ABSTRACT
Children are taught through the medium of speaking and listening, but they also need to learn about the medium itself, if they are to use it well. Inattentive children distracted by one another’s chatter may not know how and why to learn through speaking and listening; children required to be silent or to take part in question-and-answer guessing games may not realise the importance of active listening or the power of the spoken word. Making the skills of speaking and listening explicit, and discussing the thinking and learning that arises through talk, helps all children to become better involved in their own learning.
