How effective is the impact of speaking and listening on writing within the wider curriculum? 

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of speaking and listening on writing within the wider curriculum in the Upper Phase of primary education. Using a focus group model, the study followed the impact of known speaking and listening strategies for writing development. For three academic half terms, all children were given the opportunity to experience a maximum of 5 taught session where speaking and listening or speaking and listen activities were at the core in the hope that these activities would promote high quality and varied writing outcomes. All twelve children tracked in the study made good progress in relation to the key skills that they used, resulting in the writing produced outside of a typical literacy lesson being more useful in assisting with both formative and summative assessments.