10th Aug 2025
In many schools, the focus is on creating moments for discussion, usually think–pair–share activities, group work, and whole-class debates. These can be valuable, but on their own, they are like
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August 19, 2025
Oracy and the challenge of inclusion
How will students with speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum conditions, or those who stammer fare in classrooms where oracy is given greater emphasis? This is a genuine concern. Without careful scaffolding, children who already find speaking difficult may be unintentionally marginalised if oracy is treated as the preserve of the fluent or confident.
Oracy is the disciplined art of speaking and listening—where thinking, language, expression, and collaboration come together to shape understanding and communication. It includes both verbal and non-verbal elements and spans a variety of interactions, from exploratory discussion to formal presentation.
The risk is that schools adopt oracy frameworks which prize smooth, uninterrupted speech as the mark of success. But fluency alone is not what makes someone an effective communicator. Tongue Fu Talking® is designed differently: its 23 teachable practices are highly scaffolded so that every student can make progress, whatever their starting point.
When Fluency Becomes a Barrier
Some statutory guidance defines spoken language competence in terms of fluency—speaking without hesitation or disruption. While this may suit confident speakers, it risks excluding those whose communication includes pauses, repetitions, or different rhythms of speech.
Children on the autistic spectrum may find eye contact, gestures, or adapting to audience expectations difficult. Pupils with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) may struggle with word retrieval or sentence formulation. Those who stammer may feel penalised if speed is valued over reasoning. None of these challenges diminish their capacity to think critically, collaborate, or share ideas. They need structured support.
How the 23 Teachable Practices Remain Inclusive
Tongue Fu Talking® builds inclusion into every part of its framework by breaking down communication into scaffolded practices across four disciplines:
The Stance
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Gestures and Posture: Some pupils struggle to use gestures naturally. Activities start with small, explicit movements such as open palms before progressing to more expressive actions.
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Eyes and Face: For autistic pupils, direct eye contact may be overwhelming. Alternatives are scaffolded: scanning the room generally, emphasising key words with expression, or using gesture to show engagement.
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Pacing and Tone: Pauses and hesitations are taught as purposeful tools. For children who stammer, this reframes their natural rhythm as part of effective communication rather than a flaw.
The Flow
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Vocabulary and Register: Sentence stems reduce retrieval load for pupils with SLCN, helping them use subject-specific language in manageable steps.
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Sentence Structure and Grammar: Structures are modelled and practised orally before students are expected to use them independently, supporting those who need more time to process language.
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Rhetorical Flair: Introduced later, this is scaffolded through repetition, emphasis, or group choral responses, making it accessible even to less confident speakers.
The Mind
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Reasoning with Justification: Frames like “I know this because…” help all learners articulate reasoning, shifting the emphasis from polish to clarity of thought.
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Summarising and Structure: Pupils who struggle to condense ideas are supported through prompts and organisers, ensuring they can still succeed in this demanding skill.
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Focus: Clear turn-taking routines support autistic pupils in staying within topic boundaries.
The Bond
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Managing Interactions: This is taught explicitly, with signals for turn-taking, so that social dynamics don’t disadvantage those who find cues difficult to read.
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Active Listening: Listening practices reward students who may speak less but contribute attentively, ensuring quieter voices are valued.
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Audience Awareness and Engagement: Participation builds gradually—from partner talk, to small groups, to class presentations—so that children are not thrown in at the deep end.
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Self-Assuredness and Resilience: Progression belts celebrate persistence as much as fluency, helping students who face communication barriers develop confidence without feeling judged.
Why Inclusion Matters in Oracy
Research shows that structured oral language interventions improve outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils (EEF, 2021). Mercer and Dawes (2014) highlight that reasoning and collaboration deepen when talk is explicitly taught and scaffolded.
If oracy is to fulfil its promise, it must be inclusive. Tongue Fu Talking® ensures that practices which could exclude—such as expressive eyes and face, rhetorical flair, or managing interactions—are taught in steps that every child can achieve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How can oracy lessons include children who stammer?
A1: By valuing pauses and teaching pacing as a positive skill, children who stammer are supported to share their ideas without being judged on fluency alone.
Q2. What about students on the autistic spectrum?
A2: They benefit from explicit teaching of turn-taking, predictable routines, and flexible approaches to audience awareness that don’t rely on eye contact.
Q3. How do sentence stems help pupils with speech and language needs?
A3: They provide clear entry points, reduce the burden of language formulation, and let children focus on reasoning.
Q4. Isn’t rhetorical flair unrealistic for some learners?
A4: It is introduced in line with National Curriculum expectations. E.g. simile in KS1; metaphor in KS2, in scaffolded ways such as repetition or collective performance, so all students can access it gradually.
Q5. What makes Tongue Fu Talking® different from other oracy frameworks?
A5: It does not equate fluency with success. Instead, it scaffolds 23 practices across four disciplines, ensuring that reasoning, expression, and collaboration are within reach for every learner.
To Learn more about Oracy:
Read: Complete Guide to Teaching Oracy from EYFS to KS3
Read: Why Oracy Matters
Read: Oracy is not a Subject, but Every Subject Requires it
Read: Curriculum-Based Debates: A Powerful Classroom Talk Strategy
Read: Top 10 Classroom Talk Strategies to Develop Oracy Skills with Tongue Fu Talking®
References
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Dockrell, J., Ricketts, J., Palikara, O., Charman, T., & Lindsay, G. (2014). Exploring the academic and social outcomes of children with language disorders: A follow-up study. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1–14.
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Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). (2021). Oral language interventions. London: EEF.
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Mercer, N., & Dawes, L. (2014). The study of talk between teachers and students, from the 1970s until the 2010s. Oxford Review of Education, 40(4), 430–445.
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This article explores 10 classroom talk strategies from Tongue Fu Talking® that build oracy through structured, purposeful dialogue. It explains how approaches like Because, So, But, Connect-It, and Curriculum-Based Debates help students develop reasoning, metacognition, and confident expression, moving beyond superficial talk to meaningful learning across the curriculum.
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Curriculum-based debates are a powerful classroom talk strategy, as they require both deep thinking and articulate expression. Within Tongue Fu Talking™, Chris Quigley's Oracy Framework, debates are built around two modes of talk: Explorer Mode–Talk for reasoning, discovery, and collaborative thinking, and Presenter Mode–Talk for structured, confident communication with an audience. These modes ensure that debates are not about winning arguments but about learning through talk, linking oracy directly to disciplinary knowledge and metacognitive strategies. Here, we show how our 480 curriculum-based debates across our four belt levels build both oracy and subject understanding.
