Talk in the Classroom - Listening

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Studies in Philosophy and Education 20: 267274, 2001.

2001Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 267

Entitled to Speak: Talk in the Classroom

CHRISTINE DODDINGTONHomerton College, Cambridge, UK

Abstract. For young children, learning begins in conversation contexts such as schools. The author

of this paper contends that talk activities are fundamental to future knowledge and understanding.

Implicit is critique of a current British model that values the practice of speaking through effective

talk. This view is contrasted to one centered on expressive speech and authentic listening.

Key words:authenticity, oracy, pupil voice, teaching talk

Introduction

There is a current view that growth in human understanding and knowledge may

be best conceived through the metaphor of conversation. Learning and acquiring

understanding happens in essence through engagement in dialogue with the other.

Philosopher Richard Bernstein writes,

when we are engaged in dialogue, whether it be with another partner, a text, or

a tradition, there is always something other to which we are being responsive,

that speaks to us and constrains us. There is a genuine to-and-fro movement

that enables us to constitute a we that is more than a projection of my own

idiosyncratic desires and beliefs (Bernstein, 1991, p. 248).

For young children, it might be that the dialogue of learning begins literally in the

contexts of conversation in which they first find themselves. This means that the

educational design of talk activities are fundamental to an entitlement for future

knowledge and understanding as well as the capacity to have freedom of speech.

The current British model of progression in Speaking and Listening stresses

effective talk and rests on assumptions of how speech operates and the value

attached to the practice of speaking. In the paper, this view is contrasted with

an alternative view centered around personally expressive speech and authentic

listening and the implications for communities where free speech is valued in both

theory and in practice.


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268 CHRISTINE DODDINGTON

Speaking

Freedom to speak is one of the most passionately defended or desired entitlements

across the globe. Adults often regard it as a fundamental right and yet within educa-

tion and from a childs perspective, speaking can be one of the most controlledaspects of behavior. This happens not just in terms of advocating that children

should be seen and not heard or about limiting noise level, but also in terms of the

kind of speaking that is endorsed and promoted within the classroom.

While learning to speak is generally acknowledged as among the most signi-

ficant achievements of the young child, the capacity to do this well into adulthood

continues to be valued in a variety of ways. People applaud a rousing speech or a

stimulating live talk in different forms. The good priest, teacher, manager, or doctor

who attend and communicate appropriately and effectively are valued. Praise is

also given those who seem able to form good relationships in their personal and

public lives because they express themselves well or are good listeners. A signi-

ficant question is this: What role should education play in enhancing the passagefrom baby babbling to levels of spoken language such as these?

A brief reflection on everyday speech situations offers a starting point. A spoken

account is judged correct or accurate if it corresponds to the truth. However the

quality of truthfulness depends on truthful perception in the first place and in

certain circumstances, (such as the speech of a journalist or politician) it might

be more appropriate to think in terms of interpretation. Here, successful speaking

is measured in part by how effectively the spoken words communicate what is

meant. Effectiveness and clarity of purpose in ways of speaking therefore seem

more realistic objectives to which education might contribute.

One measure of how effective a speaker is will be the degree to which her or

his audience receives the meaning intended. The speaker is therefore charged to

attend to the needs of the audience. Numerous business or workplace-orientedcourses hail effective communication as an empowering skill. Persons who speak,

listen and are aware of the effect they have in different situations are undoubtedly

more powerful than those who do not perceive this. In the current British National

Curriculum, there is a particular stress on adapting to purpose, effectiveness and

audience. Here are specifics from the curriculum.

To develop effective speaking and listening pupils should be taught to

use the vocabulary and grammar of standard English;

formulate, clarify and express their ideas;

adapt their speech to a widening range of circumstances and demands;

listen, understand and respond appropriately to others (DFE 1995, p. 2).In more detail,

Pupils should be given opportunities to consider how talk is influenced by the

purpose and by the intended audience (1995, p. 4).


