Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-wlffp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-05T15:33:43.199Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part I - Debating Oracy in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2025

Tom F. Wright
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
Get access

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Oracy
The Politics of Speech Education
, pp. 19 - 90
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References

Ashley, L., Duberley, J., Sommerlad, H. and Scholarios, D. (2015). A Qualitative Evaluation of Non-Educational Barriers to the Elite Professions. London: Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.Google Scholar
Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic Justice; Black Language, Literacy, Identity and Pedagogy. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, B. (1971). Class, Codes and Control: Theoretical Studies towards a Sociology of Language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cheshire, J. (1982). ‘Dialect features and linguistic conflict in schools’, Educational Review, 34(1), 5367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, R. (1974). ‘Review: [Untitled] reviewed works: Class, codes and control: Theoretical studies towards a sociology of language, volume I by Basil Bernstein; Class, codes and control: Applied studies towards a sociology of language, volume II by Basil Bernstein’, Young Children, 29(4), 251–2.Google Scholar
Cushing, I. (2020). ‘The policy and policing of language in schools’, Language in Society, 49(3), 425–50.Google Scholar
Cushing, I. (2021). ‘“Say it like the Queen”: The standard language ideology and language policy making in English primary schools’, Language, Culture and Curriculum, 34(3), 321–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Vries, R. and Rentfrow, J. (2016). A Winning Personality: The Effects of Background on Personality and Earnings. London: The Sutton Trust.Google Scholar
Department for Education (2013). The National Curriculum in England: Key Stages 1 and 2. Framework Document. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/425601/PRIMARY_national_curriculum.pdf.Google Scholar
Educational Endowment Foundation (2021). Teaching and Learning Toolkit. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit.Google Scholar
Gaunt, A. (2023). ‘The knowledge: How to benefit from all oracy has to offer’, Schoolsweek, 6 February.Google Scholar
Janks, H. (1997). ‘Teaching language and power’, in Wodak, R. and Corson, D. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Volume 1: Language, Policy and Political Issues in Education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 241–51.Google Scholar
Mercer, N., Warwick, P. and Ahmed, A. (2016). ‘An oracy assessment toolkit: Linking research and development in the assessment of students’ spoken language skills at age 11–12’, Learning and Instruction, 48, 5160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, A. (2012). Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snell, J. and Cushing, I. (2022). ‘“A lot of them write how they speak”: Policy, pedagogy and the policing of “nonstandard” English’, Literacy, 56(3), 199211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trickey, S. and Topping, K. J. (2006). ‘Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Socioemotional effects at 11–12 years’, School Psychology International, 27, 599614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

