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Effective Communication

By Gillian Bertram 2002

The Importance of Oral Language in the School Curriculum

Oral language is the greatest use of language and is the basis of communication - in fact it is the basis of literacy.

'Language plays a vital role in the personal and social development of children. It enables them to gain an understanding of themselves and others and strengthens their social relationships.'

(Oral Language Resource Book: First Steps; page 45)

Through listening and speaking students learn about themselves and about their world. Learning to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings, and being able to respond to the communications of others, enables students to participate in society successfully.

The National Education Monitoring Report 10 states that experiences provided by teachers and at school play a very important role in developing oral language skills in students. What then is the role of the school and the teacher in facilitating growth in students' oral language?

Oral language development in school does not mean teaching children to speak so much as providing them with the skills and opportunities to communicate more effectively. Speech involves thinking, knowledge and skills. Effective communication is developed through practice and training.

While oral language acquisition is a natural process this does not mean that all children will automatically acquire effective communication skills. Attention and constant practice are necessary for optimum development in communication. Holbrook (1983) specifies three criteria for oral language competence: fluency, clarity and sensitivity. The responsibility of the teacher lies in helping students to develop these levels of development.

There is no doubt that there is plenty of oral language used in the classroom. However, much of that "talking" is done by the teacher, rather than by the students, in the course of delivering the classroom programme. Research done by Stabb (1986) reported that there was a steady decline in the use of oral language in the classroom. She claimed there was a link between this and inhibition of students' abilities to reason and to forecast as they moved from lower to higher grades.

Berry (1985) and Gambell's (1988) research indicates that the development of language has a close relationship to thinking abilities. Stabb reminds us that literacy learning is on a continuum and that oral language, the major learning instrument for children before they go to school, needs to continue to be available while students are at school. Her warning is that in the process of covering the "crowded curriculum" we should not forget "one of our most important goals, that of stimulating thought."

While research done by Stabb (1986) could be said to be dated, it nonetheless holds relevant messages for classroom teachers today. Stabb reminds us about the relationship between oral language development and the development of thinking abilities. There is no doubt that as students develop oral communication skills, their critical thinking and reasoning abilities are developed along the way. We see this reflected in the English curriculum document: Oral Language. Listening and speaking are said to be:

"essential for language development, for learning, for relating to others, and for living successfully in society" and
"as they develop their oral language through these language functions (listening and speaking), students will be using the processes of exploring language, thinking critically and processing information."

(Page 27 English in the New Zealand curriculum.)

Oral language then is a very important link in the process of students' learning and thinking development. Oral language provides a foundation for the development of other language skills. As children talk about themselves and their experiences, they are learning to organise their thinking and to focus their ideas (Lyle 1993). It is important to provide opportunities for oral language to continue to grow in the classroom from those foundations. Before students achieve proficiency in reading and writing, oral language is one of the important means of learning and of acquiring knowledge. In fact throughout life, oral language skills remain essential for communication of ideas and intelligent conversation.

One of the most effective ways to facilitate the learning of oral language skills is to take into account the background and everyday life experiences of the students. Once students' prior knowledge and facility with oral language is determined, the classroom programme can be planned to develop necessary skills on the developmental continuum. From this starting point the techniques and skills which are taught in the classroom programme need to be further extended and used across the whole curriculum. Although the oral language programme is delivered at the classroom level, the policy for the development of language skills needs to exist, and be implemented, across the whole school.

What Oral Language Skills Do Students Need To Develop?

Schools are excellent environments in which to develop knowledge of the courtesies and conventions of communication in a wide variety of situations. The achievement aims of the National English Curriculum state that:

Students should:

Be able to talk clearly about experiences and ideas;
Be able to engage with and enjoy oral language in all its varieties;
Be able to understand, respond to, and use oral language effectively in a range of contexts;
Develop skills that enable them to develop their thoughts, ideas and feelings clearly and appropriately and respond to the thoughts, ideas and feelings of others with purpose and courtesy.

In order to develop these skills and strategies students will need:

Structured, planned, meaningful tasks and experiences within the classroom environment to acquire effective listening and speaking skills.
Opportunities to learn how to 'think critically about what they hear...' and to ' Use oral language to gather, process and present information' (English in the New Zealand Curriculum page 27)

Concomitant to the development of communication skills and facility there will be growth in students' confidence when communicating in a wide variety of social contexts to a wide variety of audiences.

In summary, to be effective communicators students need to be able to adapt and adopt their oral language techniques and content to whatever social context they find themselves in. To ensure students develop these strategies, the skills and processes of listening and speaking must be understood, modeled, taught and practised within the classroom.