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ENTITLED TO SPEAK: TALK IN THE CLASSROOM 269

Learning to speak (and listen well) requires a heightened consciousness, a

degree of objectivity or calculation in order to achieve the desired effect. Therefore

education should make children more conscious of how they talk and how the

audience responds. The curriculum continues,

pupils should be taught the importance of language that is clear, fluent and

interesting . . . pupils should be encouraged to speak with confidence, making

themselves clear through organising what they say and choosing words with

precision . . . [and] taking into account the needs of their listeners (p. 4).

The assumption made is that talk is best seen as a conscious tool that one learns

to use skillfully. The analogy of a craft is helpful here. An effective speaker

selects words and phrases that might best achieve an intended purpose. The effect is

chosen or pre-determined and practiced, or exercised and therefore skills and the

ability to speak well are strengthened. Effect as one of the main criteria of valu-

able talk implies that language and human behaviour is predominantly systematic

and that it is therefore this aspect of speaking and listening that children have asan educational right. The question this raises is whether the full story of the central

role language plays in being human and becoming educated is encapsulated by the

story above from the curriculum. Freedom to speak may be significant for more

than the value attached to reporting or calculating effect. If this is so, then children

might be entitled to an education which offers more than the model of skilled or

effective speech sketched above.

An Alternative View

Reflection on everyday speaking or listening experiences that seem significant

or worthy of comment helps to open up an alternative view. Many instances of

speaking and listening soak invisibly into the fabric of day to day lives. Everydayspeech is often instrumental or provoked by straightforward purpose and when

woven smoothly with actions and behaviour, stories are told, inquiries made

or questions answered, and persons are barely conscious of processes involved.

However, there are other incidences of speaking that are more significant and carry

more weight. At these times persons become aware of the real power of speech

either because it is successful or when words fail. In the latter there is struggle:

I was so excited I just couldnt take in all of what was said; It left me lost

for words I just didnt know what to say.

Awareness of the power of speaking effects change that is significant:

Once she had talked me through it, I really understood it; His story really

moved me; As I tried to explain the problem, it suddenly fell into place it

all became clear to me.

Superficially, these examples can simply be classed as talk that is either effective

or not. However there are a number of features that do not fit comfortably with an


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emphasis on calculated efficiency implied by the earlier model. The effective

examples do not all depend on pre-meditation and selection. In particular the first

just above, and especially the third, highlight the value of interaction or process that

cannot be fully predetermined. They describe events of enlightenment that signal

an important general point. As Joseph Dunne explains,

One cannot determine in advance the efficacy of ones words and deeds.

Efficacy turns out to be a form of influence; it lies not so much in ones

own operation as in the co-operation of others. The nature and extent of this

co-operation cannot be counted on beforehand and even afterwards one cannot

be sure just what it has been (Dunne, 1995, p. 359).

This indetermination is endorsed further by reflecting on the statement His story

really moved me. Here, speech is powerful but the idea that someone should set

out to move those listening may be appropriate in a theatrical context but rings

untrue in real life. If the idea of deciding the end and choosing the means were

retained in this instance, suspicion of manipulation and accusations of a lack ofsincerity might follow. To complete the point, it seems absurd to claim that the

examples offered where speaking and listening have failed are rehearsed or are

rational pre-selections.

The argument rests on analysis of particular statements but these could of course

be placed within variable contexts that considerably alters their meaning. This

draws attention to another flaw in the idea that speech is exercised as if it were

simply a pre-set rule-governed activity. Human interaction is generally unpredict-

able and it is impossible to articulate the rules of using language that are effectively

applicable for every situation. Judgements and choices about what it is appropriate

to say require a quality of perception, a close listening and reading of each situ-

ation; therefore effective speaking must inevitably be locked into the particularities

of each conversation. Individuals who try to operate from generalised rules withoutclose attention to a situation speak and listen in ways that appear wooden or unre-

sponsive. In this context someone is judged unfavourably for appearing rehearsed

or insincere.

