Oracy: The road to equity (part 1)

This article was first published in SecEd Magazine on 1 July 2025

In SecEd’s recent supplement on oracy education and teaching, I wrote about using the power of oracy to tackle disadvantage.

I gave five reasons why affluent, middle-class students tended to be more confident and articulate than their disadvantaged peers. That’s because they are:

1. Immersed in a wide range of enriching experiences from a young age.
2. Raised with a sense of entitlement – not arrogance, but an underlying belief that they have a right to be heard and a place in the world.
3. Introduced early to the unwritten rules of formal situations.
4. Surrounded by role models who demonstrate confidence and articulacy in action.
5. Beneficiaries of what sociologists call the “hidden curriculum” – the unspoken lessons about how to succeed in society.

I went on to argue that, to level the playing field, we should:

• Create opportunities for structured talk, using activities such as debates, presentations, and collaborative problem-solving to give all students the chance to practise speaking in a range of contexts.
• Teach the language of success, explicitly teaching academic and professional vocabulary, and show students how to adapt their speech for different audiences and purposes; and model and scaffold, using sentence stems and discussion frameworks to help students structure their responses and build confidence over time.
• Create authentic experiences, using role-play and simulations, such as mock interviews or workplace scenarios, to help students practise navigating formal settings.
• Invite guest speakers into school, bringing in professionals from a range of industries to inspire students and model effective communication.
• Respect home languages, validating and celebrating the linguistic diversity students bring with them, while explicitly teaching formal registers, showing students how and when to use Standard English, providing plenty of opportunities to practise.

I also talked about the role dialogic teaching can play in helping disadvantaged students to develop the skills they need to speak with clarity, confidence, and precision, using cumulative talk (where students build on each other’s contributions to develop shared understanding), exploratory talk (where they test and refine ideas through discussion), and reflective talk (where they evaluate their own and other people’s perspectives).

You can download your free copy of that 21-page supplement on the SecEd website (A SecEd best practice guide to teaching oracy in schools, 2025). Now, in two further articles I would like to dive a bit deeper into oracy and equity.

Oracy: the road to equity?

Teaching oracy is vital for all young people, but it holds particular significance for disadvantaged learners. For these learners, oracy is more than a skill – it is a lifeline, a tool to unlock opportunities, and bridge the gap between potential and attainment.

If we are serious about addressing educational inequality, we must make oracy a central pillar of our teaching. Oracy is the road to equity.

Why? Because disadvantaged learners often enter school with less developed verbal skills compared to their more affluent peers (Biemiller, 2004). Children from less advantaged backgrounds are exposed to fewer words and a narrower range of vocabulary in their early years. This “language gap” affects their ability to articulate thoughts, engage with academic content, and build social connections.

But, by explicitly teaching oracy, we can begin to close this gap. Through structured opportunities to speak, listen, and engage in dialogue, we can provide disadvantaged learners with the linguistic tools they need to access the curriculum and thrive in education.

And it’s not just about language capability; it’s about confidence, too. Disadvantaged learners can lack the confidence to express themselves in formal or unfamiliar settings. This lack of self-assurance can reinforce a sense of exclusion and limit their aspirations. But oracy teaching can build confidence by equipping learners with the skills to communicate effectively, whether presenting to an audience, answering questions in class, or navigating a job interview.

By developing their oracy skills, we can empower disadvantaged learners to find their voice, articulate their ambitions, and believe in their ability to succeed, and we can begin to break the cycle of disadvantage.

As such, oracy is not an optional extra; rather, it is fundamental to learning. Speaking and listening provide the foundation for reading and writing. Classroom talk helps learners to clarify their thinking, explore ideas, and deepen their understanding of complex concepts. And, for disadvantaged learners, oracy is particularly important because it provides a gateway to the curriculum. Many disadvantaged learners struggle to access academic language and grapple with unfamiliar vocabulary. By teaching them how to use and understand sophisticated language, we can give them the tools needed to engage fully with their education.

Disadvantaged learners often face barriers when transitioning to the world of work or further education. Many employers regard communication skills as essential, yet many young people enter the workforce unprepared.

