News

Literacy news

Mind your language

24 Feb 2005

One of the most important responsibilities facing Foundation Stage practitioners is to support the development of young children's communication skills. Much easier said than done! Thankfully, further help is at hand with the impending launch of new training materials for practitioners, commissioned by Sure Start, under development by Professor Nigel Hall at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), and called Communicating Matters [The package of materials will be available to local authorities in September 2005].

One area to emerge, which has caused considerable concern to many people over the past 40 years, is the ways in which practitioner and setting can inhibit children's language.

Research has shown consistently that the ways in which practitioners (not just in early years) interact with and talk to children often close down language opportunities, take over children's conversation, leave what children have to say unheard, and force children to attend to narrow, overprescribed notions of what is good communication and language.

The team at MMU found that one overriding belief stood out as being the key to improving children's communication skills: if practitioners could become more aware of how their own language behaviours impact upon children's communication and could modify their behaviour, then this change would have a greater beneficial influence on children's language than almost anything else.

It can be hard to look from a distance at how we use language, especially in a busy setting or classroom. Because so much language is generated spontaneously and disappears almost instantaneously, being aware of what we do and say is hard - as a result it is often difficult to change. This is why it is so important to reflect on how to listen and respond to children in settings.

Some practitioners have found that reflecting on their own communication has helped them to improve their practice (see case study). Many have come to realise that some of their own beliefs about their own practice were not evident in their setting. Tape recording or videoing interaction with children can help practitioners reflect on their language, as can practitioners using each other as critical friends who regularly observe and discuss each other's use of language.

The primary objective for practitioners must be to get the child to communicate. This might seem like stating the obvious, but adults working with children have a lot of power and can too easily dominate children's communication.

Practitioners must almost always be directed to allowing and encouraging children to talk. All too often more effort is spent in encouraging children to be quiet than to communicate.

A change in style

Communicating Matters identifies key behaviours for practitioners to develop and demonstrate to support children's language development:

Listen before talking - more time spent listening without interrupting leads to more relevant adult language, allows children to gather their thoughts and usually leads to more high-quality interactions.
Talk to the child as one would with an adult - this means that both participants in the conversation have equal rights to initiate, select topics or even close the conversation.
Give children space and time to respond - the imperative on practitioners to get children learning often forces them to take over children's talk. Practitioners have to become comfortable with the children's silences, which allow them time to think about what has been said and what they should reply. Pauses and hesitations are part of everyone's talk. Once children learn that they have freedom to comment, they will take advantage of the opportunities that such space offers.
Think about the role of questions and use them appropriately - used too often, questions can turn conversations into interrogations and cast the child as a passive partner. The best questions are always those for which the answer is not already known.
Avoid correcting children's speech - modelling and expanding language is preferable to drawing attention to children’s 'deficiencies' since this can undermine their self-confidence.
Show real interest in what the child has to say - the greatest respect we can show to children is to respond seriously to what they have to say. This requires practitioners to reflect on their own assumptions about children from homes or cultures different from their own, and to avoid negative stereotypes.
Don't talk for the sake of talking - while it would be foolish to suggest that practitioners never initiate conversation with a child, following the child's lead demonstrates a positive regard for them as individuals.
Maximise opportunities for children to use language purposefully - this seems obvious, but engaging in interesting activities will lead to richer language than might occur in artificially-created situations.

The message that came back to the team from many excellent settings, and from specialists was that children should do more talking and practitioners should do less.

Practitioners need to become better listeners and to provide a much better model of what it means to be a good listener. The best practitioners recognise that they need to rein in their power as communicators and give children the freedom to initiate and lead.

Good practitioners have the confidence to allow themselves to be led by the children, creating space and time for children to think, reflect and speak, and allowing activities to emerge from the children themselves.

Ten key questions

Effective practice requires all practitioners to understand how their own language and behaviour influence the development of a child's communication and language. Use these key questions to help you reflect on your own communicative behaviours. Do you:

1. Listen to children before you talk to them?
2. Allow children time to start up the conversation?
3. Find yourself regularly interrupting children?
4. Talk with a child rather than at them?
5. Leap in to correct children's errors or ask children to repeat themselves?
6. Ask too many questions of children, particularly those to which the answers are already known?
7. Model and expand children's language, building on what they have to say?
8. Feel uncomfortable about silences?
9. Show real interest in what children have to say?
10. Show the same respect for conversations with children as for those with adults?

Case study: Shepton Beauchamp playgroup

Shelly Bacon has been supervisor at Shepton Beauchamp Playgroup in south Somerset for 16 years. About five years ago, Shelley and her colleagues became concerned about children's communication skills. They felt that children were finding it increasingly difficult to listen and many had speech difficulties. Then a child arrived who had little spoken language. Shelley realised that the time had come to change how children were helped to develop their communication skills.

With training and support from local advisory teams, the practitioners began to appreciate how changing their own communicative behaviours could help children's development. "The most difficult thing," says Shelley, "was giving children time to respond and not stepping in too quickly. We have to make a judgement as to when is enough time and not leave it too long so that a child becomes uncomfortable. This can be painful for the adult because we want to fill silences and get the child "doing" all the time. We have come to realise that children need time to observe and listen.

Another change that practitioners made was to comment rather than question. Shelley says, "It's hard to comment and wait, not necessarily expecting a response. We try hard at storytime not to question children about what they have heard but rather to comment on the story. We have noticed that children become far more involved and have much more to say. We also make sure that we have lots of visual clues and use gestures so that children who may be struggling to understand the spoken word are supported in other ways."

What difference has this made to the children? Shelley feels that there have been huge benefits. The children are much better listeners and are much more attentive to adults. They have become more confident and feel secure because they know that they will be listened to and that they will be given time to respond.

Shelley adds, "Because we always start with the child's interests and the learning of language grows from there, then it means they are really enjoying themselves."

(This article was written by Sue Ellis, Regional Director, Foundation Stage Inclusion, for Nursery World)

Tags: Talk To Your Baby