ABSTRACT
Exploratory talk by the pupils has an important function in the process of learning. Even taking into account Katharine Perera's qualified admiration as to young children's achievement as language learners, the tone of the seven admirers and the Plowden report and Bullock report quoted is overwhelmingly optimistic. This chapter explains the curriculum requirements on talk as they apply to Early Years settings and primary schools in England. Despite the widespread agreement on the value of talk for learning, and despite the wonderful work involving the spoken language which many teachers are doing, the achievement of a state of affairs where, in all Early Years settings and primary schools in England, talk is seen as a normal part of the work of an effective and well-disciplined classroom is still some way off. Lev Vygotsky proposes that what children are capable of at any point in their development, but have not yet achieved, be called the 'zone of proximal development'.
