Oral Communication Blog

ORAL COMMUNICATION BLOG
Oral communication skills are important to literacy development and are essential for thinking and learning. Talk helps students communicate information and explore ideas, solve problems, and clarify their thoughts. Listening and speaking are essential for social interaction. Ontario Ministry Expectations for Language Curriculum (p.80) has the following overall expectations for Oral Communication:
1.       Students will listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes
2.      Students will use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes
3.      Students will reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations

The curriculum overview stresses the importance of “real, purposeful talk” in order “to construct meaning and communicate successfully” and “that it needs to be threaded throughout every day and across the curriculum to promote the transfer of language knowledge, skills and, strategies to learning across the curriculum” (p.76). As a teacher, it is important that learners have the opportunity to ask questions, share their thinking to develop their understanding. In most classrooms teachers make opportunities to develop oral communication through class discussions and activities such as, speeches. Another way of sharing ideas and developing talk or discourse is through Knowledge Building Circles. The Ministry Monograph (2011), Grand Conversations in the Junior Classroom, describes Knowledge Inquiry Circles as a “venue” that can be used in junior classrooms.
In Natural Curiosity, Knowledge Building Discourse, which is also called Knowledge Building Circles, is described as, “a communal activity in which learners come together to pose questions, posit theories, and to revisit, negotiate, and refine their ideas” (2011, p.11). Class discussions has been a component of classrooms for a very long time as a way of developing understanding through sharing different points of views. This is different than the usual class discussions as students sit in a circle to share their ideas. The Knowledge Building Circle is similar to the Indigenous Talking Circle, in which individuals take turns sharing their ideas. The circle is intentional as it encourages attentive listening and communication; and all students have an equal place in the discussions. The Learning Exchange has a number of videoclips that show educators what a Knowledge Building Circle can look like in the classroom. This videoclip is a grade 5 class:     https://thelearningexchange.ca/videos/knowledge-building-circle/
Retrieved from https://thelearningexchange.ca/videos/knowledge-building-circle/
It would seem that if an educator uses Knowledge Building Circles on a regular basis, the learners become very comfortable with listening to one another and being able to share their learning. Some of the scaffolds that the educator can use to help the students go beyond information sharing:
 I wonder…… , An improved idea is ……, Another way of looking at it…..(p.25)
https://thelearningexchange.ca/pdf/knowledge-building-gallery/


The Knowledge Building Circles also provides the teacher with assessment information using observations and conversations.
Knowledge Building Discourse “serves to identify shared problems and gaps in understanding in understanding beyond the level of the most knowledgeable individual” (Scardamalia, 2002, p.12). Knowledge Building Circles are a way of working out students’ questions and ideas, rather than teacher asking questions and some student answering. The questions turn into further wonderings for the learners to research. Some of the learning opportunities of using Knowledge Circles is:  
·         building on the knowledge that the student has shared with the class
·         making connections that might lead to idea improvement by the whole class
·         contributing to students’ understanding about the content (Chiarotto, 2011, p.12)


 Knowledge Building Circles is one of the structures for Knowledge Building, an approach to student inquiry in the classroom. 
 https://thelearningexchange.ca/projects/knowledge-building/
In the videoclip, one of the teachers says that Discourse and Collaboration is at the centre of Knowledge Building. It is this developing of communication skills in learners that enables them to really engage in 21st century learning. This is also clearly demonstrated in the chart below:

           Table 2: The Unique Role of Knowledge Building Discourse in Inquiry-based Learning

Discourse, rather than content delivery, shapes the direction and manner of learning.
The teacher does not necessarily know in advance all of the questions and answers that may emerge from student discourse.
The teacher nurtures student engagement by asking open-ended questions such as: “Did anyone notice/read/ find out something that might help us understand our question?”
Students attempt to reconcile their own theories and ideas in light of new sources of information. Teachers support them in this process by asking questions such as: “How does that information support your theory? Have you changed or added to your theory?”
The teacher models and facilitates multi-directional dialogue to help students internalize and practise it themselves. “Does anyone have something to build onto Joseph’s idea? Joseph, please pass-on to another student.”

Retrieved on November 21, 2017. Retrieved from www.naturalcuriosity.ca/pdf/NaturalCuriosityManual.pdf


The use of Knowledge Building Circles is definitely one of the structures that I would like to use in my classroom, as a means of having learners participate in real and purposeful talk in an authentic manner.


References:

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011). Capacity Building Series. Grand Conversations in Junior Classroom.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language. Toronto: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.), Liberal Education in a Knowledge Society (pp.67-98). Chicago, IL:  Open Court.

Retrieved from https://thelearningexchange.ca/pdf/knowledge-building-gallery/

 

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