IB PYP Communication Skills & Accountable Talk

5th grade atl skills concept based inquiry ib pyp international baccalaureate

Empowering Your Classroom with Accountable Talk: A Pathway to Deeper Learning

Have you ever noticed how some classroom discussions just fizzle out, while others spark curiosity and connection? That’s where Accountable Talk steps in, breathing life into conversations and adding oomph to student-driven learning. It’s not just another buzzword—it’s a powerful tool for fostering communication, critical thinking, and collaboration in our IB PYP classrooms. When students take ownership of their words and ideas, they’re not only talking—they’re learning.

Let’s dive into what accountable talk really is, why it’s essential, and how you can seamlessly weave it into your everyday teaching.

What is Accountable Talk, Anyway?

Fundamentally, Accountable Talk is about keeping discussions purposeful, respectful, and learning-focused. It’s conversation that pushes understanding forward, where students are responsible for their words and ideas, holding themselves accountable to their classmates, to factual information and to clear, logical thinking.

In an IB PYP setting, it’s that sweet spot where students explain, justify, or question ideas thoughtfully—making learning a collaborative, reflective process. Whether it’s our young learners in Grade 1 or more seasoned thinkers in Grade 5, everyone can engage in this type of meaningful dialogue.

An Investigation: Developing Communicators

This anchor chart above was so helpful as we began investigating how we communicated with each other. We knew we wanted to bring greater depth and meaning to collaborative group discussions, no matter the size of the group.

First of all, we noticed those who enjoyed leading discussions and those who found it more challenging.

So, together, we began to build up with this specific phrases for both leading and seeking help. Phrases like "How can I help you?" and "Can you explain to me why/how?" not only scaffold communication but also encourage active listening, empathy, and problem-solving.

When students use these phrases, they learn to take initiative as leaders while also recognizing when to ask for support, enhancing both their social skills and the overall quality of group work. We started off with practising using these prompts until they became a natural part of group interactions. This helped create an environment where every student felt empowered to contribute, ask questions, and support their peers.

Here are a couple of hands-on activities we used to support this:

Reflective Group Discussion: Provide each group with a collaborative reflection journal to document their discussions. After every group session, each member writes one strength they observed in the group and one area for growth, using phrases from the anchor chart. This encouraged reflection on communication skills and reinforced accountable language in a meaningful way.
2.Drama Improvisation Game: Set up a drama activity where students are placed in small groups and given a challenge to solve (such as building a bridge using classroom objects). They must act out the scenario using the phrases for leaders and struggling from the chart. With our focus on Communication Skills: Exchanging information, I created these task cards that required the children to share and discuss solutions to the task, allowed them to CHOOSE their method for presenting and all whilst implementing the communication skills we had been focusing on.

Perfect resources for Developing Speaking & Listening Skills

The following tools support the sub-skills within Communication Skills: Exchanging information. With hands-on tasks that require conversation and collaborative discussions, they all initiate speaking and listening, providing explicit opportunities for practicing accountable talk.

Lower grades:

Upper grades:

Why Your Classroom is Perfect for Accountable Talk

Our classrooms are naturally suited for accountable talk because they’re designed for provoking curiosity, making connections, collaboration and discovery. The magic of this approach is that it can happen anywhere, but the structure of the classroom—a space filled with resources like anchor charts, sentence starters, and inquiry-based prompts—gives it a fertile ground to thrive for all learners, including English language learners.

Imagine turning your classroom into a buzzing hub of intellectual curiosity, where accountable talk is as much a part of the daily routine as lining up. When students know they’re expected to engage meaningfully, they step up their game, and the results are powerful.

Boosting Oral Language Skills with Accountable Talk

In the IB PYP, we emphasise the importance of oracy - the ability to express yourself and communicate fluently with others—helping students develop strong speaking and listening skills. Accountable talk plays a crucial role in this by encouraging thoughtful, reasoned conversation.

It’s not just about speaking—it’s about thinking out loud, refining ideas, and responding to others in a way that moves the discussion forward.

As students practice accountable talk, they’re honing their ability to articulate ideas, support arguments, and engage critically with content. These are essential life skills that will serve them well beyond the classroom walls. So, how do we put all of this into practice?

Practical Strategies for Encouraging Accountable Talk

Integrating accountable talk into your classroom is all about making it a regular part of your discussions, across subjects. Here are some practical ways to get started:

After reading a news story: Invite students to share their thoughts and ask them to justify their reactions.
Building on prior knowledge: Start with a topic students already know, then challenge them to push their thinking deeper.
Concept discussion mats: Based around the additional concepts within our transdisciplinary themes, these can be used to support conceptual understanding AND as a provocation, tuning into the concepts within your inquiry. They support conversation through multiple strategies such as ROLL & TALK and CONVERSATION BINGO.
Group read-alouds: Encourage students to ask each other questions, using accountable talk sentence starters to clarify and expand ideas. (You can find some of my favourite read alouds for each theme in this article)
Debates and discussions: Give students the opportunity to practice respectful disagreement by supporting their opinions with evidence.
Summarising a lesson: Ask students to reflect on what they’ve learned, using accountable talk to connect ideas.

These strategies make discussion not only more engaging but more productive, as your students realise that their contributions truly matter.

The Power of Questioning

A great classroom discussion often hinges on the types of questions we ask. Thoughtful questioning is the heart of accountable talk, guiding students toward deeper understanding. Before jumping into a discussion, ask yourself:

What are the key concepts students should grapple with?
How can I frame questions to spark critical thinking and reasoned debate
Would this work better as a whole-class discussion, or in small groups?

Planning your questions in advance helps ensure that discussions stay focused and meaningful and this fits beautifully as part of our essential guiding questions. You can read more about developing questioning skills with your students in this article.

Sentence Starters for Accountable Talk

To support your students in getting the hang of accountable talk, providing sentence starters can make all the difference. Visuals can go a long way in reinforcing accountable talk in the classroom. Creating your own anchor charts or using ones you find online can help remind students of the key components of accountable talk. These charts serve as a quick reference, encouraging students to stay on track during discussions. Here are some to try out:

"I think this because the text/image/ says/shows…"
"I agree with ___ because…"
"I can expand on that by adding…"
"I want to know more about…"
"I like ____but diagree with ____because..."
"If I understand correctly, it means…"

These prompts help students structure their thoughts and encourage them to back up their ideas with evidence.

Bringing It All Together: Dialogic Reading and Accountable Talk

A fantastic way to combine accountable talk with literacy development is through dialogic reading, where the student takes the lead and the teacher becomes the listener. This role reversal is a brilliant way to encourage accountable talk and supports our agentic classroom. Using sentence starters and stems during dialogic reading, students can dive deeper into comprehension and critical thinking, all while building their communication skills. Examples:

1. Picture Walk and Predict:

Before reading, take students on a "picture walk" through the book, discussing the illustrations and predicting what might happen.
During reading, pause to ask open-ended questions about what the characters might be feeling or thinking.
2.Character Interview:
After reading, have students pick a character from the story.
Let them pair up, with one acting as the character and the other as an interviewer, asking questions about the character's actions or emotions.

When practiced regularly, accountable talk can become a natural part of your classroom culture, fostering not just great discussions but critical thinkers. By incorporating it into your daily routine, you’ll empower students to take ownership of their learning, developing communication skills that will serve them in the classroom and beyond.

Enjoy!

P.S. Feel free to share your own experiences and ideas with our community. Tag me on Instagram @pypteaching and I will gladly share you and your students' work. :)