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Shawlands Primary School
Talking and Listening Language Policy
How to teach Talking and Listening
Conditions for Effective Listening
‘Listening effectively is an active process. It has much to do with the knowledge and
experience of the listener, with motivation and involvement, and with the individual situation in
which listening takes place. People listen best when the information is of importance to them,
when they have to take some action on it or have the opportunity to reply or participate.
Listeners, therefore, have to learn to select relevant information from what they are hearing or
seeing.’
English Language 5 – 14 National Guidelines (Scottish Office Education Department, 1991)
The attitudes developed within the classroom can have a powerful influence upon pupils’
development as effective listeners.
Positive pupil attitudes grow out of good social
relationships within the classroom. Effective listening will take place best when the proper
atmosphere is created. The pupils should be encouraged to sit comfortably and attentively, and
the listening experience should not exceed the pupils’ attention span.
Conditions for Effective Talking
‘Being an effective talker involves having knowledge, feelings, ideas or opinions and being able to
communicate these in ways which will have a particular effect on an audience or help achieve a
personal or group goal.
It involves a complex array of skills: for example, mental agility, command of a wide range of
vocabulary and grammatical structures; the ability to recognise and use the body language
conventions of your particular culture; and sensitivity and responsiveness to others.
It is affected more than any other mode of language by the context in which it is produced:
facing a responsive and sympathetic audience, being clear about the purpose of the task, having
a familiar topic – all these will give a speaker the confidence that is essential for a fluent
delivery and coherent expression of ideas and opinions. The importance of building pupils’
confidence in talk can hardly be overestimated.’
Assessment in the Classroom – Listening and Talking (Scottish CCC, 1998)
Once again, the attitudes developed within the classroom can have a powerful influence on the
pupils’ development as effective talkers. A supportive environment should be provided where
pupils’ responses are respected, and talk viewed as an enjoyable experience.
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Listening and Talking: How They Relate to one Another.
‘The development of listening and talking begins with most children before they come to school,
as part of the process of acquiring language. This has given rise to a mistaken belief that
listening can be left to continue to develop ‘naturally’, in an unstructured and unsupported way.
However, listening and talking involves skills and behaviours which can be learned, practised,
developed, selected for use in relation to particular purposes, and actively used to gain
understanding. Listening and talking, in other words, can and ought to be taught.’
Assessment in the Classroom – Listening and Talking (Scottish CCC, 1998)
The Teaching of Talking and Listening
In Shawlands Primary School we are piloting the GCC Talking and Listening Skills Development
Programme in session 2007/2008.
Although Talking and Listening is integral to almost all areas of the curriculum, this programme
treats them as discrete subjects, firmly placed within English Language 5-14.
Listening and Talking obviously relate closely to one another. This programme however,
recognises that skills are often different and do not always overlap. For this reason, the skills
are taught separately to guarantee that all strands for talking and listening 5-14 are covered.
Skills learned are clearly transferable to other areas of the curriculum.
This pack contains six blocks of suggested activities, which develop the 5-14 Skills of Talking
and Listening Levels A – D.
Block One
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Listening for information, instructions and directions
Conveying information, instructions and directions
Within this block, strands are developed through the use of Prim-Ed materials – Oral Language
and Listening Comprehension Books for all Levels.
Block Two
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Awareness of genre
Knowledge about language
In this section, the strands are developed through comparison of texts. Within each section,
exemplar lesson plans and associated texts are included.
Block Three
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Audience awareness
Knowledge about language
In this section, the strands are developed through poetry recital. Within each section,
exemplar lessons plans and associated texts/websites are included.
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Block Four
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Audience awareness
Knowledge about language
In this section the strands are developed through short talks/debating. Within each section,
exemplar lessons plans and associated texts are included.
Block Five
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Talking and Listening in Groups
Talking about Experiences, Feelings and Opinions
In this section, the strands are developed through talking and listening in groups. Within each
section, exemplar lessons plans and associated texts are included.
Block Six
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Talking about Texts
Listening in Order to Respond to Texts
The use of suggested texts for each level provides progression in these strands. Teaching
focus for each level is included.
Flashcards
Flash cards listing pupil hints are included for all areas of Talking and Listening. They are
marked Level A – D as appropriate.
Planning
Exemplar planning sheets are included in the pack for all blocks.
Assessment
As this is a pilot year the process of assessment has still to be fully discussed with the staff.
Refer to Talking and Listening Assessment Guidelines attached to this policy.
Revised October 2007