ABSTRACT
Introduction The standards of children’s reading and writing have always been high on the agendas of schools and governments. Most parents also expect their children to become literate as a matter of course. In the past, these concerns were predominantly concerned with acquisition, achievement and literature (Street, 1994) and ignored the fact that literacy practices in our society reach far beyond the reading and writing of fiction. This is now recognised in schools and the teaching of English includes extensive coverage of a range of non-fiction texts as well as variety of fiction genres. Likewise the importance of speaking and listening is recognised as a significant part of the English curriculum. The importance of early oracy activities, particularly for boys, and their influence on later reading development, is well documented (for example, Wragg et al., 1998; CCEA, 1999; Clipson-Boyles, 2000; DCSF, 2003). Not only are speaking and listening an integral part of thinking and learning, but they also feed, and are fed by, the processes of reading and writing.