This point leads to a third feature of the examples cited for they are based on

judgements that are not made by reference to an audience, but to oneself. There

is no need to seek public agreement in order to determine what moves others or

oneself. Whether one understands or not is partially a personal judgement. This is

not to say that discussion does not help this process, but there is an important sense

in which speaking must be self-determined. Speech has to express what one wants

to say. Care and attention to ones own sense of what is right rather than what

appeals to an audience is not an unusual idea. For instance, King Learexploresthe ramifications of tempering speech to the audience in the closing words of

the play: Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say highlights a sense of

authenticity that many consider vital to personal life.

It might be argued that speech seen as expression of feeling is perhaps not

relevant to education. Indeed where talk is seen as a system of communication


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employed to satisfy an audience, then expression is largely considered only as a

cosmetic technique to be employed. But there is more as the curriculum indicates:

(Pupils) talk engages the interest of the listener as they begin to vary their

expression and vocabulary (DFE, 1995, p. 26).

Indeed expression has a far more significant meaning in relation to speech

according to philosopher R.G. Collingwood. In The Principles of Art(1938) the

realm of expression as fundamental to human communication is posited as the

language of total bodily gesture. Collingwood claims that language as a full

bodily activity is linked inextricably with imaginative experience of mind or

consciousness and that expression is needed to consolidate and make experiences

conscious. He puts it that [formal] or linguistic expression is a necessary element

in the consolidation of experience at the level of consciousness (1938, p. 234).

Without some form of expression, experiences cannot be consciously felt or under-

stood. More specifically, an emotion cannot come into consciousness unless it is

expressed in some form only then can feelings be known. Here is Collingwoodagain: Expression of emotion is not, as it were, a dress made to fit an emotion

already existing but is an activity without which the experience of that emotion

cannot exist (p. 244).

Examples assist in understanding. What is felt initially as indiscriminate anger

is revealed as a more complex sense of betrayal, hurt pride, indignation or jealousy

in attempts to express to others or even to oneself what has occurred. Although a

spoken form is only one kind of expression it is one of the most frequently used.

The argument runs that speech is one form of human action through which an

emotion is refined and constituted.

In general, speech on this view has the potential to bring thought into being

rather than naming pre-existing states. Philosopher Charles Taylor follows similar

lines when he considers ideas on the origin of language developed by the German

historian Herder. In Taylor, the echoes from Collingwood are clear: Speech is

the expression of thought. But it isnt simply an outer clothing for what could

exist independently. It is constitutive of . . . thought that deals with its objects in

the linguistic dimension. In its origins it is close to and interwoven with gesture

(Taylor, 1991, p. 55). Taylor further argues for adequate consideration of situated-

ness and background to fully understand how language is used and acquired. The

salient feature is that speech at its most valuable is a vital form of activity, through

which reflection is realised. Taylor summarises,

[Language] is . . . something in the nature of a web; a web, which to complicate

the image, is present as a whole in any one of its parts . . . . Because the words

we use have sense only through their place in the whole web, we can never

in principle have a clear oversight of the implications of what we say at any

moment. Our language is always more than we can encompass; it is in a sense

inexhaustible (p. 59).

Dunne adds interpretation to Taylors use of Herder:


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No one really uses language, no one, that is, constructs thoughts within his or

her subjectivity and thenemploys words which can best convey these thoughts

to a public. Rather thinking itself is already within language, even when, as a

creative or radical thinking, it does not fell into the obvious pathways of the

language . . . but strains to cut fresh paths (Dunne, 1995, p. 360).

The focus here is obviously not all on speaking. It seems from these writers

that personally expressive talk may not merely serve to articulate the emotional

and reflective life, but actually constitute it. Furthermore, the potential value of

language which articulates an emotional life may be best understood in terms of

what characterises a central aspect of humanity. Returning to Taylor,

If language serves to express/realise a new kind of awareness, then it may not

only make possible a new awareness of things, an ability to describe them. It

may also open new ways of responding to things, of feeling. If in expressing our

thoughts about things, we can come to have new thoughts, then in expressing

our feelings, we can come to have transformed feelings (Taylor, 1991, p. 60).This view is shared and extended by writers who offer significant claims that

language is the means by which both personal and cultural identity is forged.

