Classroom pedagogy: Why talk is more important than ever

Talk makes up such an important part of classroom learning. Championing the spoken word can have a huge impact on learning and can help students to comprehend and voice ideas around complex (and simple) topics, furthering their chances of progressing their understanding. Teaching students to develop effective habits of discussion can have a real impact on the clarity and quality of work produced in your class, too.

Something we have lacked during Covid-19 has been that face-to-face dialogue that can encourage rich classroom discussion. Yes, during online teaching there have been elements of discussion, but the quality of these exercises is significantly reduced when students are not in the same room. Some students have not been able to discuss and share ideas in a “normal” way for more than a year. Here are four things to consider when planning effective exercises involving classroom talk:

a) Differentiate between types of talk; it has been a while since students have been able to freely use discussion in the classroom. A lot of online learning has focused on the presenting of ideas in a monologue rather than a dialogue.

b) Build habits of talk; strong habits lead to better quality talk and this in turn translates to more effective learning. However, a lot of children do not have the exposure to talk in their home environments that we might hope for. So exposing students to the different ways in which they can communicate is important for their learning.

c) Use scaffolded resources; providing simple scaffolding for students to support their talk can make discussions and presentation of responses in class more effective. Scaffolding needs to be a key part of any talk task, especially after so much disruption and time away from the classroom.

d) Build a culture of error; one way to coax back that confidence is to create a culture of error in your classroom, “an environment where individuals feel safe making and discussing mistakes, so you can spend less time hunting for errors and more time fixing them”.

(Available: https://www.sec-ed.co.uk. Adam Riches. Adapted.)