Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Within educational environments, the importance of talk (interaction through spoken language) is
widely promoted in the belief that it enhances the quality of teaching and learning outcomes across
the curriculum
...
Edwards & Mercer (1987) cited
by Myhill et al
...
In addition, the Primary National Strategy (PNS) states that talk is
both the 'medium of learning and a tool for learning' (DfES, 2003, cited by Myhill et al, 2006, 7),
and puts forward that teachers must manage and promote talk effectively to enhance the quality of
teaching and learning outcomes across the curriculum
...


A survey conducted by the Office For Standards in Education (OFSTED) revealed that the most
successful/outstanding schools gave attention to the development of speaking and listening, offering
time and encouragement to children which shown to have a positive impact on the development of
their reading and writing skills
...
In addition, Corden (2000) believes, the status of talk
in schools must be improved by all members of staff to support the education of pupils
...


Furthermore, in light of this research highlighting the importance of talk within education, this
essay will explain and critically evaluate how talk can be used to enhance the quality of teaching
and learning outcomes across the curriculum
...
Experiences gained from professional practice (School A (Year five and six class)) will
be used to analyse how talk is used to mediate teaching and learning in English, Maths and Science
...


Eke & Lee (2009) explains that Speaking and Listening Policies urge teachers to allow time and
space for children to speak, listen and respond both to the teacher and their peers, as this is crucial
in the production of an effective pedagogy
...

The policy outlines strategies for teaching Speaking and Listening within school, all of which are
aimed at enhancing the reading/writing skills of children from an early age, and to encourage active
learning/thinking throughout the school
...
In such cases children model for each other, increasing learning
exceptionally (Shea, 2011) and provides them with 'access to knowledge and new ways of thinking'
...
Instead, it widens the teaching experience by encouraging children to extended
their thoughts and express any contrasting opinions, extending their learning and preventing both
disputational talk (children interrupting each other) and cumulative talk (children agreeing with
each other to avoid conflict) from taking place
...
This suggests that in classrooms where a variety of talking styles are encouraged,
children are more likely to learn
...
listeners gain the benefit of hearing a
speaker's tentative thought'
...
Rather than simply accepting what they are told, 'opinions are considered before
decisions are made and agreement is sought' (Mercer & Littleton, 2007, 54)
...
As observed during my time in School A, the class

classroom, it is vital for teachers to model how to talk effectively
...
It was also noted that the teacher took less of an authoritative role during
these discussions, and instead participated in a more colloquial manner
...
Teachers
can diagnose the needs of their pupils and develop the subject theme based upon children's
responses during classroom discussions (Jarvela, 2011), enabling pupils to pursue their
understanding through carefully structured lessons
...
By giving children
opportunities to contribute to classroom dialogue, they can explore any limits of their understanding
(Alexander, 2004)
...
In addition to skills for
effective talk required for dialogic teaching, Alexander (2004) states that it also requires
professional engagement with subject matter, suitable classroom organisation/climate, and a
suitable teacher/pupil relationship
...
As Xuesong & Benson (2012) discovered
through research carried out internationally, irregardless to age or nationality, if teachers are too

Both exploratory talk and dialogic teaching are centered around Vygotsky's social constructivist
approach to learning
...
Furthermore,
it was expressed that learning is a collaborative activity and that children develop cognitively in the
context of socialisation and education
...
It is
believed that through help and guidance from the MKO, individuals can achieve their 'full
potential'
...
Vygotsky (1986, 86) defined this as
'the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving
and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance, or in collaborating with more capable peers'
...
The guidance given is temporary and
can be strengthened and removed stage by stage and 'handing the role to the child as (s)he becomes
skilled enough to manage it' (Bruner, 1983, 60)
...
In educational contexts this term could be used to describe teacher intervention, or
guidance given from other peers during lesson time
...
Furthermore, this essay will now establish
the importance of talk across the curriculum and in the classroom, focusing particularly on
Mathematics, English and Science
...
As Myhill (2006) asserts, The National Numeracy Strategy (DfEE 1999) direct
pedagogic attention to interaction within the classroom, and widely promote interactive whole class
teaching
...
This does not mean that teacher talk
is not valued in Mathematics however, because as Khisty & Chval (2002) argue, teacher's talk is
vital in this subject as pupils need to listen to 'mathematically rich' language to develop their
learning
...


During my professional placement at School A, I observed a Mathematics lesson on multiplication
...


