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Early communication and language development
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education language acquisition early years communication
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Critical Reflection: Educational theory and practice Cand No: 000000What is known about early communication and language development
and how does intervention policy work in practice?
At present, much research specifies that children are starting school without the
basic communication skills needed to meet their full potential, not only affecting
their education, but also impacting their later lives (Bercow, 2008: cited in the
communication trust, 2013). The Centre for Social Justice (2013) recently
reported that in some areas, up to 50% of pupils were beginning reception with
language and communication difficulties that already set them at a disadvantage
compared to their peers. Agreed in much literature, one of the most important
aspects of children’s development, communication and language is essential for
the healthy growth of every child and has much impact on their entire learning
process. This essay aims to focus on what is currently known about early
communication and language delays, specifically exploring interventions put into
place that aim to secure a better start for all children (DfE, 2014) which I have
then critically reviewed in relation to my own experience and practice.
The topic of communication and language is of interest to me due to the high
number of children within my setting that have English as an additional language
(EAL) or special educational needs (SEN) that put them developmentally behind
their peers. To support these children, the nursery’s SENCO introduced a
targeted intervention ‘word play’ for the staff to complete with children in their
final year before attending reception (see Appendix). Currently, I am
volunteering at a fully inclusive nursery school rated ‘outstanding’ by OFSTED in
a mixed socio-economic area of Brighton. This is reflected in the huge variety of
family structures of the 94 children between ages two to four years currently
attending the school. All of the under three’s are government funded and 11 of
the 12 have additional speech and language needs (10 EAL). I spend most of my
time in the setting with the over three year olds where there are 23 EAL learners
with 15 different native languages. There are also 4 children supported by pre
SENs and 12 with SEN, 10 of which have speech and language therapy.
On exploring the subject of early intervention, it is evident that research agrees
the earlier the detection of a child’s needs, the easier it will be to refer them to
the relevant specialist or give them any extra but essential support. In Allen’s
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, Critical Reflection: Educational theory and practice Cand No: 000000
early intervention review (2011) he states that intervention is happening too late
for children in education, when their problems have already become an integral
part of their lives. He believes that the government already realises it is
ineffective and expensive to carry on with the current principal of late
intervention but may not know how to prevent it without national policy reform
(Allen 2011). Within the first 3 years of a child’s life they have already laid the
foundation to becoming a successful communicator and critical thinker (Angelou,
2009). If this is true why are schools waiting so late to intervene when a child is
having a problem? Resulting in unnecessary amounts of money and having
adverse effects on the healthy development of the individual child (Nicholson
and Palaiologou, 2016).
Chomsky (1965) asserted that every child is born with an innate ability to
acquire language and can decode the sounds around them using their inherent
language acquisition device. As a cognitive psychologist, Chomsky was criticized
as putting too much emphasis on the internal ability that infants are born with
and not focusing on the environmental factors that can enhance or inhibit a
child’s language development. Bruner (1983) believed the interaction between
child and parent to be of much importance and the ability of the adult to
‘scaffold’ children’s learning was one of the most important parts of providing a
next step for children to learn from. Vygotsky (1962) agreed with Bruner and
added that the relationship of a child’s inner speech and their interactions relate
to one another, maintaining that ‘language and thought are inseparable’
(Palaiologou, pp370, 2016).
In agreement with Bruner’s scaffolding theory (1983) The EYFS suggests that
creating opportunities for children to talk with ‘more knowledgeable’ others, will
foster positive relationships and over time language development will certainly
occur. Early years practitioners should capitalise on naturally occurring talking
points with the children, allowing them to talk about what they see, hear, think
and feel and modelling creative thinking and talking skills (DfE, 2014). Within my
placement, I can see that this happens naturally with the experienced staff and
children’s development is benefitted and then future interactions can be planned
for the child’s next steps. However, working in a private nursery I noticed that
rather than interacting with the children, staff would sit beside the children as if
supervising their play and only intervene when they needed to manage
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