References

Adair, J., Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove, K. and McManus, M. (2017). ‘How the word gap argument negatively impacts young children of Latinx immigrants’ conceptualizations of learning’, Harvard Educational Review, 87(3), 309–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aggarwal, U. (2016). ‘The ideological architecture of whiteness as property in educational policy’, Educational Policy, 30(1), 128152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Annamma, S. (2017). The Pedagogy of Pathologization: Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-Prison Nexus. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Oracy (APPG) (2021). Speak for Change: Final Report and Recommendations from the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry. London: APPG.Google Scholar
Avineri, N., Graham, L., Johnson, E., Riner, R. and Rosa, J. (2019). ‘Introduction: Reimagining language and social justice’, in Avineri, N., Graham, L., Johnson, E., Riner, R. and Rosa, J. (eds.), Language and Social Justice in Practice. New York: Routledge, pp. 116.Google Scholar
Avineri, N., Johnson, E., Brice-Heath, S., McCarty, T., Ochs, E., Kremer-Sadlik, T., Blum, S., Zentella, A. C., Rosa, J., Flores, N., Alim, H. S. and Paris, D. (2015). ‘Invited forum: Bridging the language gap’, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 25(1), 6686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, G. (2024). ‘Oracy in education: Why it matters and how we make it happen for every child from every background’. Keynote lecture at Voice 21 conference, March 2024.Google Scholar
Cameron, D. (2022). ‘The trouble with oracy?’ Keynote lecture at Speaking Citizens conference, April 2022.Google Scholar
Carter, A. (2022). ‘Spoken language support for children is crucial to tackle educational inequality’. The House. www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/spoken-language-support-for-children-is-crucial-to-tackle-educational-inequality.Google Scholar
Coard, B. (1971). How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System. London: New Beacon Books.Google Scholar
Cushing, I. (2020). ‘The policy and policing of language in schools’, Language in Society, 49(3), 425–50.Google Scholar
Cushing, I. (2023). ‘Word rich or word poor? Deficit discourses, raciolinguistic ideologies and the resurgence of the “word gap” in England’s education policy’, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 20(4), 305–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushing, I. (2024a). ‘Social in/justice and the deficit foundations of oracy’, Oxford Review of Education, 51(3): 396–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2024.2311134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushing, I. (2024b). ‘Transformative justice as a method in applied linguistics’, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190524000023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushing, I. and Snell, J. (2023). ‘The (white) ears of Ofsted: A raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate’, Language in Society, 52(3), 363–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, L. and Dudley, P. (2019). ‘Oracy is here to stay. Here’s why’. Oracy Cambridge article. https://oracycambridge.org/oracy-is-here-to-stay-heres-why/.Google Scholar
Dorling, D. (2015). Injustice: Why Social Inequality Still Persists. Bristol: Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, N. (2020). ‘From academic language to language architecture: Challenging raciolinguistic ideologies in research and practice’, Theory in Practice, 59(1), 2231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, N. and Chaparro, S. (2018). ‘What counts as language education policy? Developing a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism’, Language Policy, 17, 365–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O. and Otheguy, R. (2017). ‘Interrogating the language gap of young bilingual and bidialectal students’, International Multilingual Research Journal, 11(1), 5265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaunt, A. and Stott, A. (2018). Transforming Teaching and Learning through Talk: The Oracy Imperative. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Gross, J. (2020). ‘Can oracy help tackle the disadvantage gap and address inequalities?’ Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group oral evidence 02/06/20. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ITMYJIWVUI&t=1175s.Google Scholar
Hardy, E. (2020). ‘Skills like oracy will be even more vital after Covid’. Times Educational Supplement. www.tes.com/magazine/archive/skills-oracy-will-be-even-more-vital-after-covid.Google Scholar
