Expressive Language

...encouraging Students to speak

In the early stages of language acquisition, most children talk aloud as they play.  By doing this they extend their thinking, vocabulary and grammar.

An obvious desire when working with students with poor expressive language - unintelligible speech, or immature utterances - is to get them to talk.  The students, however, may be reluctant speakers, so adults can easily find themselves asking questions that may seem more and more insistent and threatening.  

Strategies to Support Expressive Language:

• Give the student ample time to plan a response and say what he means.
• Try to avoid finishing the sentence.  If the student’s response is incomplete, repeat back the information he has given and encourage him to complete the sentence himself.
• Repeat back what the student has said clearly and correctly so that they hear good examples.
• Encourage the student to self-monitor:  Initially the adult should acknowledge the information that has been understood, e.g. ‘You went shopping on Saturday’ then suggest things such as ‘but I’m sorry I don’t quite understand the bit about the bus. Could you change it to help me to understand?’  Then allow the student time to rephrase his ideas.  Provide praise for doing so.  After a while just ask ‘Did you listen to what you said?’ or ‘I’m sorry, you’ll have to help me there.’   This will encourage the student to take responsibility for his speech and to develop the skills needed to appreciate when the listener has not understood and what action needs to be taken.  These complex skills should not be taken for granted.  Some students will need to be taught patiently how to do this.
• Ask open ended question, for example: ‘How does this work?, what are you doing now?
• If the student had difficulty of recalling the word he needs, then try giving prompts.  E.g. ‘Tell me something about it.’ ‘What do you do with it?’ ‘Can you show me?’

Difficulties with spoken language will be reflected in written language, therefore do not expect a student to write sentences using grammatical structures that he cannot say. 

Comments can help the student to feel at ease and can be more productive than questions: 'Oh I really like that picture of that swimming pool - I went swimming yesterday'.

Barrier games:  these allow adults to discuss the process of communication.  In this case, comments can be made about the student's message-giving: 'Well done; you told me it was a red book, so I knew which book to choose', or 'I'm not sure which book you mean because you said "the book's on the table" and I've got two books.  Do you mean the red book or the green book?'

Some students find it difficult to decide how much information is necessary - they may give you too much or too little.  Comments on barrier games can give clear messages about this.

Dialogue books: this is a form of conversational letter-writing.  The books are kept private and allow adults and students to 'talk' about a wide range of subjects or pictures.  Comments can be as simple as necessary.  An example would be for the adult to put in a picture postcard and the caption: 'This is where we went on holiday. It was great!  Did you go away?' (Only ask this if you know the student did go away).  Accept any answers and respond as you might when talking, for instance, if the student answers: 'Yes', or 'Yes, Disneyland', you could respond with: 'Did you go to Disneyland?' or 'You went to Disneyland. Lucky you!'

Role Play offers another opportunity for developing the use of language.  Students can practise social interactions and the appropriate use of language with minimal risk.  It also affords the opportunity to rehearse and repeat language on a frequent basis.

Some students are hampered in their ability to take part by:

• not knowing what happens in a given situation in real life;
• not having the appropriate repertoire of vocabulary;
• not knowing how to use the skills they have.

The adult can support the student by:

• preparing for the role play by:

• identifying the roles
• identifying the language required, including appropriate phrases
• identifying the appropriate actions
• identifying the likely questions and responses
• teaching the student about the role:
  • looking at books showing the situation
  • exploring any relevant equipment
• teaching the role:
  • using comic strip conversations to act out a situation; the student takes an increasing part in rehearsing this story
  • adult and student playing the roles with the adult taking the major role to begin with and supporting the student’s contributions with guiding prompts.
  • adult and student interacting with one other peer, with adult prompting interaction as required
  • supervision of interaction with peers, with a gradual reduction in involvement/supervision as the student becomes more confident
  • monitoring transference of skills to other role play and real life situations.

Group/individual focus

Role play and drama lessons may allow for rehearsal, repetition and practise.  Students may be more willing to have a go in small supportive groups.  Students with some ability to write - however limited - might use a private 'dialogue book' with the teacher.

Home/school diaries set a shared agenda: useful when speech is unclear.  Students with poor or limited speech may respond better to adult 'chatter', rather than to questions.

Classroom management

Teachers ensure that all students have something to talk about, whether through shared experiences or picture material.  Students are encouraged to work - and therefore talk - in pairs, groups, to adults and to peers.  The use of playwriting or use of microphones (interviewing) can be used to encourage some students to talk more.

There will be opportunities to talk at appropriate length, and to join in large group choruses, for instance, in assembly.

Thinking time: it is helpful for whole class groups to be given thinking time (ten seconds) before answering questions or offering opinions.