Oral language is at the heart of language development and is foundational for reading, but what about writing? Oral language can support pupils of all ages in formulating ideas, expanding vocabulary, and understanding sentence structures – all of which are essential for writing.
The power of pre-writing
The Improving Literacy in Key Stage One guidance report points to the fact that writing requires the consideration of purpose and audience, and the coordination of meaning, form, and structure. The coordination of these concepts is a complex, yet essential, skill that can be practised through purposeful oral language activities carefully aligned with writing.
The Year 1 National Curriculum programme of study also highlights the role of oral language in writing:
Engaging pupils in activities prior to writing can help them to generate and organise their ideas. Imagine a Year two class learning about animals. Before writing a description of a tiger, the teacher might:
- Read a rich, descriptive text aloud.
- Unpick and discuss key vocabulary (e.g., ‘camouflage,’ ‘stalk,’ ‘stripe’).
- Use talk partners to describe a tiger orally.
- Rehearse a sentence together: ‘The tiger stalks its prey in the tall grass.’
- Guide pupils as they write the sentence, drawing on their spoken ideas.
Purposeful oral language activities, including pupils articulating their ideas verbally before writing, can support pupils’ expressive and receptive language. Moreover, articulating ideas before writing means pupils are not hindered by handwriting or spelling and can provide a low-stakes opportunities for pupils to ‘orally rehearse’ a written response.
Put simply, writing instruction doesn’t have to begin on the page. Oral language approaches —like storytelling, oral rehearsal, and talk partners – offer vital supports for pupils to better develop writing skills.
Oral language and the writing process
As pupils move into Key Stage 2, oral language approaches can help pupils to shape and refine their thoughts before, during and after they commit them to paper. Recommendation four of the Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 guidance report emphasises the need to teach writing composition strategies through modelling and supported practice.
Over time, pupils should take increasing responsibility for selecting and using strategies and oral language approaches can support them in becoming adept at which strategies to select for different purposes. For instance:
- Planning: Discussing ideas aloud helps pupils clarify their structure and key points before they write.
- Drafting: Encouraging pupils to rehearse sentences verbally supports fluency and syntactic accuracy.
- Evaluating and editing: Peer discussion around writing helps pupils identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Whether through pre-writing or orally supporting the writing process, oral language and writing become mutually reinforcing. When pupils are given the tools to articulate their thoughts aloud, they are better prepared to shape those ideas on the page.