In the 1990s, a study by SLANT outlined for talk to be productive and purposeful, children should be guided by a set of talk rules. If rules for talk are made explicit, visible and spoken (rather than implicit, invisible and unspoken), the talk time will be more productive: pupils are less likely to become off task, argue with their peers or remain silent.
Talk rules are most effective when they are consistently applied and frequently re-visited.
Here is an example of a graphic we have created to insert into lesson slides to remind pupils of our talk rules.