Talk was used throughout this lesson as children had the opportunity to discuss the problems that
were shown with their 'talk partner'
...
Rather than arranging children into pairs of similar
ability, the class teacher had carefully selected children of different abilities
...
2012), Rabel & Wooldridge (2011) however discovered that in terms of
talk, mixed ability groups help improve the understanding of mathematical concepts, which as
mentioned previously can often be quite challenging
...
In this case support is provided to the less able child to
determine the appropriate method for the questions that were asked
...
Despite this
being a method to develop children's understanding however, it does not mean that the less able
child is 'actively thinking'
...


This example of talk being used within Mathematics is also an example of exploratory talk, as
children have the opportunity to discuss their preferred method of problem solving
...
Providing that all of the pupils were actively learning, both partners were
collaborating in talk to find the most appropriate method of solving a problem
...
As previously stated,
Mathematics in particular may prove difficult for some, but by offering children with frequent
opportunities to talk about their understanding can make this easier (Smith, 2010)
...
For example, Presland (2007) discovered that less able children
do not learn as well in unstructured environments, and so methods such as exploratory talk where
teaching is less structured or perhaps incoherent may not increase learning
...
As Alexander (2004) states, in dialogic teaching questions are structured to provoke a
thoughtful answer, and so with this type of talk the less able children will benefit
...
Firstly, they were asked to think about the most suitable method of solving the problem,

opportunity to improve their learning and increase confidence in their answer
...


Subsequently, the use of talk in Mathematics allows children to confer ideas with their peers and
gain new knowledge
...
This means that talk in
Mathematics is crucial for every individual to be able to develop their learning further
...
Talk is
therefore an effective tool in Mathematics, providing that it actively involves the learner – as 'pupils
themselves need to talk both within and about the practice of mathematics' (Lee, 2006, 88) to
increase learning
...
Through
investigations and experiments, children make and learn new discoveries and discuss their findings
with others, and for this reason talk is crucial to allow discussions to take place
...
This means that through talk, children will
benefit from discussing their thinking as well as scientific concepts and findings, all of which are

objective for this lesson was to 'investigate the growth of microorganisms'
...
In a
previous lesson, the children were each given a slice of bread and were instructed to put a small
amount of warm water on it
...
Children then
had to make their own predictions of which environment they thought mold would grow best in
...
Each child was then grouped based on a difference in the
amount of mold that had grew on their bread and discuss the place they had left it, along with its
conditions
...


During the first part of this lesson, the teacher carefully arranged children intro groups so that they
could engage in exploratory talk with their peers that had found similar results
...
Members of each group were offering there ideas with others and eventually the
group would come to a shared agreement in terms of which conditions help the growth of mold
...
listeners gain the benefit of hearing a
speaker's tentative thought'
...
It also allows scientific 'abstract
concepts' and scientific language to be modeled to other children (Shea, 2011), an example of
Bandura's Social Learning Theory (SLT)
...
Children
observe people around them behaving in various ways'
...
Children's confidence will also
grow as a result of them understanding scientific language (Shea, 2011), and enable them to fully
participate in group discussions and gain maximum benefit in their learning as a result
...
It was clear that the teachers role was to guide
them using careful questioning, to form a conclusion as a class to discover the most suitable
conditions to speed up the growth of mold
...
Dialogic teaching can be
very useful in science, although exploratory talk may be more common as it is involves scientific
enquiry and children taking learning into their 'own hands'
...
This was evident during this

be able to investigate in Science and learn 'how' and 'why' certain things do/do not happen
...
Future lessons that require children to
answer questions based on their findings may prove to be difficult if children do not understand why
or how something happened
...
It not only allows children to engage in discussions with their peers to aid their scientific
enquiry, it also allows them to understand the 'complex abstract concepts used in Science'
...


Moreover, in a subject such as English it can be argued that talk has the highest potential to enhance
children's learning
...
As OFSTED (2011)
discovered, the use of talk not only enhances a child's speaking and listening skills, but also their
ability to read and write
...

Not only is this important for English, it also teaches children the fundamental skills of using talk
effectively to enhance learning, because as Brigman & Webb (2007) argue, in most cases children
do not have the skills to collaborate effectively during group discussions
...


