Talk for Writing

At Ropsley Church of England Primary School, we want every child to see themselves as a writer. We want our children to write with confidence, imagination and accuracy, and to understand that writing has a real purpose and audience.

To support this, we use Talk for Writing across school. Talk for Writing is a carefully structured approach to teaching writing, developed by Pie Corbett and supported by Julia Strong. It helps children to internalise the language, structure and features of different types of writing before they are asked to write independently.

Why Talk for Writing?

Children cannot write what they cannot say. Talk for Writing places spoken language at the heart of the writing process. Through storytelling, oral rehearsal, actions, text maps, shared writing and carefully planned teaching, children build up a bank of language patterns that they can draw upon in their own writing.

• This approach supports children to:
• develop confidence as writers;
• hear, say and use ambitious vocabulary;
• understand how different texts are structured;
• write for a range of purposes and audiences;
• improve sentence structure, punctuation and grammar;
• move from supported writing towards independent writing.

How does it work?

Each Talk for Writing unit usually follows three main stages.

1. Imitation

During the imitation stage, children are introduced to a high-quality model text. This might be a story, a warning tale, a journey tale, a set of instructions, a persuasive letter, an explanation text or a poem.

Children learn the text orally using actions, expression and a text map. This helps them to internalise the rhythm, vocabulary and structure of the writing. They also explore the key features of the text, looking closely at the words, phrases, sentences and punctuation that make it successful.

At this stage, children are not simply copying; they are building a toolkit for writing.

2. Innovation

During the innovation stage, children begin to change the model text. They may alter the characters, setting, problem, viewpoint, information or purpose, while still using the structure and language patterns they have learned.

Teachers model the writing process carefully through shared writing. Children see how writers make choices, improve sentences, add detail, use punctuation accurately and organise their ideas. This stage gives children the confidence to have a go while still being supported.

3. Independent Application

In the final stage, children apply what they have learned to create their own piece of writing. This is where they have the opportunity to show independence, creativity and control.

Children are encouraged to plan, draft, edit and improve their work. Over time, they learn to draw upon a growing bank of writing tools and techniques so that they can write successfully in different subjects and for different audiences.

What does Talk for Writing look like in the classroom?

• In our classrooms, you may see children:
• retelling texts aloud with actions;
• using story maps and boxing-up plans;
• exploring vocabulary and sentence patterns;
• identifying the features of different text types;
• taking part in shared and guided writing;
• using toolkits to support their writing;
• editing and improving their work;
• writing independently and creatively.

Talk for Writing is active, engaging and inclusive. It supports children who find writing difficult by giving them a clear structure and plenty of oral rehearsal. It also challenges confident writers to make ambitious choices and develop their own authorial voice.

Writing across the curriculum

We want children to understand that writing is not just something that happens in English lessons. The skills they learn through Talk for Writing are applied across the wider curriculum, including history, geography, science and religious education.

This helps children to write for real purposes, using subject-specific vocabulary and appropriate structures. For example, children may write explanations in science, reports in geography, diary entries in history or persuasive pieces linked to environmental issues.

Building confident, independent writers

Our aim is for children to leave Ropsley as confident, capable and enthusiastic writers. We want them to understand how writing works, enjoy playing with language and feel proud of the pieces they create.

Through Talk for Writing, children learn that writing is a process. Good writers think, talk, plan, draft, edit and improve. Most importantly, they learn that every child can be a writer.