Such identity is constituted not only of what makes each unique but also in what

ways one is interdependent with others. This means that an additional element is

crucial. This is the importance of listening that is often neglected even in theories

of expressive speaking.

This neglect of listening as an essential ingredient of learning to speak is partic-

ularly significant for education. Implicit in what has been presented thus far is a

particular dialogic form of listening, one in contrast to a form of listening which

is intent only on critique and scrutiny that reduces what can be heard. Philosopher

Hans Georg Gadamer writes of the importance of being open:

the important thing . . . is to listen to what (the Thou) has to say to us. To this

end, openness is necessary. But this openness exists ultimately not only for the

person to whom one listens, but rather anyone who listens is fundamentally

open. Without this kind of openness to one another there is no genuine human

relationship (Gadamer, 1979, p. 324).

Returning to education, if teachers encourage authentic speech then the way in

which they receive and respond to childrens talk is important. At the same time,

teaching children what is involved in listening is also vital and yet is commonly

taken for granted with simple directives Listen carefully.1

The qualities involved in being genuinely open to anothers ideas through

listening is an area that philosophy has neglected as G. Corradi Fiumara has pointedout.2 Returning again to the realm of Collingwood, the notion of attending and

contemplating in a receptive rather than in pre-determined, judgemental fashion

is familiar to those who try to explain the ways in which objects or perform-

ances of art work. In contrast, language in the classroom is frequently seen

as most legitimate when it revolves around questions and answers. However, by


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showing children that utterances can be food for thought rather than prompts

for interrogation, teachers could well encourage a richer form of learning to

speak.

Conclusion

In this paper, I have suggested that in the familiar world of a child, where talk as

total bodily gesture looms large, constraint or exclusion of personally expressive

conversation denies a basic opportunity by which emotions are felt and come

into being. This may also neglect the very basis by which children can begin to

deepen and extend their sensibility, humanity and identity. These views need closer

analysis than I can give them here but they do seem sharply at odds with talk seen

as a means to pre-determined ends. If speaking and genuine hearing enables me to

have ideas, to find out what I want to say, as I say it, if it involves the expression

and sharing of thoughts and emotions and the interpretation of others expression,

it is indispensable for personal meaning, human interaction and thought.Put together, these ideas alert educators to vital qualities of speaking and

listening that are neglected in an overly systematised view of language. Talking

is a fundamental form of expression for each individual located between persons

as conversation. It is the basic vehicle for personal engagement with others and

serves to develop thought and identity. This implies that educational practice in

speaking and listening should support and give opportunity for talk and oppor-

tunity to listen in ways that are authentic rather than contrived. Each speech event

relates to the particularity in which it is embedded; the objective of classroom talk

should enable speakers to become perceptive listeners, interpreters and versatile

participants rather than to be programmed. Speech is not internal to the individual

nor developed through simple rehearsal in a rule- governed social action. Thebasic assumption that talk as simply a process which can be engineered towards

predetermined ends is therefore lamentably inadequate.

Note

1 Some teachers who have recognised the importance of listening to language development have

made behaviours explicit to help very young children know what they should do when listening such

as Sit still, look, think. See Powers Hall Infant School, Speech and Language Unit.2 See Corradi Fiumara (1990).

References

Bernstein, R.: 1991,The New Constellation, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Collingwood, R.G.: 1938, The Principles of Art, Clarendon, London.

Corradi Fiumara, G.: 1990, The Other Side of Language, Routledge, London.

D.F.E.: 1995,English in the National Curriculum, HMSO, London.

Dunne, J.: 1995,Back to the Rough Ground, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN.

Gadamer, H.G.: 1979,Truth and Method, Sheed & Ward, London.


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Powers Hall Infant School, Speech and Language Unit, Witham, Essex.

Taylor, C.: 1991, The Importance of Herder, in E. Ullmann-Margalit and A. Margalit (eds.),Isaiah

Berlin: A Celebration, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Address for correspondence: Christine Doddington, Homerton College, Hills Road, Cambridge,

CB2 2PH, UK (E-mail: [email protected])

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Talk in the Classroom - Listening