Oracy education is valuable at all stages of education, in all settings and for all types of pupil, especially children from low income backgrounds.

The first recommendation in the EEF’s Preparing for Literacy guidance report is that settings should prioritise the development of communication and language, noting that language provides the foundation of thinking and learning.

The EEF’s Early Years Toolkit finds that studies of communication and language approaches consistently show positive benefits for young children’s learning, including their spoken language skills, their expressive vocabulary and their early reading skills.

On average, children who are supported within communication and language approaches make approximately six months’ additional progress over the course of a year. All children appear to benefit from such approaches, but some studies show slightly larger effects for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The EEF’s guidance reports Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1 and Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 both begin by emphasising the importance of developing pupils’ speaking, listening and communication skills.

The EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit concludes that there is an extensive evidence base on the effectiveness of oral language interventions, suggesting that oral language interventions can be successful in a variety of environments.

Although more studies relate to younger children, there is also clear evidence that older learners, and particularly disadvantaged pupils, can benefit. On average, pupils who participate in oral language interventions make approximately five months' additional progress over the course of a year.

What support do teachers need to improve the delivery of oracy education?

High-quality professional development is essential to support teaching to improve the quality of oracy education.

Investing time and ensuring the buy-in of school leadership is important to ensure that training opportunities are sustained and consistent.

For all oral language interventions, certain factors are associated with higher learning gains, suggesting that careful implementation is important. For example, approaches which explicitly aim to develop spoken vocabulary work best when they are related to current content being studied in school, and when they involve active and meaningful use of any new vocabulary.

The attention to detail needed to maximise the impact of oracy approaches underlines the need for training and high-quality support for teachers.