Oracy and Spoken Language
At Sampford Peverell CofE Primary School, we believe that spoken language underpins all learning. Before children can become confident readers and writers, they must first learn to become confident communicators.
Through talk, children develop vocabulary, organise their thoughts, solve problems, explain their understanding and communicate their ideas to others. Strong speaking and listening skills support success across the curriculum and help prepare children for life beyond primary school.
Why Oracy Matters
Research consistently shows that children's vocabulary and language development are closely linked to future academic success.
Children who develop a rich vocabulary and strong spoken language skills are better able to:
- Understand what they read.
- Express themselves clearly.
- Develop their writing.
- Build positive relationships.
- Participate confidently in discussions.
- Learn new concepts across the curriculum.
Developing Communication and Language in EYFS
Communication and language are at the heart of our Early Years curriculum. We know that children need strong speaking and listening skills before they can become successful readers and writers. For this reason, developing vocabulary, understanding and communication is a priority from the moment children join our school.
Children are immersed in a language-rich environment where they are encouraged to listen carefully, talk about their experiences, retell stories, ask questions and explain their thinking. Through conversations, stories, songs, role play and high-quality interactions with adults, children develop the language skills that underpin future success across the curriculum.
The ShREC Approach
In Early Years, we use the ShREC approach, developed by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), to support the development of children's communication and language skills. The approach helps adults make the most of everyday interactions and ensures that children experience high-quality conversations throughout the day.
ShREC stands for:
Share Attention
Adults and children focus together on the same activity, object or experience. Sharing attention helps children engage in learning and provides meaningful opportunities to introduce and develop vocabulary.
Respond
Adults listen carefully to children and respond positively to their interests, ideas and attempts at communication. This helps children develop confidence and encourages them to communicate more frequently.
Expand
Adults build upon what children say by modelling more sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structures. For example, if a child says, "Big dog," an adult might respond, "Yes, that's a very big brown dog running quickly across the field." This exposes children to richer language while valuing their contribution.
Conversation
Adults engage children in purposeful back-and-forth conversations. These sustained interactions help children develop their vocabulary, understanding, reasoning and speaking skills.
Why Is Communication and Language So Important?
Research shows that children's language development is closely linked to their future success in reading, writing and learning more broadly. The more opportunities children have to hear and use rich language, the better equipped they are to understand texts, communicate their ideas and become successful learners.
Through the ShREC approach and our wider Early Years curriculum, children develop:
- A broad and ambitious vocabulary
- Confidence when speaking
- Strong listening and attention skills
- Understanding of words and sentences
- The ability to express their thoughts and ideas clearly
- The foundations needed for reading and writing
Speaking Before Writing
We place a strong emphasis on oral composition throughout the school.
Before children are expected to write a sentence, they are taught to say it aloud first.
This helps children:
- Organise their ideas.
- Rehearse vocabulary.
- Develop sentence structure.
- Reduce cognitive overload when writing.
- Focus on transcription skills separately from composition.
As children progress through the school, they are encouraged to orally rehearse increasingly complex sentences before recording them in writing.
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary is explicitly taught across the curriculum.
Children are taught the meaning of new words through:
- High-quality texts.
- Class discussions.
- Storytelling.
- Curriculum lessons.
- Talk partner activities.
- Teacher modelling.
Developing children's vocabulary improves both their spoken and written communication.
Supporting Oracy at Home
Parents play a vital role in developing children's language skills.
You can support your child by:
- Talking about their day.
- Reading stories together.
- Asking open-ended questions.
- Encouraging your child to explain their thinking.
- Introducing new vocabulary.
- Playing games that encourage conversation.
- Retelling stories and events.