Hart, B. and Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Henshaw, P. (2016). ‘Neglecting oracy skills “hampers job prospects and social mobility”’. SecEd article. www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/news/neglecting-oracy-skills-hampers-job-prospects-and-social-mobility.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. and Johnson, E. (2021). The Language Gap: Normalising Deficit Ideologies. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315561554CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaba, M. (2021). We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organising and Transforming Justice. Chicago: Haymarket Books.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Leonardo, Z. (2012). ‘The race for class: Reflections on a critical raceclass theory of education’, Educational Studies, 48(5),427–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massonnié, J., Llaurado, A., Sumner, E. and Dockrell, J. (2022). ‘Oral language at school entry: Dimensionality of speaking and listening skills’, Oxford Review of Education, 48(6), 743–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, N., Warwick, P. and Ahmed, A. (2017). ‘An oracy assessment toolkit: Linking research and development in the assessment of students’ spoken language skills at age 11–12’, Learning and Instruction, 48, 5160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, N. and Mannion, J. (2018). Oracy across the Welsh Curriculum: A Research-Based Review – Key Principles and Recommendations for Teachers. Cambridge: Oracy Cambridge.Google Scholar
Millard, W. and Menzies, L. (2016). The State of Speaking in Our Schools. London: Voice21.Google Scholar
Nair, V., Farah, W. and Cushing, I. (2023). ‘A critical analysis of standardized testing in speech and language therapy’, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 54(3), 781–93.10.1044/2023_LSHSS-22-00141CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oracy Cambridge (2021). Evidence to Oracy APPG from Oracy Cambridge. https://oracy.inparliament.uk/files/oracy/2021-04/Oracy%20Cambridge.docx__0.pdf.Google Scholar
Quigley, A. (2018). Closing the Vocabulary Gap. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reay, D. (2017). Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Rosa, J. (2016). ‘Standardization, racialization, languagelessness: Raciolinguistic ideologies across communicative contexts’, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 26(2), 162–83.10.1111/jola.12116CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosa, J. and Flores, N. (2023). ‘Rethinking language barriers and social justice from a raciolinguistic perspective’, Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 152(3), 99114.Google Scholar
Rosen, H. (1986). ‘Language and the education of the working class’, in Rogers, R. (ed.), Education and Social Class. London: The Falmer Press, pp. 127–40.Google Scholar
Sherrington, T. (2016). ‘Oracy in the secondary curriculum: Our journey at Highbury Grove’, in Partridge, D. and Earnshaw, B. (eds.), Speaking Frankly: The Case for Oracy in the Curriculum. London: English-Speaking Union and Voice 21, pp. 40–7.Google Scholar
Snell, J. (2013). ‘Dialect, interaction and class positioning at school: From deficit to difference to repertoire’, Language and Education, 27(2), 110–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snell, J. and Cushing, I. (2022). ‘“A lot of them write how they speak”: Policy, pedagogy, and the policing of non-standard English’, Literacy, 56(3), 199211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snell, J. and Lefstein, A. (2018). ‘“Low ability,” participation, and identity in dialogic pedagogy’. American Educational Research Journal, 55(1), 4078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starmer, K. (2023). Full Keir Starmer mission speech on opportunity, education and childcare. LabourList. https://labourlist.org/2023/07/read-full-keir-starmer-mission-speech-on-opportunity-education-and-childcare/.Google Scholar
Staufenberg, J. (2019). ‘Gibb calls for more attention on “oracy” in knowledge-rich curriculum’. Schools Week article. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/oracy-fits-in-with-the-three-rs-says-gibb/.Google Scholar
Valencia, R. (2010). Dismantling Contemporary Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought and Practice. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voice 21 (2020). The Oracy Benchmarks. London: Voice 21.Google Scholar
Voice 21. (2022). Voice 21 Insights and Impact 2021–22. London: Voice 21.Google Scholar
Voice 21. (2023). Voice 21 Theory of Change. www.youtube.com/watch?v=shi1K1SepQI.Google Scholar
Sherrington, T. (2016). ‘Oracy in the secondary curriculum: Our journey at Highbury Grove’, in Partridge, D. and Earnshaw, B. (eds.), Speaking Frankl: The Case for Oracy in the Curriculum. London: English-Speaking Union & Voice 21, pp. 40–7.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, A. (1965). Spoken English. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, A. (1969). ‘The quality of language experiences in younger children’, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1(3), 240–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willis, A., McMillon, G. and Smith, P. (2022). Affirming Black Students’ Lives and Literacies Bearing Witness. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Winn, M. (2018). ‘A transformative justice approach to literacy education’, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(2), 219–21.10.1002/jaal.887CrossRefGoogle Scholar

