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Student talk is a propeller for learning. Through talk, students externalise thoughts, internalise knowledge and interact with the world. In the language classroom, students must therefore be given the opportunity to speak the words, not only hear them (Fisher & Larkin, 2008).

Research has emphasised the crucial role of student talk for developing essential literacy, communication and collaboration skills (Alexander, 2020). And yet research over the past two decades has also shown that student talk remains scarce in language classrooms (Macaro, 2001; Sahlberg, 2020). To understand more of the dynamics of student talk in language classrooms, there is a need to compare across countries and languages and to ask students what they think.

The need to compare across contexts

In this blog post, I outline research from the LANGUAGES project on student talk in secondary English and French classrooms across England, France and Norway (Eiene & Brevik, 2025). These contexts share several similarities, which makes comparison not only relevant, but also necessary to understand the prevalence of student talk. First, . Second, English and French hold status as first (L1), second or foreign (L2/L3) languages in these countries. Third, the national curricula in all three countries emphasise oral skills as a means to language development, although none specify how much time should be dedicated to student talk.

To gain insight into student talk in language classrooms, LANGUAGES video recorded 192 English and French lessons across 48 classrooms with 997 students aged 13–15. We found that teacher talk dominated in all countries, with student talk occupying 20 per cent of the lesson time both in L1 and L2/L3 contexts. Additional opportunities to talk was created in L2/L3 classrooms, when teachers and students mixed L1 and the target language in rapid interaction (14 per cent). Student talk was more frequent in Norway than in France, with England at the lower end, and little difference between classes of English and French.

Student’s voices and perspectives

To gain insights into students’ perspectives, we interviewed 94 students, two from each classroom. Students in all three countries expressed a desire to talk more, regardless of language or its status in education and society. Many emphasised the importance of a supportive language environment where they would feel safe: ‘That probably influences many to be more oral, speak more, and be more active in class when you get the impression that it’s safe’.

‘Students in all three countries expressed a desire to talk more, regardless of language or its status in education and society.’

Others mentioned the fear of making mistakes as inhibiting to talk, although some who found speaking challenging also recognised that it is crucial for language learning: ‘I think that to learn English, speaking English can be useful, but it’s not great because you can make mistakes orally and you can’t really correct them.’

Some students articulated how talk benefited their language learning: ‘I really, really love participation in the classes … because when you use a language more, you become more comfortable with it.’ Finally, several students expressed a desire for group work, which seemed to afford more space for student talk.

Conclusion

In today’s globalised world, continuous efforts are required to equip students with oral communication skills for the future. Although research and policy emphasise student talk as essential to academic achievement, it remains scarce both in L1 and L2/L3 classrooms, and students want more opportunities to talk. Moving forward, it is imperative to discuss what constitutes the ‘right’ amount of student talk: how much more than 20 per cent of lesson time can we hope for, considering the need to balance student talk against other curricular aims of language education, such as listening, reading and writing? I believe we also need to discuss how to encourage teachers to engage students in more meaningful talk across classrooms, languages and contexts.

This blog post relates to a paper presented by Sarah M. Ø. Eiene at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Conference 2025: ‘Opportunities to Talk: Student Voices and Perspectives on Language Use in English and French Lessons in England, France and Norway’.