Good Practice: Oral language development in the early years

Oral language is foundational for children’s ongoing learning, through and beyond their early years.

ERO looked at how teachers and service leaders support children’s oral language in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services, and what good teaching practice looks like for supporting oral language development.

This report is focused on good practice for early childhood teachers and leaders. It uses robust evidence to clarify ‘what good looks like’ for supporting oral language, and how teachers and service leaders can implement good practices in their own service.

The Education Review Office (ERO) is responsible for reviewing and reporting on the performance of early childhood services, kura, and schools. As part of this role, ERO looks at how the education system supports early childhood services to provide quality education for children. In this case, we looked at how oral language in the early years is going currently, and what good practice for supporting oral language looks like.

What is oral language?

Language is key to human connection and communication. It is essential for people to navigate through the world effectively. People communicate in a variety of ways, ranging from gestures to written and oral language. Oral language includes:

→ listening (receptive language) skills: the ability to hear, process, and understand information

→ speaking (expressive language) skills: the ability to respond and make meaning with sounds, words, gestures, or signing.

Through listening and speaking, children learn to communicate their views, understand others, and make and share their discoveries. In Te Whāriki, Aotearoa New Zealand’s Early Childhood Education curriculum, oral language includes any method of communication the child uses in their first language.

What did ERO look at?

In ERO’s companion evaluation report, we explore a range of questions about what is happening with oral language in English-medium early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Within this good practice report, our investigation explores:

→ what the existing research evidence says about good practice in supporting oral language in early childhood services

→ what the existing research evidence says about good support for teachers and service leaders

→ what these practices and supports look like in our Aotearoa New Zealand context, and across a range of early childhood service types and regions

→ what insights, strategies, and stories we could gather that could be useful for the sector – teachers, service leaders, parents and whānau, and early intervention services.

Where did ERO look?

We have taken a mixed-methods approach to deliver breadth and depth in this research. We built our understanding of the current state of oral language and what is good practice through literature review, surveys, interviews, and site visits.

We took a deep dive into the literature on good practice for supporting oral language. This covered both the national and international literature base.

To check our understanding and establish our supports, practice areas, and key practices, we worked closely with an Expert Advisory Group. The group included Aotearoa New Zealand academics, teachers, practitioners, and sector experts. We also worked with speech-language therapists over the course of this study.

In our fieldwork, we focused our investigation on the experiences of early childhood service leaders, teachers, and parents and whānau across Aotearoa New Zealand, in primarily English-medium settings. We also looked at some new entrant school classrooms in primary schools to further broaden our understanding. Our 16 site visits included a wide range of English-medium, teacher-led ECE services, including two Pacific services, one Steiner kindergarten and one Montessori preschool. In total, we heard from:

→ 43 early childhood service staff (including eight service leaders)

→ 25 school staff (including eight school leaders)

→ 15 parents and whānau.

As part of these conversations, we asked teachers and service leaders about ways that they bring evidence-based practices to life in their early childhood service.

We wanted to know about the particular strategies that have worked well in their experience. You can find their ideas in the ‘real-life strategies’ throughout Chapters 3 and 4 of this report. It is important to think about which of these strategies will be the right fit for each early childhood service, and how they might be adapted for particular communities of children and parents and whānau.

ERO identified five key areas of practice and four supports

Below are the five evidence-based areas of practice and four evidence-based supports that we focus on in Chapters 3 and 4.

Report structure

This report is divided into four sections.

→ Chapter 1 sets out our key findings from our companion evaluation report, about the current state of oral language in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services.

→ Chapter 2 gives a brief overview of ERO’s recommended areas for action across Aotearoa New Zealand.

→ Chapter 3 is one of the main parts of the report. It sets out five areas of evidence-based teacher practice for supporting oral language development.

→ Chapter 4 is one of the main parts of the report. It sets out four evidence-based supports for oral language support that should be fostered in early childhood services.

As well as our companion evaluation report, ERO has also produced short practical guides for ECE teachers, ECE leaders, new entrant teachers, and parents and whānau, with guidance that is specific to their roles. These can all be downloaded from our website, evidence.ero.govt.nz

We appreciate the work of all those who supported this research, particularly the teachers, service leaders, parents and whānau, and experts who shared with us. Their experiences and insights are at the heart of what we have learnt.