The Role of the Teacher as Facilitator of Oral Language Development:

To act as facilitators of student learning, teachers need to use a process in which students are given the opportunity and encouragement to speak and explore their own thinking. Teachers should:

Encourage students to bring their ideas and background knowledge into class learning activities.
Be a responsive listener to students' talk
Nurture an accepting environment where students will feel free to express themselves without fear of censure - by adult or by fellow students.
Raise questions concerning the activities or conversations held with students
Promote robust discussion and exposition amongst class members.
Provide opportunities for speaking, discussion, and expression of ideas, experiences and opinions across the whole curriculum. This will involve a range of experiences in which the size and type of audience, the situation and purpose will all vary.
Present themselves as good models of oral language.
Establish strategies to manage all forms of communication to ensure all students have fair and equitable opportunities to develop their interpersonal speaking and listening skills, eg. large and small group discussions.

The goal is not only to get students to speak and share their thinking but also to have them learn and develop through speech. As students' language skills develop, classroom "talk" and discussion can be directed towards the goals of exploring ideas and facts found in texts (written and visual) and in the subsequent development of thought and deepening of knowledge.

Not only do our students develop from learning to read to reading to learn, they also move from learning to speak to speaking to learn.

There are unlimited ways and strategies to promote the development of oral language in the classroom programme and these are well known to all teachers. For the purposes of the exemplification project the function that was chosen was Interpersonal Speaking through DISCUSSION. Discussion employs the skills of social interaction.

THE VALUE OF GROUP DISCUSSION

It involves students in thinking and using knowledge they already have, ie. prior knowledge.

It challenges children's thinking, encouraging them to consider issues from various points of view. Inevitably the need to resolve differences in opinion arise and compromise is needed. Compromise is an important life skill to develop.

Children are provided with opportunities to express their opinions clearly.

Children are provided with opportunities to voice their doubts.

Children are provided with opportunities to draw their own conclusions.

Through participating in group work and discussion students can develop cooperative attitudes and behaviours. They will share their ideas and in so doing they learn the value of sharing and realise that to succeed they need to coordinate their efforts and pool their resources and expertise.

They experience being part of a group decision making process.

Children are provided with opportunities to respond appropriately to others.

Children are provided with opportunities to entertain.

Children are provided with opportunities to develop relationships.

They have the opportunity to experience different roles and responsibilities.

Through participation in group discussions the students can develop tolerance of individual differences and to develop flexibility.

During discussions with their peers students can express ideas that they may feel unsure about. This is a safer environment in which to explore tentative ideas. In this way they can clarify their understanding or ideas and determine how they think or believe.

Group discussions provide opportunities for problem solving and independent learning skills as well.

They have the opportunity to speculate and hypothesize.

They have the opportunity to question, explain, persuade, compare and evaluate.

For the discussion to be effective students will need to listen critically and learn from each other.

Classroom Culture Necessary for Effective Group Discussions

A classroom environment that will facilitate effective discussions is one in which the values of sharing and cooperation are already established. Students need to feel free to try new things out and to have a go. Teachers need to recognise and value a child's language, which may or may not be standard. Positive discussions can not take place within a vacuum and students need to live and work in a classroom which has as its culture the following social attitudes and behaviours:

a sense of group identity
an awareness of others
a practice of sharing and cooperation
regular opportunities for discussion and negotiation of issues and routines which affect everyone

Students will need to learn the skills, rules and techniques for various types of discussions. These will vary according to the context. Students will need to learn the following :

Formal Discussions
These are formal and are led by the chairperson. Participants indicate a desire to speak in a predetermined way. They wait for permission to speak and there are no interruptions. This is a large group activity.

Informal Discussions
In this context turn taking comes from cues such as body language, intonation, eye gaze, and knowledge of the social courtesies. This is a small group activity and all participants need to be visible to each other. Children need to learn the courtesy of turn taking and rules exist to ensure this happens.

Brainstorming
Many methods are possible. All participants in the group contribute and all contributions need to be valued. Turns must be taken and rules exist to support this. May be child or teacher led.

Further explanation and elaboration of discussion skills are to be found in the table "Discussion Skills and Strategies", below.

