Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Researching Oral Language in the
Classroom
“Greetings, salutations, negotiations, instructions, questions, explanations,
discussions, small talk, science talk, book talk, discussing, writing, talking about a
painting, reading a poem, telling of a story – these and many other kinds of talk form
the domain of oral language in the classroom” (Gallas, 130).
At any given point in the day, some talk is occurring in a classroom. This talk reveals
a lot about the students, the teacher, and the classroom material.
The School as a Site of Discourses in Contact
There are multiple discourses occurring each day, many of them controlled by the
teacher. There are generalized discourses between peers and specialized
discourses: science, math, social studies, lunchroom, and library, for example.
“Appropriating a discourse involves taking a stance within the values and
viewpoints that constitute it” (Gallas, 130).
Ways of Talking
“We now realize that all children have multiple ways of talking that can be used with
differing success for a variety of events” (Gallas, 131).
Appropriating New Discourses
Children must learn new discourses when they go to school. They must learn how
to talk to teachers and other school officials using the languages of the various
subjects. Various factors affect how quickly children learn these new discourses.
These factors include the home culture of the child and how much time the child has
available to practice.
“In school, all children need to appropriate new forms of language as they become
exposed to new school-based activities, spoken and written genres, and academic
content areas. A child’s success with acquiring each of these different ways of
talking is affected by many things including the child’s home culture and oral
tradition, his or her experience with school ways of talking, as well as access to
opportunities to practice those ways of talking” (Gallas, 131).
Exploring Different Language Genres
Teachers can be drawn to explicit teaching about the rules of language discourse.
They try to create literary activities that will teach the rules of these various
languages. Yet, sometimes, children need to learn these rules through activities of
their own choosing and inspiration.
“We believe, however, that explicitness alone cannot bridge the gap between home
and school ways of talking; there is a need for functional, child-orchestrated
language practice within socially meaningful settings” (Gallas, 132).
Explicit Practice in Discussion
“Of course, there is a need for explicit instruction in the rules of how to talk in
specific classroom literacy events” (Gallas, 132).
Students need spontaneous, child-inspired practice in discourses, but they also need
direct, explicit instructions in school-specific discourses: science, math, social
studies, etc.
Talk Across Disciplines
Some argue that students’ home discourses should be honored and used in
classrooms on a daily basis to validate the student and enable them to participate in
the classroom culture. Others argue that the novelty of the new, school discourses
encourages students to try something new and step out of the box.
Science Talk
“Their understandings were built within classroom communities where the
students’ home culture and oral tradition were highly valued” (Gallas, 134).
Students use personal narratives and stories to create understanding of science
terms.
Talk About Text
Discussion about written texts adds meaning to the text. Students discuss the text to
truly understand the text.
“When teachers and children meet to discuss different kinds of texts – literature,
pictures, stories, poems, a solution to a math problem – they present multiple,
divergent voices that sometimes compete, but are always involved in an ongoing
struggle for meaning and growth” (Gallas, 134).
The Role of Intention
There are different purposes for talk. Students may talk to validate a previous
speaker or idea, or they may talk to argue with a previous speaker or idea. There is
a motive behind talk; this motive should be analyzed carefully because it affects the
way the talk is received by listeners.
“In these stories, talk and text were used in opposite ways: in the first to undermine
the intentions of the text, in the second to assume a collaborative tone” (Gallas, 135).
Unofficial Talk in the Classroom
“Children’s spontaneous talk has the potential to reveal how children come to know
the culture of ‘doing school,’ and also how they use the unofficial worlds of the
classroom to explore concepts that they are learning in the official world” (Gallas,
136).
Unofficial talk (talk not directly related to classroom subjects) still affects learning.
Teachers need to be aware of this talk in order to truly understand how talk occurs
in and shapes the classroom.