There is a much loved saying in literacy teaching: if you can’t say it, you can’t write it. But it’s not true.
I’ve been working with colleagues at my trust to compare our primary pupils’ writing with their speaking. We use typescripts of pupils’ speech and compare it to the writing they’ve just done. In every case, the pupils can write more accurate and sophisticated sentences than they can say.
This isn’t surprising. If you look at a typescript of your own speaking, you’ll find your written sentences are far more precise than your speaking. That’s because speaking is generally much faster, where you edit on the fly; point at the things you are talking about and assess your audience’s understanding through facial expressions and interruptions. Writing, by comparison, is slower, more thoughtful and you can edit.
Let’s say you want to communicate these three ideas in a sentence:
- Henry VIII needed a son.
- His wife couldn’t conceive.
- He wanted a divorce.
Most year 5 pupils can combine these into a written sentence. E.g.
Henry VIII needed a son but his wife couldn’t conceive so he wanted a divorce.
It would be less common for a pupil to utter this sentence verbally.
Our approach to developing both writing and speaking is to practise both writing good sentences and speaking them out loud. We use Echo Reading techniques to practise reading excellent sentences aloud. We use sentence starters for both writing and speaking.
Speaking well in class isn’t about making pupils better writers: it’s more important than that.
Ben
Reading for Learning 