ERO looked at how well oral language learning is going in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services. These findings are set out in more detail in our companion evaluation report, Let’s keep talking: Oral language development in the early years.

This chapter gives a brief overview of our 18 key findings.

ERO identified 18 key findings about the state of oral language in Aotearoa

New Zealand early childhood services. For more detail and additional findings, see our companion evaluation report: Let’s keep talking: Oral language development in the early years.

Key findings

Oral language is critical for achieving the Government’s literacy ambitions.

Finding 1: Oral language is critical for later literacy and education outcomes. It also plays a key role in developing key social-emotional skills that support behaviour. Children’s vocabulary at age 2 is strongly linked to their literacy and numeracy achievement at age 12, and delays in oral language in the early years are reflected in poor reading comprehension at school.

Most children’s oral language is developing well, but there is a significant group of children who are behind and Covid-19 has made this worse.

Finding 2: A large Aotearoa New Zealand study found 80 percent of children at age 5 are doing well, but 20 percent are struggling with oral language. ECE and new entrant teachers also report that a group of children are struggling and half of parents and whānau report their child has some difficulty with oral language in the early years.

Finding 3: Covid-19 has had a significant impact. Nearly two-thirds of teachers (59 percent of ECE teachers and 65 percent of new entrant teachers) report that Covid-19 has impacted children’s language development. Teachers told us that social communication was particularly impacted by Covid-19, particularly language skills for social communication. International studies confirm the significant impact of Covid-19 on language development.

Figure 1: Percentage of teachers reporting Covid-19 had an impact on children’s oral language development

"A lot of children are not able to communicate their needs. They are difficult to understand when they speak. They are not used to having conversations." (Teacher)

Children from low socio-economic backgrounds and boys are struggling the most.

Finding 4: Evidence both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally is clear that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to struggle with oral language skills. We found that new entrant teachers we surveyed in schools in low socio-economic communities were nine times more likely to report children being below expected levels of oral language. Parents and whānau with lower qualifications were also more likely to report that their child has difficulty with oral language.

Figure 2: New entrant teachers reporting that most children they work with are below the expected level of oral language, by socio-economic community

Finding 5: Both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, boys have more difficulty developing oral language than girls. Parents and whānau we surveyed reported 70 percent of boys are not at the expected development level, compared with 56 percent of girls.

Figure 3: Proportion of parents and whānau that report their child has some difficulty in oral language

Difficulties with oral language emerge as children develop and oral language becomes more complex.

Finding 6: Teachers and parents and whānau report more concerns about children being behind as they become older and start school. For example, 56 percent of parents and whānau report their child has difficulty as a toddler (aged 18 months to three years old), compared to over two-thirds of parents and whānau (70 percent) reporting that their child has difficulty as a preschooler (aged three to five).

Finding 7: Teachers and parents and whānau report that children who are behind most often struggle with constructing sentences, telling stories, and using social communication to talk about their thoughts and feelings. For example, 43 percent of parents and whānau report their child has some difficulty with oral grammar, but only 13 percent report difficulty with gestures.

Figure 4: Proportion of parents and whānau who report their toddler or preschooler has difficulty with oral language

Quality ECE makes a difference, particularly to children in low socio-economic communities, but they attend ECE less often.

Finding 8: International studies find that quality ECE supports language development and can accelerate literacy by up to a year (particularly for children in low socio-economic communities), and that quality ECE leads to better academic achievement at age 16 for children from low socio-economic communities.

Finding 9: Children from low socio-economic communities attend ECE for fewer hours than children in high socio-economic areas, which can be due to a range of factors.

Figure 5: Intensity of ECE participation of 3- and 4-year-olds in 2023, by socio-economic community

The evidence is clear about the practices that matter for language development, and most teachers report using them frequently.