References

Crystal, D. (2010). The Little Book of Language. London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

References

Bandura, A. (1994). ‘Self-efficacy’, in Ramachaudran, V. S., , V. S. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Vol. 4). New York: Academic Press, pp. 7181.Google Scholar
Beck, I., Mckeown, M. and Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bryan, K., Freer, J. and Furlong, C. (2007). ‘Language and communication difficulties in juvenile offenders’, International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42(5), 505–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deignan, A, Candarli, D. and Oxley, F. (2023). The Linguistic Challenge of the Transition to Secondary School: A Corpus Study of Academic Language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dickerson, A. and Rossi, G. (2023). The Skills Imperative 2035: An analysis of the demand for skills in the labour market in 2035. Report. www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/the-skills-imperative-2035-an-analysis-of-the-demand-for-skills-in-the-labour-market-in-2035/.Google Scholar
Gascoigne, M. and Gross, J. (2017). Talking About a Generation: Current Policy, Evidence and Practice for Speech, Language and Communication. London: Communication Trust.Google Scholar
Gaunt, A. and Stott, A. (2019). Transform Teaching and Learning Through Talk: The Oracy Imperative. Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Graham, S. (2022). ‘Self-efficacy and language learning: What it is and what it isn’t’, The Language Learning Journal, 50(2), 186207. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2022.2045679.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, J. and Nowland, R. (2020). ‘Primary–secondary school transition: Impacts and opportunities for adjustment’, Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 8(2), 5569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. and Patall, E. A. (2016). ‘Motivation’, in Corno, L. and Anderman, E. M. (eds.), Handbook of Educational Psychology. Oxford: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group, pp. 91103.Google Scholar
Maclellan, E. (2014). ‘How might teachers enable learner self-confidence? A review study’, Educational Review, 66(1), 5974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, M. A., Bear, G. G. and Minke, K. M. (2006). ‘Self-concept and self-esteem’, in Bear, G. G. and Minke, K. M. (eds.), Children’s Needs III: Development, Prevention, and Intervention. Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists, pp. 341–56.Google Scholar
Schunk, D. H. (1995). ‘Self-efficacy, motivation, and performance’, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7(2), 112–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, S., Clegg, J., Stackhouse, J. and Rush, R. (2017). ‘Contribution of spoken language and socio-economic background to adolescents’ educational achievement at age 16 years’, International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 52(2), 184–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, A., Nelson, J., O’Donnell, S., Davies, E. and Hillary, J. (2023). The Skills Imperative 2035: What does the literature tell us about essential skills most needed for work? Working Paper 1, London, Nuffield Foundation.Google Scholar
Usher, E. L. and Pajares, F. (2008). ‘Self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: A validation study’, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68(3), 443–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voice 21 (2019). ‘Introduction to the Oracy Benchmarks’. https://voice21.org/introduction-to-the-oracy-benchmarks.Google Scholar
Voice 21 (2023). We don’t know how we ever taught Maths without the focus on oracy, Bishop Young Academy, Leeds. https://voice21.org/impacts/oracy-focus-maths/.Google Scholar

References

Brink, K. E. and Costigan, R. D. (2015). ‘Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?’, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 202–21.10.5465/amle.2013.0044CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Confederation of British Industry (2022). Skills framework, www.cbi.org.uk/media/fanjlpmn/cbi-skills-framework-2022.pdf.Google Scholar
Eddy, K. (2022). The changing news habits and attitudes of younger audiences. News report, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/young-audiences-news-media.Google Scholar
English-Speaking Union (2023). Public speaking competition. www.esu.org/competitions/public-speaking-competition.Google Scholar
Grant, A. (2021). Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Lemov, D. (2021). Teach Like a Champion 3.0: 63 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Nemeth, C. (2018). In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business. London: Hachette.Google Scholar
Salinas, J., O’Donnell, A., Kojis, D., Pase, M., De Carli, C., Rentz, D., Berkman, L., Beiser, A. and Seshadri, S. (2021). ‘Association of social support with brain volume and cognition’, Journal of the American Medical Association / JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.21122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starmer, K. (2023). Speech on Opportunity, Education and Childcare. Labour party policy announcement. https://labourlist.org/2023/07/read-full-keir-starmer-mission-speech-on-opportunity-education-and-childcare/.Google Scholar
Staufenberg, J. (2021). Interview with Doug Lemov, Schools Week, 2021. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-big-interview-doug-lemov/.Google Scholar
Syed, M. (2019). Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Trevisan, D., Roberts, N., Lin, C. and Birmingham, E. (2017). ‘How do adults and teens with self-declared Autism Spectrum Disorder experience eye contact? A qualitative analysis of first-hand accounts?’, PLoS ONE, 12(11). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5705114/.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voice21 and Oracy Cambridge (2019). The Oracy Skills Framework and Glossary. https://oracycambridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Oracy-Skills-Framework-and-Glossary.pdf.Google Scholar

