Classroom Talk

Doddington, C. (2001). Entitled to speak: Talk in the classroom. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 20(3), 267-274.

Background

The author suggests that child learning takes place in conversation with ‘others’ (other people, texts, etc.). She then suggests that the current model of educational progression in ‘Speaking and Listening’ (in Britain) emphasizes ‘effective talk’, talk that is planned with purpose and audience in mind. The result is that children are restricted to producing particular types of speech.

Aims

The author feels it is important to introduce an alternative way of looking at speaking and listening.

Sample

As the article is a theoretical piece, there is no data collection. Instead, the author offers illustrative language fragments as the data.

Method

The author examines how language is commonly used based on some example phrases in order to demonstrate her thesis that language, learning and thought are inextricably linked.

Findings

The author argues that language is mainly used to express an idea or feeling and not in consideration of the audience. She suggests that we do not carefully prepare what we want to say and then speak. Rather the act of speech is closely linked to thinking; the act of speech creates the thought or emotion. Thus, we have expressions such as, ‘As I tried to explain the problem, it suddenly fell into place – it all became clear to me.’ She suggests that it is the unfolding of meaning through dialogue that is one of the main functions of effective speech. Thus, making appropriate language choices is very much dependent on the situation and cannot be decided through generalized rules. Moreover, the need for someone to say something can override a consideration of how the audience might feel. Language is also a means of identifying the individual’s identity and his/ her interdependence with others. (It is the latter that underlines the importance of listening as a skill.)

Implications

In order to encourage authentic speech, the way teachers respond to student talk becomes important. Teachers need to demonstrate that utterances can be food for thought and not just prompts for interrogation and not teach the spoken skills as something internal to the individual which can be improved through rule-governed rehearsal. Instead, students need to learn the skills of expressing themselves and listening to others.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.