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4 - What is the relationship between oracy edcuation and confidence for students and teachers?

What Does the Evidence Say?

from Part I - Debating Oracy in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2025

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Summary

In this chapter Classics teachers Katrina Kelly and Arlene Holmes-Henderson are joined by Amanada Moorghen and Rebekah Simon-Caffyn of Voice 21 to share new data on how teaching oracy can influence confidence in pupils. In ‘Confidence and Outcomes for Students and Teachers: what does the evidence say?’ they analyse qualitative feedback from over 5000 students and 293 teachers in primary and secondary schools. Confidence has been regularly identified as a primary benefit of a high-quality oracy education, they observe, but very little is known about what aspects of confidence are affected, and the impact of this on students. Their chapter breaks ‘confidence’ down into its component parts and explores what the data from their study shows. They find clear links between the practice of oracy and increased student confidence and outcomes in both speaking and listening across a variety of other contexts and skills, and offer a series of practical proposals for schools.

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Chapter
Information
Oracy
The Politics of Speech Education
, pp. 46 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

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