Oracy gives speaking and listening equal weight with literacy and numeracy. In children’s ELT, ‘talking to learn’ (talk as a vehicle for thinking) matters as much as ‘learning to talk’. Ten self-audit questions check whether classroom talk does this.
Self-audit (from the post’s questions)
- Record yourself: who talks most? (the “two-thirds rule”: teachers talk ~2/3 of the time).
- Count closed vs open, higher-order questions.
- Track IRF and AA (child asks, teacher answers) patterns; vary feedback so it isn’t ritual.
- Wait time: pause, neutral body language.
- Model thinking and useful language; monitor oracy via recordings, conferencing, learner diaries.
Theory
Vygotskian principles; “two-thirds rule” research (US, 1970s, Flanders (Claude)).
Connections
Teacher talk - reduce it, then choose it · Elicit before you present - context, one-answer questions, wait time · Question purposefully - socio-psychological vs pedagogical questions