References

Alexander, R. (2020) A Dialogic Teaching Companion. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchan, H. S. (2024). Buchan Heritage Society: Doric workshops. https://buchanheritagesociety.co.uk/doric-workshops/.Google Scholar
Cushing, I. and Snell, J. (2022). ‘The (white) ears of Ofsted: A raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate’, Language in Society, 52(1). https://doi.org/10.1017=S0047404522000094.Google Scholar
De Meo, M. (2020). Subtitling dialect in Inspector Montalbano and Young Montalbano. inTRAlinea: special issue: The Translation of Dialects in Multimedia IV. www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2466.Google Scholar
Dockrell, J., Howell, P., Leung, D. and Fugard, A. (2017). ‘Children with speech language and communication needs in England: Challenges for practice’, Frontiers in Education, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drummond, R. (2016). Leave off, will you? Britain should celebrate ‘regional’ accents. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/leave-off-will-you-britain-should-celebrate-regional-accents-67952.Google Scholar
Giles, H. and Powesland, P. (1975). Speech Style and Social Evaluation. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hennessy, S., Calcagni, E., Leung, A. and Mercer, N. (2021). ‘An analysis of the forms of teacher-student dialogue that are most productive for learning’, Language and Education, 37(2), 186211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1956943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, C., Hennessy, S., Mercer, N., Vrikki, M. and Wheatley, L. (2019). ‘Teacher-student dialogue during classroom teaching: Does it really impact upon student outcomes?’, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 28(4–5), 462512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jhingran, D. (2019). Early Literacy and Multilingual Education in South Asia. Kathmandu: United Nations Children’s Fund Regional Office for South Asia.Google Scholar
Lanza, E. (2004). Language Switching in Infant Bilingualism: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McCluney, C. L., Robotham, K., Lee, S., Smith, R. and Durkee, M. (2019). The costs of code-switching. The Big Idea Series. https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-costs-of-codeswitching.Google Scholar
Mercer, N. (2019). Language and the Joint Creation of Knowledge. Abingdon: Routledge.10.4324/9780429400759CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, N., Warwick, P. and Ahmed, A. (2017). ‘An oracy assessment toolkit: Linking research and development in the assessment of students’ spoken language skills at age 11–12’, Learning and Instruction, 48, 5160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, N., Wegerif, R. and Major, L. (eds.) (2020). The Routledge International Handbook of Research on Dialogic Education. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mercer, N. (2025). Oracy: The Transformative Power of Finding Your Voice (London: Penguin).Google Scholar
OECD (2019). Education 2030 Curriculum Content Mapping: An Analysis of the Netherlands Curriculum Proposal. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/contact/E2030_CCM_analysis_NLD_curriculum_proposal.pdf.Google Scholar
Ofqual (2013). The Ofqual Blog: Our announcement on speaking and listening assessments. https://ofqual.blog.gov.uk/2013/09/04/our-announcement-on-speaking-and-listening-assessments/.Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (1995). Crossing: Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Sherrington, T. (2017) Empowering speech, challenges on ‘correctness’ and some questions for sociolinguists. Blog as Teacherhead: https://teacherhead.com/2017/10/26/empowering-speech-challenges-on-correctness-and-some-questions-for-sociolinguists/.Google Scholar
Strelluf, C. (2024). ‘Bengali Cockney, Black Cockney, East End Cockney, Essex Cockney, Jewish Cockney, Sylheti Cockney’: Why community languages matter. The Conversation, 1st March: https://theconversation.com/bengali-cockney-black-cockney-east-end-cockney-essex-cockney-jewish-cockney-sylheti-cockney-why-community-languages-matter-224767.Google Scholar
Voice 21 (2024). What is Oracy? https://voice21.org/what-is-oracy/.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, A. (1965). ‘The concept of Oracy’, Educational Review, 17(4), 1115. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013191770170401a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, A., Davies, A. and Berrill, D. (1990). Spoken English Illuminated (English, Language, and Education Series). Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA

The PDF of this book complies with version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range of users and attains the highest (AAA) level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive accessibility guidelines.

Content Navigation

Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order & Textual Equivalents

Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.

Visual Accessibility

Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×