My target children filled out a questionnaire on Oral Language from online. Interestingly, most children stated they felt 'Okay' and 'Very Confident' in a range of speaking and presenting situations. This is interesting as it is not in line with observation data I have collected.
The children did a really good job of explaining what they found difficult about speaking out loud in front of others. Here is the breakdown of their responses:
1/17: Being Spoken Over
1/17: lack of preparation
1/17: Reactions towards others
1/17: Making mistakes
9/17: Opinions of others
11/17: Confidence in self
This really shows a clear picture of the challenges the children feel they face when speaking and presenting. This supports my inquiry which is focussing on the 3 highest frequency challenges the children face: Vocabulary, Opinions of others, Confidence. I need to develop the children's vocabulary but also be giving them lots of opportunities to speak in front of others to build their confidence in a safe environment.
The children were asked what they think makes someone good at expressing themselves out loud. Here is the breakdown of their responses:
What makes a good speaker/presenter:
1/15: Good explanations
2/15: Kindness/ Encouraging
1/15: Reads lots of books
1/15: Doesn't make mistakes
1/15: Takes it seriously
1/15: A leader
1/15: Not being under pressure
1/15: Participation in discussions
1/15: Speaking your culture
2/15: Asking questions
This is a really powerful list that the children came up with. It will be really valuable to make these into a poster to share with the children.
The children were asked whether they discuss school events with family at home. All the children said they did do this.
Vocabulary. In this section, the children were asked how good they thought they were at using vocabulary in 4 different situations. Confidence in using vocabulary when speaking and presenting ranges greatly across the group of children. Most children placed themselves mostly in the category of being good at using vocabulary in different speaking/presenting scenarios. I added the responses up in each section. Across the group of children in the four vocabulary categories, there was a 19% response of not being any good at using vocabulary in speaking/presenting scenarios, 50% response of being good at using vocabulary in speaking/presenting scenarios and a 31% response of being very good at using vocabulary in speaking/presenting scenarios.
The final part of the questionnaire asked what teachers could do to help with speaking/presenting and expressing yourself. Here are the breakdowns of the responses:
1/17: Management of emotions/ feeling
1/17: Using better vocabulary
1/17: Knowing how to explain my thinking
2/17: Other people showing respect while I'm speaking
2/17: Get better at Maths, Writing and Reading
3/17: Give me books to read
5/17: Give me opportunities to talk so I don't feel nervous and can practice speaking up and expressing what I feel when I talk / Confidence