2. What did we look at?
• Looked for an area that needed further
development within our school.
▫ Assessment, Oral Language, Comprehension
strategies, Writing Genres
3. What did we look at?
• We selected the area of Discrete Oral Language
Teaching. There was inconsistency within:
Aims
Objectives
Strategies
Time allocation to discrete oral language
4. What did we look at?
• All agreed that this was an area that needed
investigation
To support teaching and benefit learning for all pupils
in the school
Oral language is the foundation of language
development (writing, comprehension etc.)
Oral language supports the learning outcomes in both
writing and comprehension.
5. How did we do it?
• We broke the problem down into manageable tasks.
• We composed three initial research questions:
A. What are we currently doing in teaching discrete Oral
Language?
B. How do we currently assess discrete oral language?
C. How do we use our assessment of discrete oral
language to inform our teaching?
6. How did we do it?
• To assist us in finding answers to these key questions, we
discussed and decided where we to look for the
necessary evidence to support our research;
• Areas we identified were:
Cúntaisí Míosúla
School Plan/Policy
Pupils
Teachers
Assessments
7. How did we do it?
• All three research questions involved using our
teachers as an evidence base.
• We sub-divided each question to give a more
thorough analysis/reflection on the topic.
• These were brought to a staff meeting to share with
all.
8. How did we do it?
Questions
• What are we currently doing in teaching discrete Oral Language?
▫ Define Discrete Oral Language
▫ What discrete oral language do you complete in your classroom?
• How do we currently assess discrete oral language?
▫ In what ways do you assess oral language in your class?
▫ How do you document children’s progress in Oral Language?
▫ What do you assess in Oral Language?
• How do we use our assessment of discrete oral language to inform
our teaching?
▫ Do you use assessment to inform your teaching?
▫ How does your planning reflect the results of this assessment?
9. How did we do it?
• Small groups focussing on the three research
questions were set up in a staff meeting.
• Members of the CLI group were shared amongst the
groups.
To gain input from as many members of staff as
possible to feed the input to our research
To gain the active participation of all members staff in
the project.
10. What did we find out?
What are we currently doing in teaching discrete Oral
Language?
Inconsistencies with the definition of Discrete Oral
Language – Discreet/Discrete Misunderstanding
Although elements of Oral Language were being
addressed in class teaching, discrete oral language
lessons were not the norm.
11. What did we find out?
How do we currently assess discrete oral language?
Widespread use of Teacher Informal Observation was
present.
Structured assessment, target setting and
documentation of findings were not common place.
12. What did we find out?
How do we use our assessment of discrete oral language to
inform our teaching?
Teachers felt that assessment informed their teaching in
terms of planning, resources, methodologies, and
differentiation; however evidence suggests that this was
occurring on an informal basis.
A difference was highlighted between SEN children who
had received formal assessments from external bodies;
These assessments formed the basis for the learning
outcomes for these children.
13. What did we find out?
• We identified the strengths and weaknesses that
currently exist in our teaching of discrete oral
language. This information assisted our development
of an action plan.
A clear definition of discrete oral language was needed
to ensure consistency,
As a staff we needed to ensure that discrete oral
language lessons were taking place in our classrooms.
14. What are we going to do about it?
To inform our definition of discrete oral language we
researched various sources including – Drumcondra
Profiles, Curriculum Documents and First Steps.
Using the PDST Booklet – ‘Five Components of
Effective Oral Language Instruction’ – the CLI core
group shared the five components and guided by
staff input, selected the development of listening
skills as our focus. We felt that this is the basis of
effective oral language development.
15. What are we going to do about it?
An assessment rubric was devised within the CLI
group for use as a pre and post assessment tool.
Class teachers within the CLI group read a story to
their class and a second teacher from the group used
the rubric to record children’s listening skills.
16. What are we going to do about it?
Teachers collaborated in the planning of a number of
lessons appropriate to their class level to develop
listening skills.
We intend to re-assess the classes using the same
rubric following the completion of this series of
lessons.
