ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to understand how schools can develop children’s skills in using spoken language for communicating and reasoning. In fact, the reasonable conclusion to draw from the available research evidence is that the most beneficial outcomes occur when practitioners achieve a strategic balance in their teaching between authoritative instruction and more equitable dialogue. High levels of elaboration were also linked to children’s more positive attitudes to education. Discussions of oracy often focus on presentational, public speaking skills as used in making speeches and taking part in debates; but using talk to work effectively with others in a group is also a key aspect of oracy. Oracy education is the direct, explicit teaching of speaking and listening skills as part of the curriculum, comparable to, say, the direct, explicit teaching of algebraic skills as part of mathematics.
