunities for talk. A single English text can be used to propel talk and activities across the whole curriculum, or as Corden (2000, p79) puts it “a narrative text can provide the initial stimulus”. Guided reading with a class can stimulate all forms of talk in the classroom, “conversations about literature are essential classroom experiences” (Chambers, 1985 cited in Goodwin, 2011, p3). However, a good choice of book is necessary for this to be effective. The book I saw used on placement was Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill. This book is based on real events which interested a lot of the class. During the first lesson the book wasn’t even opened. The children were asked to explore the front cover and back cover then talk with a partner to come up with ideas on what the book could be about. This activity included all of Mercer’s forms of talk. At first, the children simply said their ideas, so this relates to disputational talk where ideas are piled on top of each other with no explanation or reasoning. The teacher then realised that this was happening, so she prompted them to explain why they thought this. This lead to everyone using cumulative talk, reinforcing why they thought what they thought. The higher ability pupils then started to disagree with their partner after their explanations, this was where their exploratory talk was introduced to the activity. Goodwin (2011) believes that this type of lesson filled with talk is the best way to teach literacy.
Despite all of the children being able to talk, Ofsted believes that it should still be taught to the children, “talk happens in all English lessons but it is not always well-structured or taught explicitly” (Ofsted, 2011). Just because children are able to talk, it doesn’t mean that what they are saying is beneficial to their learning. Mercer and Dawes (2008, p58) recognise this when they discuss unproductive talk, “it is not enough to allow pupils the opportunity for discussion while they carry out educational activities. If simply left to their own devices, their talk is often not productive”. Supporting this, Cremin (2009, p15) says that, “teachers need to model exploratory talk, thinking, inter-thinking and show children how to talk in groups”. Cremin’s views are supported by the Ofsted report and would prevent the unproductive talk which Mercer and Dawes refer to. I haven’t seen any talk being taught whilst I’ve been on any of my placements, this could be due to the fact that I’m in upper key stage 2 and the teachers simply expect them to be able to have a discussion which the children learn from. But this view of teaching talk is something that I will take into the class with me when I teach, even if it’s a simple demonstration with the teaching assistant, just to give the children a visual guide of how their talk should look and sound.
“The interaction between teacher and pupil, as well as between the pupils themselves, has a central role in developing understanding and knowledge” (Goodwin, 2011, p56). Goodwin focuses on the talk between pupil and teacher here, but there is no mention of the importance of talk between parent and child. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (as already referred to) would certainly argue their point here as they believe that parents are the main importance in a child’s education (DCSF, 2009). I don’t think that there is one factor which is more important than the other in a child’s education. As long as they get the opportunity for talk in the classroom, at home or with their friends, then they are building up a knowledge base from which they can develop cognitively.
The role of talk is so important in mathematics that Thompson (2003, p56) believes that “many failures of performance in mathematics are due to failures of communication and subsequent failures of understanding”. Raiker supports the importance of talk by saying, “the value of pupil talk is recognised as essential for developing understanding and making connections between mathematical ideas and mathematical skills and procedures” (Raiker, 2002, p57). One way to make the connections that Raiker refers to is to use exploratory talk and questioning throughout the mathematics lessons. As useful as questioning can be as a tool to teach, Thompson (2003, p64) believes that there needs to be different types of questioning; “whole-class question and answer sessions are not enough to develop mathematical understanding”.
IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) exchanges are common in the classroom, the idea of Initiation Response Feedback was suggested by Sinclair and Coulthard in 1975. Firstly, there would be a question by the teacher (the initiation), then an answer by a child (the response) and then there would be feedback from the teacher. “IRF exchanges are mainly, but not necessarily, associated with closed questions” (Mercer and Hodgkinson, 2008, p57). In general, IRF can be described as disputational talk, the responses from the children tend to be single word utterances. Thompson (2003, p57) has noticed this same pattern in classrooms; “the dominant pattern of whole-class talk takes the form of a direct question from the teacher followed by a brief answer from a pupil, with a short evaluative follow-up statement from the teacher”. This form of talk in the classroom isn’t very beneficial to the children and I have seen it on placement. A question is asked to the students, someone answers it and the teacher tells them if it is correct or not. The children don’t gain anything in terms of developing their understanding. This could be vastly improved if the children are asked to explain how they got their answer, or if there is some time for discussion before an answer is given. Wegerif and Dawes (2004, in; Mercer and Hodgkinson, 2008) came up with an alternate to IRF, with the addition of discussion (IDRF). “A discussion element allows pupils to reveal their thinking in a safe forum before presenting them in public” (Mercer and Hodgkinson, 2008, p62). This idea of having a safe environment links back to one of my first points in the essay, but it also develops a preexisting teaching strategy. IDRF (initiation, development, response, feedback) is a questioning technique that I will use in the classroom, but I would add in ‘explanation’ which would come after response so that I can see if they have understood the teaching point, and so that they are explaining their thought process to the rest of the class. This adds exploratory talk into the lesson which will help the children to develop cognitively because they are now explaining their ideas.
The questioning element within lessons relies heavily upon the teacher’s subject knowledge and their ability to come up with questions which will stimulate talk. Myhill, Jones and Hopper (2006, p17) recognise that the teacher’s role is crucial; “whole class teaching draws heavily on the teacher’s skill in questioning”. Witt (2014) also puts an emphasis on the teacher by saying that if they (the teacher) can reason during the explanation, then children will be able to make more sense of their own mathematical learning. When a teacher is explaining a question to the class they are using exploratory talk, they are giving an answer, explaining why they think that, how they got to that answer or if there’s another way of getting to the answer. Exploratory talk is always being demonstrated at the front of the class, but children don’t actually realise this. If their attention was bought towards this, then they would benefit from an ongoing demonstration of it. Earle and Serret (2012) suggest asking questions which will promote the attitudes and characteristics of the students, these can be questions such as ‘what do you think would happen if…?’. This type of questioning prompts the students in the direction of the correct answer, or also known as scaffolding (Bruner, 1986). Taken directly from the National Curriculum, the Department for Education (2013, p100) support the emphasis on mathematical talk by saying; “the quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary and presenting a mathematical justification, argument or proof”. As a teacher I will make sure that there are always opportunities for talk in my mathematics lessons and I will try and demonstrate what exploratory talk will look like so that they can do the same.
Talk is seen throughout the curriculum and isn’t just a way for children to develop cognitively. Earle and Serret (2012) recognise that talk isn’t just a way to learn but it’s an assessment opportunity and a chance to look at the progress of the children in a different way. This assessment feature doesn’t have to be in the core subjects either, children may excel in foundation subjects and they may use more advanced talk in these subjects which they enjoy. Thompson (2003, p64) also recognises that talk can be used to assess children, and he says that the talk doesn’t even have to come in a learning situation; “whole-class games can also increase the range of talk that children use and teachers will benefit from the informal feedback”. This informal feedback can be the basis of assessing a child’s talk ability. This type of assessment can be used once the teacher knows the pupil and what their base level is, then it can be built upon. I haven’t heard of any teachers actually using this as an assessment strategy, but I plan to use it in my classroom as it gives a different view on the children’s progress in school.
“By valuing and making time for talk in science we can enable children to develop higher order thinking skills which can be applied across the curriculum” (Earle and Serret, 2012, p123). Making time for science is essential before making time for talk within it. Science is slowly becoming less important in the curriculum and this could damage children’s talk. There is so much talk necessary in science for children to gain an understanding, but it also helps them to develop their talk. Most of this is done through group discussion which is one of the key forms of talk, especially in science. Dawes and Warwick (2012, p130) explored this idea of group talk and found the importance in group work; “groups generate shared understanding or establish what it is they do not know”. By being in a group, children are able to share their ideas without being judged, but they are also able to listen to one another’s ideas which means that they can build upon their already existing knowledge. However, the key to group work is having the ability to listen as well as talk, Hayes (2012, p100) supports this idea of group work being more than just talking, it improves other skills too; “as children work together, they experience a range of emotions and challenges which have as much to do with learning to get along with one another as with solving problems or exploring ideas”. As good as group work may seem it does have its drawbacks which Hayes (2012, p100) also points out, “quiet children may struggle with transmitting their ideas and relating to others”.