Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Speaking and Listening

Along with reading and writing, speaking and listening effectively is one of the three learning outcomes of the communications domain in MTCU’s Learning Outcomes Matrix (available from the Ministry’s website at www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/welcome.html.)

Most of us spend more time talking than we do reading or writing, yet literacy instruction sometimes focuses more on those skills than it does on the skills associated with oral communication. Perhaps we spend so much time talking, that we don’t think of it as a basic skill.

Oral communication, however, is an important part of literacy. The ability to clearly state and convey a message is essential to good communications. Equally, the ability to listen and understand what someone else tells us is important. Depending on a learner’s goal, he or she may need to become familiar with a specialized vocabulary or “jargon”. For example, he or she may need to learn to speak comfortably and confidently in an unfamiliar situation such as a job interview or a formal presentation or to a child’s teacher.

When developing learning activities for speaking and listening, think about how we communicate differently with different people for different purposes. There is everyday English and there’s “business English” which is important to know if you want to get a job working with the public. This knowledge directly links to self-management and self-direction and the knowledge of how vocabulary and tone of voice can differ when speaking with different audiences.

The Ontario Literacy Coalition’s Level Descriptions Manual does not provide summary statements for speaking and listening, but it does provide a number of performance indicators for each of the LBS levels as follows:

Level One

• Uses familiar vocabulary and common expressions
• Presents ideas and information in a sensible order
• Listens to and contributes to discussions on familiar topics expressing own ideas and opinions and responding to questions and comments
• Uses basic interaction strategies such as opening and closing conversations, asking questions
• Recognizes miscommunications in both formal and informal situations and responds appropriately
• Observes how some non-verbal communication cues (e.g. body language) affect communication
• Gets the main idea of a simple story or event
• Reflects on what is heard
• Retells simple information
• Uses basic strategies to check understanding

Level Two

• Uses a wider range of familiar vocabulary to organize, link, and clarify ideas when speaking
• Presents ideas clearly and in a coherent order and provides more detailed information
• Listens to others and contributes ideas appropriate to the topic of discussion; expresses ideas and opinions and provides feedback to others in discussions about familiar topics
• Uses interaction strategies such as opening and closing conversations, asking questions and allowing others to speak and waiting for his/her turn
• Works to repair misunderstandings in communication
• Uses developing awareness of how non-verbal communication cues affect communication
• Gets the main idea of a story or an event and reflects on relevant information
• Retells information containing greater detail
• Uses basic strategies to check and increase understanding

Level Three

• Uses a wider range of vocabulary and selects words to convey intended meaning
• Identifies appropriate uses for formal and informal language
• Speaks clearly in a focused and organized way when presenting information to others on a variety of topics in familiar and unfamiliar situations
• Considers the audience’s interests and needs ahead of time when giving a presentation

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