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Guidance on implementation of the KS2 Framework for languages

Progression in oracy

Oracy, defined as listening, speaking and spoken interaction, has a more prominent place in language learning than in other areas of the curriculum. It is in a real sense both the medium and the message. All learners acquire language through exposure to that language, enabling them to assimilate and re-use it. For young learners in particular oracy is fundamental to their learning. From an early age children should be given regular and frequent opportunities to listen to the new language - 'educating the ear' - so that they are able to identify and distinguish new sounds, to reproduce and re-use them and to make links between the sounds and written form of the language.

Spotlight: Using authentic popular songs To help children recognise new sounds in the language, children in Year 3 listen to popular songs on CD, such as those of Henri Dès. Every time they hear a particular sound or word, for example, 'soleil' they use physical response, drawing a circular sun in the air to show that they have recognised the word. Another challenge for the children can be to keep count of how many times they hear a particular sound or word, checking their scores in French with one another when the song is finished. O3.2 Recognise and respond to sound patterns and words.

In Year 3 the Framework objectives for oracy include

• O3.1 Listen and respond to simple rhymes, stories and songs
• O3.2 Recognise and respond to sound patterns and words
• O3.4 Listen attentively and understand instructions, everyday classroom language and praise words

These objectives are supported by a range of possible teaching activities, many of which do not require a verbal response:

• copy actions modelled by the teacher or respond with a physical action
• clap each time they hear a word that rhymes...

In this way children are hearing and responding to the sounds of the new language. This emphasis on maximum exposure to the sound patterns of the new language is of vital importance because, unlike with their mother tongue, children will be reliant on the school and classroom environment to provide much of their spoken language experience.

Resources to support oracy
As well as the class teacher, there are many other resources to support this vital education of the ear. Children can have experience of a variety of native speaker voices in the new language through the use of video, DVD, audio texts and the internet. Access to live native speakers is also enormously valuable. This might include local community contacts, the provision of a Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) through the scheme organised by the British Council or contact with expert speakers from secondary schools including Specialist Language Colleges.

Increasingly schools are also finding ways to establish links with schools in the country of the new language - both virtual and real. Local authorities may have existing links; the British Council's Global Gateway is also a source of support for establishing new links.

Over four years children will develop from listening and understanding and simple communicative tasks to more complex spoken interaction, re-using familiar words in new contexts. By Year 6 they will be able to participate in more extended conversations and express some opinions and ideas.

Spotlight: Celebrating success Class 6 pupils are invited to present short dialogues to the school in Praise Assembly. Children work in pairs analysing what they need to know to be able to prepare their conversations. They work independently and reuse as much of their prior learning as they can. They produce and display their dialogues in the communal areas for younger pupils to read. In assembly a number of pupils perform their dialogues from memory, using the language as naturally as possible. O6.2 Perform to an audience O6.4 Use language confidently to initiate and sustain conversations.

Teachers can plan for such progression using the Framework objectives and suggested activities over a number of years.

Progress in oracy is supported by and developed through the learning objectives of the other four strands. Children benefit from knowing how the sounds they hear and use are represented in the written form. Children's personal development is enriched by understanding how language reflects culture and underpins different social conventions and behaviours. Progress is more rapid where children have opportunities to develop greater insight into how languages work and how they are learnt. In this way, it can be seen that the five strands are interdependent.