During my time at School A, I observed an English lesson based on the Non-fiction unit of the
curriculum
...
The intended
learning outcome was for children to use a storyboard to produce a step-by-step plan of a nonfiction story in groups of four
...
For the introductory part of the lesson, the teacher firstly arranged children into groups
of similar ability as this was more convenient due to children already being seated and organised
based on ability
...
The teacher allowed children two
minutes to discuss this with the people in their group before having to discuss this with the rest of
the class
...
In this part of the sessions however, the time given to
children to discuss their ideas with their peers before offering them to the whole class proved to be
very effective
...
After the two minute discussion had
taken place, the next part of the lesson was solely centered around dialogic teaching
...
Along with hints and careful

during the introduction it was irrelevant
...
Thus, enhancing their understanding of the task and enabling them
to offer ideas independently to their group during the main activity
...
Myhill (2006) states that
supporting children to develop ideas for their work helps all children, particularly those with EAL
...


Although grouping the children into groups of similar ability did not hinder the learning taken place
during the first part of this lesson, I feel that this may not have been the most appropriate method of
grouping during the main part of the lesson
...
This was evident when plans were marked as the
work completed by the lower ability group was not coherent and it was apparent that they had not
grasped the concept of what should be included in a beginning/middle/end of a story
...
Through the use of exploratory talk children during this lesson had the opportunity to
discuss any ideas they wished to include in their plan, thus taking learning into their 'own hands'
...


In conclusion, the use of talk within school is crucial for learning outcomes to be enhanced
...
(2006, 7) state, 'talk is one of the materials from
which a child constructs a way of thinking
...
This is because it can develop a
childs speaking/listening, reading and writing skills that are essential across all of the PNC
...
Without children having the fundamental skills needed to allow talk to enhance
learning, disputational and cumiltative talk may occur which often has a minimal effect on a childs
learning
...
As Alexander (2004)
states, effective talk requires professional engagement with subject matter, and suitable classroom
organisation/climate, all of which can be implemented with an effective oral pedagogy
...
listeners gain the benefit of hearing a speaker's
tentative thought'
...
This is why both dialogic teaching and exploratory talk should
be utilised in the classroom as children are given the opportunity to widen their thinking and
learning
...
Through dialogue, teachers can assess children's
understanding and use this to develop future lessons to ensure that all children's educational needs
are met
...
Talk in the primary classroom also includes all
children despite their level of confidence and when utilised effectively promotes active learning
...


References

Alexander, R
...
Cambridge: University Of Cambridge
...
(2004) Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk
...


Arnett, R
...
Oxon:

Brigman, G
...
(2007) Student Success Skills: Impacting Achievement Through Large
And Small Group Work
...
Vol
...
4, pp
...


Bruner, J
...
New York: Norton
...
(2005) Balancing Reading & Language Learning
...


Corden, R
...
Berkshire: Open University Press
...
(2008) The Essential Speaking And Listening: Talk For Learning At Key Stage 2
...

DfE (2012) English: En1 Speaking And Listening
...
gov
...


Accessed 20 January 2013
...
& Lee, J (2009) Using Talk Effectively In The Primary Classroom
...


Green, A
...
Berkshire: Open University Press
...
, Ireson, J
...
, Chaudry, I
...
(2010) Ability Grouping Practices In The
Primary School: A Survery
...
Vol
...
1, pp
...


Development
...
& Chval, K
...
Mathematics Education Research Journal
...
14, No
...
154 – 168
...
(2006) Language For Learning Mathematics
...


Loveless, A
...
Journal Of
Technology And Teacher Education
...
8, No
...
337 – 349
...
& Dawes, L
...
London: SAGE Publications
...
& Hodgkinson, S
...
London: SAGE Publications
...
& Littleton, K
...
Oxon:
Routledge
...
, Jones, S
...
(2006) Talking, Listening, Learning
...


Ofsted
...
[On-line]: UK:
https://www
...
gov
...
pdf
...


Presland, J
...
Learning Styles And CPD
...
10, No
...
179 – 184
...
& Straw, S
...
London: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
...
kenanaonline
...
pdf
...


Rabel, S
...
(2011) Exploratory Talk In Mathematics: What Are The Benefits?
...
Vol
...
1, pp
...


Rivard, L
...
(2000) The Effect Of Talk And Writing On Learning Science: An
Exploratory Study
...
84, No
...
566 – 593
...
(2011) Parallel Learning Of Reading And Writing In Early Childhood
...


Sherin, M
...
Journal Of Mathematics Teacher Education
...
5, No, 3, pp
...


Smith, J
...
Glasgow: Bell And
Brain
...
Vol
...
127 – 140

---