Oracy The ability to express oneself in and understand spoken language

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Schools rightly prioritise numeracy and literacy as the core foundations of learning. Yet listening and speaking, the capacities that shape how we think together, receive far less attention and are rarely examined. Oracy deserves equal standing alongside reasoning, understanding, and meaningful human connection.

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Is Conversation as Important as Reading?

Is the ability to hold a good conversation as important as being able to read well?

“Is conversation as important as reading?” or “Is the love of conversation as important as the love of reading?”

Of course, we need both, and in many ways, they are equally important in life. But if that is the case, why is so much emphasis attached to reading and writing, in other words, literacy?

In school, once we have learned the four basics of language, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, the educational focus tends to shift to reading and writing.

Listening and speaking are generally not taught in schools. They are absorbed, and what teaching does take place is often from our parents.

I suspect the focus on literacy and numeracy, more than anything else, is because they are easier to teach than oracy, and because the prime purpose is to be examined on what we have been taught.

It is far easier to test someone’s knowledge by having them answer written or numerical questions than by asking them about what they know.

In other words, being taught to listen, speak well, and engage in various forms of conversation, such as discussion, dialogue, and debate, receives little attention in our exam-obsessed educational systems.

Which Life Skill Matters More?

But think about it, in our adult lives, in the home and the office, which is the more important life skill? The ability to read, the capacity to write, or the ability to hold a good conversation?

When we are very young children learning the basics, do listening and speaking not naturally come first? Isn’t the ability to hold a good conversation the foundation of literacy? Should not more focus be placed here?

If literacy is the ability to read and write, then oracy is the ability to listen and speak.

What Oracy Actually Involves

But oracy is not simply informal chat or confident presentation. It includes the ability to articulate ideas clearly, structure arguments coherently, choose vocabulary carefully, and use voice well in terms of tone, pace, and volume. These are speaking skills.

It also includes disciplined listening. Not waiting to speak, but actively interpreting, questioning, and responding to what others say. Listening that enables understanding rather than interruption.

And it includes discussion and dialogue skills. The ability to explore ideas together, to debate constructively, to build on the thinking of others, and to collaborate through talk rather than simply advocating positions.

Oracy as a Tool for Thinking

At its deepest level, oracy is not only about having better conversations. It is about reasoning together. In some educational traditions, talk is understood as a tool for thinking itself.

When we explain, question, challenge, and test ideas collectively, we are not just exchanging information. We are constructing understanding jointly.

Dialogue becomes a medium for shared sense making.

Our research shows that when students learn how to use talk to reason together, they become better at reasoning on their own.

Credit: Neil Mercer

The researcher Andrew Wilkinson coined the concept of oracy as recently as 1965 to give the subject of ‘speaking and listening’ more gravitas.

Wilkinson wanted spoken language to have the same educational status as reading and writing. More recent research has strengthened this case by showing that the quality of classroom talk shapes cognitive development. How we talk together influences how we think together.

Oracy in Practice

Some schools are taking it seriously, as these videos show.

Remember, talk is the foundation stone of all learning.

Credit: Professor Debra Myhil

Adding Oracy to Literacy and Numeracy

So, to numeracy and literacy, we need to add oracy.

• Numeracy: the ability to understand and work with numbers.
• Literacy: the ability to read and write.
• Oracy: the ability to express oneself in and understand spoken language.

Defining Oracy

Oracy could be defined simply as:

Oracy is the ability to express oneself in and understand spoken language.

Or as defined here:

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.

Credit: voice21

The Four Dimensions of Oracy

It can be helpful to see oracy across four interrelated dimensions:

• Physical: voice, articulation, gesture, body language.
• Linguistic: vocabulary, sentence structure, clarity of expression.
• Cognitive: reasoning, content, logic, the quality of ideas.
• Social and emotional: confidence, audience awareness, respect, collaborative disposition.

Seen this way, oracy is not performance alone. It is thoughtful participation in collective inquiry.

This is how I define it:

Oracy and Rhetoric

You should not confuse oracy with rhetoric. Although they share many similarities, they are significantly different.

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If we care about how people think, learn, and work together, we need to take oracy seriously. We can give more time to listening, questioning, and dialogue in our classrooms and organisations. By doing so, we strengthen not only communication but also our shared capacity to reason and act wisely.

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Resources

• Why teach oracy?
• Why Talk Is Important in Classrooms
• Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk