Nursery World - Talk back (1)

Teaching under the National Literacy Strategy inhibits the development of children's oral skills, according to research by Linda Hargreaves, with Eve English and Jane Hislam The National Literacy Strategy framework document describes successful teaching as discursive, interactive, well-paced, confident and ambitious.

The National Literacy Strategy framework document describes successful teaching as discursive, interactive, well-paced, confident and ambitious.

It defines discursive teaching as that 'characterised by high-quality oral work', while interactive teaching occurs when 'pupils' responses are encouraged, expected and extended'. In other words, it apparently places a high value on children's talk. Yet our research has revealed that teachers feel frustrated in their attempts to promote children's oracy, This failure has repercussions for the Foundation Stage.

Our research project, Study of PRimary INteractive Teaching (see 'More information'), looked at how teachers define 'interactive teaching' and put it into practice in the literacy hour and in other parts of the curriculum.

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