{"id":1711,"date":"2025-11-25T11:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/21stcenturylearners.org.uk\/?p=1711"},"modified":"2025-11-26T11:19:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:19:38","slug":"the-importance-of-dialogue-in-the-age-or-oracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21stcenturylearners.org.uk\/?p=1711","title":{"rendered":"The importance of dialogue in the age of oracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The age of oracy is beginning! The great levers of state are at last being used to incentivise learning to, through and about talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final report of England\u2019s Curriculum and Assessment Review recommends that the government, \u2018Introduces an oracy framework to support practice and to complement the existing frameworks for Reading and Writing.\u2019[1]<\/a> The government has accepted this recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofsted\u2019s 2025 guidance for school inspectors places oracy alongside reading, writing and mathematics as essential for accessing the wider curriculum. Inspectors are directed to consider whether: \u2018All pupils are explicitly taught how to communicate effectively through spoken language (oracy)\u2026\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems inevitable, then, that more and more schools will be looking to include oracy in their curricula, and this is something to be celebrated.  There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that it could and should enhance young people\u2019s cognitive, personal and social development.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the focus shifts to doing oracy well, and with this in mind I want to share my passionate conviction that teaching young people to engage in dialogue should be seen as central to a meaningful oracy education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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The games we play with language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Oracy covers a variety of different uses of language for different purposes. It\u2019s important to remember this so that we don\u2019t reduce it to the ability to speak clearly, articulately and confidently. These things are important, but oracy is about so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is acknowledged in recent accounts of the term. The Oracy Education Commission offers this definition, reflected in the Ofsted guidance quoted above:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Articulating ideas, developing understanding and engaging with others through speaking, listening and communication<\/em>\u2019.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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This suggests three overlapping fields of communicative purpose. Oracy Cambridge offers an alternative account:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018The ability to use the skills of speaking, listening and non-verbal communication for a wide range of purposes.\u2019[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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This acknowledges that the range of purposes is too wide to capture in a concise definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t believe there\u2019s an authoritative list of these purposes, but I do think it\u2019s important to recognise that they give rise to different modes of communication. I often refer to these different modes as different \u2018talk games<\/strong>\u2019,[5]<\/a> and I don\u2019t think they can be treated as if they are fundamentally the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these games has its own aim, its own rules and its own set of skills or moves and each needs to be taught in distinctive ways. Let\u2019s take two games commonly taught in schools: presentation and debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In presentation, the aim of the game is to transmit <\/strong>information to an audience, and the skills involved include voice projection, pace of speaking and choice of register.[6]<\/a> It\u2019s clearly a game we would like young people to able to play well in a range of different contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debate has its roots in the Old French debatre<\/em>, which literally meant “to beat down” or “to fight”. It\u2019s an adversarial<\/strong> game: the aim is to win. As we see all too often, winning can come at the expense of values such as veracity and an openness to learning, but debate can be useful in helping us to test the strength of competing arguments \u2013 in courtrooms or political forums, for example. The skills involved include rhetorical techniques and the strategic use of gesture and posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m talking to people about oracy, I find that these are the first \u2018games\u2019 that come to mind: they\u2019re valued highly. Just a few days ago, a colleague told me that she wanted all children \u2013 not just those with a public-school education \u2013 to be able to present themselves well, speak up for themselves and debate with confidence. This is why she was motivated to invest heavily in an oracy programme, and I think most people would agree that these are laudable aims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why teach for dialogue?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But I worry that a third game, dialogue<\/strong>, is often overlooked. Dialogue is one of those words that carries different meanings. In an everyday sense, it\u2019s often taken to mean any kind of spoken interaction between two or more people. But it can also mean something more specific \u2013 something quite special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek roots of the term are dia<\/em>, which can be translated as \u2018through\u2019 or \u2018across\u2019, and logos<\/em>, often translated as \u2018the word\u2019, \u2018speech\u2019 or \u2018reason\u2019. This derivation conjures up a number of images or accounts of dialogue. Here are three accounts that I use regularly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n