Children’s early language is a top priority for the curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and first years of school. Its impact is extraordinarily powerful.
The British Cohort Study found that verbal skills at age 5 are strongly associated with reading ability at age 10, exam results at age 16, and the likelihood of completing a degree by age 30.
Children’s verbal skills at age 5 are also associated with better health into adulthood, including better mental health and improved job prospects.
As the Education Endowment Foundation comments in their Preparing for Literacy guidance report: “language provides the foundation of thinking and learning and should be prioritised”.
So how can educators in the early years help children to expand their vocabulary, a key component of those language skills?
Interactive reading: putting evidence into action
First, the good news: there is strong research evidence to guide us. One effective approach is shared, or interactive, book reading. In shared reading, the book becomes a focus for conversation between the child and adult. The adult might prompt the child to talk about the pictures, for example, or discuss their ideas about the story. It works best in a small group, or with individual children. The more actively the child participates, the greater the gains in their language development.
However, putting this evidence into action isn’t straightforward.
Firstly, the impact of interactive reading is greater when the activity includes brief, explicit teaching of new words. That means careful planning ahead about which words to highlight and how to do this. A promising programme called Talking Time emphasises the importance of sustained professional development for staff, and planning ahead about strategies to use whilst sharing books.
Secondly, ensuring that all children in an early years classroom or setting engage in regular shared reading activities is a complex organisational feat. For example, if you have 24 full-time children and you want them to take part in two shared reading activities per week in small groups of 4, you will need to schedule 12 slots in the week. That isn’t going to be easy.
Improving early talk: minding the gap
This takes us to the next challenge. Whilst shared reading is positive for all children, research suggests that those with the largest vocabularies gain the most. In other words, this approach can widen gaps between children. It may be important to target children with weaker language skills, so they are given more opportunities to take part.
Overall, the evidence suggests that educators should use brief, engaging, explicit teaching in conjunction with ongoing incidental strategies - talking about new words when they come up in conversation and in books, and discussing their meanings.
Altogether, the demands this places on educators in early years are significant: we need to prioritise shared reading with children, especially with those whose language skills are weaker, and also make time for conversation and discussion about new words throughout the day.
Will it be worth it? When we consider the lifelong benefits of language development in the early years, the answer is a resounding yes.
Julian Grenier CBE is the co-author of Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice
