The following pages offer programmes of study for each of the four outcomes of English language, including a tabulated layout indicating learning and teaching approaches. This layout contains suggestions about classroom approaches to each of the attainment targets contained in Section 3. These learning and teaching approaches are divided according to levels and strands in common with the layout of targets in Section 2.

Teachers of pupils with special educational needs generally, and sensory impairments in particular, should read the guidelines bearing in mind the advice on pupils with special educational needs in Section 4 and the additional comments on the interpretation of levels and targets contained in Section 2.

Listening

Listening has implications for speech development, thinking, and learning generally. Though talking and listening often occur in proximity to each other (in, for example, discussion) they are separable for educational purposes and are regularly separated in practice - for example, listening to a talk, to a teacher, to radio, to a series of instructions.

In the early years, listening is one of the most important means by which knowledge is acquired, but teachers at all stages must be attentive to pupils' abilities and capacities, nurturing them in constructive, interesting ways, and noting and attending to specific problems which may impede the learning process. For pupils who may have difficulty in learning the skills of reading and writing, it is the oral outcomes that will, perhaps, provide the main basis for thinking about experiences, expressing feelings and engaging with society.

Listening effectively is an active process. It has much to do with the knowledge and experience of the listener, with motivation and involvement, and with the individual situation in which listening takes place. People listen best when the information is of importance to them, when they have to take some action on it or have the opportunity to reply or participate. Listeners, therefore, have to learn to select relevant information from what they are hearing or seeing.

It cannot be assumed that children will have acquired the necessary skills - of concentrating, and of thinking about and recalling what they hear and see - by the time they enter P1: some may already possess good general alertness; others will not have acquired the basic habits; a few may reveal signs of physical difficulties in hearing which will require treatment.

In the early stages pupils will:

be encouraged to sit comfortably and attentively so that they can pick up the message. They will be encouraged to respond and comment on what interests them, and will gradually learn not to interrupt others in the group; they will also begin to learn how to take part in discussion activities;

regularly listen to good stories and particularly to tales and poems which incorporate the "three Rs" of listening for young pupils - Repetitions, Rhythms and Rhymes; many of these will be of Scottish origin; some will be live performances by teacher or pupils; others will be audio or video recordings;

engage in a programme linked to the early teaching of reading and writing, which will involve developing auditory discrimination and matching sounds with pictures, printed letters and words.

At all stages, in ways appropriate to their age and attainments, pupils will:

work regularly in pairs or groups;