Explicit oracy teaching can help ensure disadvantaged learners leave school with the ability to speak clearly, listen actively, and engage professionally. These are the skills they will need to succeed in interviews, collaborate with colleagues, and advocate for themselves in all areas of life.

What does this look like in practice?

I would like to focus on three ways of using oracy as a road to equity:

1. Teach “accent-ism” and “code-switching” to enable learners to speak appropriately and with confidence in a range of situations.
2. Teach debating skills to enable learners to engage in discussions and articulate their views with diplomacy.
3. Teach rhetoric and prosody to enable learners to speak convincingly and powerfully to argue their views.

Accent-ism and code-switching

David Hockney told a BBC reporter recently that as a young student from Bradford at the Royal College of Art in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the other students laughed at him.

“People would mock my accent,” he said. But it didn’t faze him. He told the BBC: “I’d look at their artworks and I’d think, well, if I drew like that, I’d keep my mouth shut.”

I’ve been a Hockney fan my whole life but learning that he was mocked for his Bradfordian accent when he went away to study brought me even closer.

When I left Bradford for university in the mid-1990s, I too was mocked for my uncut Yorkshire accent. I’d only ever been around people like me; people who spoke like me. It came as a shock, therefore, to be singled out for speaking the way I did. But students from London and the South East, born to privilege and then privately educated, heard my accent and made assumptions about me and my intellect.

I would like to think times have changed, but I know they haven’t. That’s why, as part of our oracy programme, I think we need to teach accent-ism and code-switching.

Accent-ism is discrimination against someone based on their accent, dialect, or speech patterns, often leading to stereotypes and assumptions being made about intelligence, education, or social status. To tackle it, we need to actively unpack our hidden biases, and those of our students, and visibly celebrate people’s linguistic diversity.

Code-switching, meanwhile, is the ability to shift between different styles of language depending on the context, audience, or purpose. It allows people to adapt their speech to suit formal and informal settings, demonstrating an understanding of social norms and expectations.

For disadvantaged learners, teaching code-switching is particularly important because it equips them with the tools to navigate a range of environments, from the classroom to the workplace, and to participate confidently in society.

At its heart, code-switching involves choosing the right register, tone, and vocabulary for a specific context. It might mean using Standard English in a formal setting such as an interview and then shifting to a more colloquial style when talking to friends.

To be clear, this isn’t about pretending to be someone you’re not; nor is it about conforming. Rather, it’s about making sure you’re heard and understood. The way I talk when I’m out with friends or at a football match is not the same as the way I talk when I’m giving a keynote presentation, just as the way I dress for gardening is not the same as the way I dress for a night out. Context matters. And flexibility is key.

Linguistic flexibility is not about erasing or undermining a young person’s own language or dialect; rather, it’s about empowering them to add another “code” to their repertoire.

Code-switching is a skill that allows young people to preserve their cultural identity while accessing opportunities in settings where Standard English is expected.

For disadvantaged learners, the ability to code-switch can be transformative. Here’s why:

• Bridging the gap between home and school: Without explicit guidance, many students may struggle to adapt to the formal register required in academic writing or classroom discussions. Teaching code-switching helps students understand when and how to use Standard English without invalidating their own language. It bridges the gap between their lived experiences and the expectations of the school environment, reducing the risk of alienation.
• Accessing the curriculum: From exam questions to essay-writing, our students are expected to use Standard English fluently and accurately in academia. By teaching code-switching, we demystify academic language and give students the tools they need to access the curriculum fully, ensuring that their ideas and insights are not lost due to linguistic obstacles.
• Preparing for professional environments: In the workplace, the ability to adapt one’s communication style is a critical skill. Employers often expect a level of formality and professionalism that may be unfamiliar to learners from certain backgrounds. By teaching code-switching, we can help prepare students to succeed in interviews, collaborate effectively with colleagues, and present themselves with confidence in professional settings.

Teaching code-switching involves more than just correcting grammar or pronunciation – it requires a sensitive and inclusive approach which begins by valuing and respecting the language and dialects learners bring with them. In practice, we need to show learners that their home language is an important part of their identity and a strength to be celebrated.

In the second half of this article, I will explore debating skills, and rhetoric and prosody.