Abstract

This thesis examines and investigates the place of public speaking in primary school through a largely qualitative approach. Combining the perspectives and perceptions of parents and teachers with a comprehensive review of literature on public speaking, oral language, oracy and communication skills and primary school curriculum nationally and internationally, with action research and teacher interview findings, it provides evidence to support the explicit teaching of public speaking skills in primary schools. From pre-empting the development of the pervasive, potentially life-long fear of this commonly used life skill to maximizing the potential to empower all young people with proficient public speaking skills for life, this study aims to report on how, in addition to other benefits, explicit public speaking training enhances primary school students’ self-efficacy and vocabulary development. There is much research on public speaking in third level education at university and in secondary schools but an apparent paucity of research internationally into public speaking in primary schools. The term ‘public speaking’ itself is a term that seems to engender fear for many and is not immediately identified as an activity that children engage in. Children, in schools around the world, however, constantly stand up in front of groups of peers of varying sizes and audiences of younger and older students, in classrooms and school settings, to present on their work and their learning. Yet, the degree to which they are prepared for this activity, if at all, is unclear.
Key findings from the data indicate a pervasive fear of public speaking amongst adults which some trace back to an initial unprepared-for experience of speaking in front of a group, a lack of training in public speaking skills in primary school and a paucity of research into this area, a historical inequality of access to training in these skills, ambiguity amongst teachers as to whether these skills are on the curriculum or not and possibility and potential to assess these skills.
This thesis focuses on evidencing the importance and practise of explicit public speaking training based on my research and a vast body of literature of prominent researchers in the related areas of oral language, oracy, communication skills, public speaking, communication apprehension and public speaking apprehension. Conclusions drawn from teacher and parent surveys that I collected from 104 teachers and 136 parents helped to describe the current and recent historical context in relation to perceptions and experiences of public speaking in school and in life. The aim of the action research was to investigate the impact of explicit public speaking skill training on children’s self-efficacy (Bandura, 2002) and vocabulary development (Biemiller, 2010) and to establish what could we teachers learn from the process of implementing a structured public speaking programme with our classes.
The existing gap between policy and practise with regard to oral language, oracy, communication skills and public speaking, became clear through the analysis of literature review and research findings. Even though this study constitutes small-scale practitioner research, many of the research findings can be generalizable to larger school settings and other school contexts. The results have implications for researchers in terms of future research opportunities as there is an apparent paucity of research in this area, for policy makers in terms of using the information provided to consider bridging the gap between policy and practise and for teachers in terms of CPD progressing teaching, learning and assessment in this area in their schools.
At the time of embarking on this work, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA 2016) had just released the New Primary Language Curriculum in Ireland and at time of completion of this thesis, the NCCA (2020) are in the process of designing a new framework for the whole Primary school curriculum which at present, seems to be pointing more towards skill and competency development. The Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group (OAPPG 2021) have just released their report on their 2-year inquiry, ‘Speak for Change’ which contains some compelling evidence on the importance of oracy in education for young people with a special reference to the additional potential to positively impact students’ communication skills and wellbeing in the aftermath of Covid 19 related lockdowns. This thesis contributes to the current body of evidence on the topic of developing speaking skills in primary schools, shining a specific light on public speaking skill development.