The Strategies and Skills of a Group Discussion

There are diverse and complex skills required of the listener and speaker in discussions. Students acquire these skills gradually on a developmental continuum and need plenty of opportunities for group interactions and discussions to acquire and practise these skills. In order for students to develop the skills teachers need to:

Promote group cohesion
Coordinate group activities
Enable students to explore topics creatively
Encourage resolution and consensus

In the classroom programme teachers will need to provide activities and modeling to promote the development of discussion skills in all areas of the curriculum from year one onwards. There are no specified activities that, if used, will magically cause the skills of discussion to emerge. Activities should reflect the developmental level of the students and the nature of the task and context at hand. Conversation is the most common form oral language. It involves at least two people and has its own language structures and devices. The participants have to work together to make sense of the communication in order for it to proceed effectively. Conversation involves effort and skill. It involves content and technique. When people are involved in discussions they are involved in a form of conversation and need to follow many of the "rules" of conversation. There are also rules and strategies specific to small group discussions, which need to be obeyed. These are well outlined and explained in "Talking To Each Other: The Language of Conversation" in Exploring Language, page 129 to 145.

Discussion Skills and Strategies

Teacher Responsibilities	Strategies Used By Students
create cohesion and group unity.	inviting all other children to join in discussion and questioning asking for or offering help/ideas giving praise and encouragement joking and making humorous comments giving others a chance to talk accepting all group members questions and contributions abiding by the agreed strategy selected to ensure an equal opportunity for all members to speak listening attentively to each other (demonstrated through nonverbal behaviours as well as verbal responses which indicate listening, eg. aha, mmm, etc.) adhering to topic helping group to reach decisions employing the cooperative principal of sincerity (Grice's maxim: quality, quantity, relation and manner - Exploring Language, page 142,143)
coordinate group activities	calling for group attention, eg. Look at ..., listen to x's neat idea... responding positively to others ideas and contributions giving instructions planning negotiating roles and adhering to them negotiating rules to ensure the discussion is equable for all members reminding peers not to interrupt each other disagreeing politely and tactfully offering feedback and summarising comments performing allotted role in group discussion (Manager, Encourager, Recorder Reporter)
enable children to explore topics creatively	offering and share ideas and opinions elaborating others' ideas disagreeing or challenging asking for clarification explaining, justifying learning to recognise and use open ended questions to get more information from others brainstorming and mind mapping using a range of questioning techniques. taking time to reflect using Paralinguistic Features- to gain and retain peers attention effectively i.e. whisper ,shout, huskiness, nasal sounds, creakiness using Prosodic Features: - to enhance effectiveness of communication, eg. intonation: pitch, tone, rhythm, tempo, stress, volume, syntax, vocabulary, vocal effects, fluency - for effect, eg. facial expressions, eye gaze, stance, posture, touching, proximity, gesture, body position uses appropriate language and grammar for register
encourage resolution and consensus	appealing to rules, authority persuading - through logic and argument agreeing summarise suggesting compromise

Obviously a programme devoted to developing the skills of discussions in the space of a few weeks will not on its own provide students with the skills they need. These skills are complex and develop gradually on a continuum from birth, and their development needs to be supported by an ongoing, comprehensive oral language programme throughout their time at school. Teachers need to make themselves aware of the relevant skills their students require and to ensure there are plenty of opportunities to develop them within the context of teacher modeling and the activities themselves.

References

Berry, Kathleen S (1985). Talking To Learn Subject Matter/Learning Subject Matter Talk Language Arts, 62(1),34-42 [EJ3009 762]

Gambell, Trevor J. (1988). Linguistics and Literacy Teaching. Paper presented at the World Conference of Applied Linguistics ( Sydney, Australia). [ED299 816]

Holbrook, Hilary Taylor (1983). ERIC/RCS Report: Oral Language: A Neglected Language Art? Language Arts, 60(2), 255-58.[EJ 276 124]

Lyle, Susan (1993). An Investigation into Ways in Which Children Talk Themselves into Meaning. Language and Education, 7(3), 181 -87 [EJ 485 985]

Stabb, Claire (1986). What Happened To the Sixth Graders: Are Elementary Students Losing Their Need to Forecast and to Reason? Reading Psychology, 7 (4), 289-96[EJ 348 985]

Oral Language Resource Book First Steps: Researched and Developed by the Education Department of Western Australia. Rigby Heineman 1997

Glenys Brown (2001). Oral Language Course: Notes and Activities

G.S. Byers, Primary Education Advisor, Northland, (1999). Oral Language Course: Notes and Activities

Denise Farr (2001). Assessment, evaluation schedules and activities

Joanne Milich (2001) Oral language activities and students' learning outcomes

Zhang Hong and Nola Kortner Aiex (1995) Oral Language Development Across the Curriculum, K-12 (ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #107)

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