Irrespective of the recent oracy push in the English education system, I have long thought that not enough emphasis is placed on listening and speaking in GCSE modern language exams. Think about it - the current weightings are 25% for each of the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Apart from being suspiciously tidy, the system appears to show that reading and writing in the target language are just as important as speaking and listening. Because of the well-known backwash (washback) effect (the test affecting the teaching), the current weightings encourage teachers to spend a lot of time on written texts and written accuracy. Lessons at KS4 are often devoted to short essay writing, accuracy-focused grammatical exercises, past paper practice and reading comprehension. This is entirely understandable as teachers do their best to help pupils get the best grade. A spin-off is that reading and writing-focused tasks also play a major role at KS3, as the diminishing w...
Lucy Powell’s recent announcement on oracy in England has generated a lot of reaction on social media, largely positive, as far as I can tell. In general terms, the idea is that speaking (and listening)) should be given greater prominence across the curriculum, alongside reading and writing. Pupils should learn not just to express themselves clearly, but to listen attentively, respond thoughtfully, explain ideas and participate effectively in discussions. For modern language teachers, the initial reaction might understandably be: Haven’t we always done this? After all, speaking has been central to language teaching for decades. Think of all those question-and-answer exchanges, spoken drills, presentations, dialogues, role plays, information-gap tasks, surveys, interviews and discussions. Language teachers have a long tradition of modelling spoken language, providing scaffolding, encouraging hesitant pupils and gradually developing fluency through practice. But we ought...