ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a range of teaching strategies to develop effective talk. It clarifies the role of talk in supporting learning. The chapter discusses the use of talk to support children's development of reading and writing skills. It examines the different forms of speaking and listening and how these can be planned and managed effectively in the classroom. The chapter shows how to involve children in self-assessment of their speaking and listening skills. The role of talk in learning was examined in depth by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who looked at the link between language and thinking. Vygotsky developed the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is the distance between the actual development levels. The importance of talk for learning was not fully recognised until the 1960s, when the Schools Council Project and the work of Wilkinson and Barnes promoted an interest in spoken language and literacy in primary schools.
