The Surprising Benefits of Teaching Speaking Skills
Schools often emphasize reading and writing—but speaking is also fundamental to lifelong success, research shows.
When teachers find ways to promote oracy in the classroom—from oral storytelling to small-group discussions and Socratic seminars—it helps students develop social and self-regulatory skills while supporting language and vocabulary acquisition. In fact, a wide body of research shows that the benefits of building speaking skills and learning to express oneself well is a significant factor in long-term social, emotional, and academic success.
To learn more about the research cited in the video, check out the links below.
- Giovanni M. Di Liberto et al.’s study into emergent linguistic skills in the first year of life (2023)
- Lila R. Gleitman & Elissa L. Newport’s book chapter on environmental and biological influences on the acquisition of language (1995)
- Ethan Kross’ book on the voice inside our heads (2021)
- Erika Christakis’ book on the psychological needs of young children (2017)
- Douglas B. Petersen, Meredith W. Mesquita, Trina D. Spencer, and Jessica Waldron’s study on the effects of oral narrative language instruction on reading comprehension and writing (2020)
- Douglas B. Petersen, Maureen Staskowski, Trina D. Spencer, Matthew E. Foster, and Mollie Paige Brough’s study on the effects of a multitiered system of language support on kindergarten oral and written language (2022)
- Jason C. Chow, Erik Ekholm, and Heather Coleman’s meta-analysis on whether oral language skills influence the development of later behavior problems (2018)
- Amy Pace, Rebecca Alper, Margaret R. Burchinal, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s analysis of factors that predict academic and social trajectories in elementary school (2019)
- Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Aayushi Hingle Collier, and Henri K. Huber’s study on the impact of college communication courses on loneliness, belongingness, and flourishing (2023)
For more tips on the benefits of teaching speaking skills in pre-K and primary school, read Cecilia Cabrera Martirena’s article for Edutopia, “3 Essential Tools to Foster Students' Oracy Skills in the Early Grades.” For older students, read Megan Cooke’s “How to Guide High School Students to Be Comfortable With Public Speaking” or Chris D’Ippolito’s “4 Strategies for Developing Confident Student Speakers.” For oracy-related skill development in math class, read Peter Liljedahl’s “Building a Thinking Classroom in Math.”