ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the implications for the bilingual children in the schools of a heightened interest in oracy. For all children there will be greater awareness of the role of talk in learning, more thought given to planning for talk, and more emphasis on oracy as a skill to be developed. For bilingual children this should have positive advantages. Bilingual children will not be able to use their language to further their learning in an atmosphere which is hostile, or where such attitudes are subtly expressed. Bilingual children will not exclude teachers who do not share their language and will usually switch in groups according to the needs of the task as well as the composition of the group. The term oracy was coined within the context of English, but as a concept it has been around for a long time, and concepts cross over language barriers.