Finding 10: International and Aotearoa New Zealand evidence is clear that the practices that best support the development of oral language skills are:

Finding 11: ECE and new entrant teachers we surveyed reported they use these evidence-based practices often. ECE teachers reported that they most often teach new words and how to use them (96 percent), use conversation to extend language (95 percent), and read interactively with children (95 percent). New entrant teachers we surveyed reported they most frequently read interactively with children (99 percent), teach new words and how to use them (96 percent), and model how words make sentences (95 percent).

Figure 6: ECE teachers’ reported frequency of using teaching practices

Teachers’ practices to develop social communication are weaker.

Finding 12: ECE and new entrant teachers we surveyed both reported to us they develop social communication skills least frequently.  

Professional knowledge is the strongest driver of teachers using evidence- based good practices. Qualified ECE teachers reported being almost twice as confident in their knowledge about oral language.

Finding 13: Qualified ECE teachers we surveyed reported being almost twice as confident in their knowledge about how oral language develops than non-qualified teachers. Most qualified ECE teachers (94 percent) reported being confident, but only two-thirds (64 percent) of non-qualified teachers reported being confident.

Finding 14: Qualified teachers reported more frequently using key practices, for example, using conversation to extend language (96 percent compared with 92 percent of non-qualified teachers).

Finding 15: ECE teachers who reported being extremely confident in their professional knowledge of how children’s language develops were up to seven times more likely to report using effective teaching practices regularly.

Figure 7: ECE teachers’ reported confidence in their professional knowledge of how oral language develops, qualified compared with non-qualified teachers

“We got the [provider] to come in and talk to us about the science, and the brain, and the neuroscience behind basically play-based learning.” (Teacher)

“You know that you are using this strategy that is researched and proven to work.” (Teacher)

Teachers and parents often do not know how well their children are developing and this matters as timely support can prevent problems later.

Finding 16: Not all ECE and new entrant teachers are confident to assess oral language progress. Of the new entrant teachers we surveyed, a quarter reported not being confident to assess and report on progress. The lack of clear development expectations and milestones, and lack of alignment between Te Whāriki and the New Zealand Curriculum, makes this difficult. Half of parents (53 percent) do not get information from their service about their child’s oral language progress.

Finding 17: Being able to assess children’s oral language progress and identify potential difficulties is an important part of teaching young children. However, not all ECE and new entrant teachers are confident to identify difficulties in oral language (15 percent of ECE teachers and 24 percent of new entrant teachers surveyed report not being confident).

Figure 8: ECE teachers' and new entrant teachers' reported confidence to identify difficulties in children's oral language development

Finding 18: For children who are struggling, support from specialists, such as speech-language therapists, who can help with oral language development is key. But not all teachers are confident to work with these specialists, with 12 percent of ECE teachers and 17 percent of new entrant teachers reporting not being confident.

“Many are attending ECE, but not being referred early enough once the delay in oral language is noticed. Then when trying to get intervention, the wait times are too long and the support is inconsistent.” (New entrant teacher)

Conclusion

Oral language in our Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services is a significant problem, and it has been getting worse. We know that oral language in the early years predicts outcomes later in life. More needs to be done to ensure that oral language support is effective, well-supported, and embedded across our early childhood services.

In the next sections of this report, we set out what actions ERO is recommending at the higher level to support services (Chapter 2), and what teachers (Chapter 3) and service leaders (Chapter 4) and can do to improve oral language teaching.

This good practice report is focused on what ECE leaders and teachers can do to impact children’s oral language development within their early childhood services. However, we know that improving oral language isn’t just up to early childhood services – it requires shared responsibility and deliberate, joint actions.

Based on what we found out about the state of oral language across Aotearoa New Zealand, ERO is recommending changes to the supports and structures available to services. In this section, we outline the five areas that require action across agencies, to ensure all ECE services are well set up to support oral language – and to be able to focus on great teaching and learning.

ECE teachers and service leaders can make a big difference through their everyday practices and priorities. The most powerful service-level practices for supporting children’s oral language are set out in Chapters 3 and 4 of this report.

However, the significance of the oral language challenges that ERO identified (detailed in our companion evaluation report and summarised in Chapter 1 of this report) need strong and decisive actions to enable ECE services to do their best work in supporting children’s oral language. In this chapter, we outline the five action areas that ERO is putting forward as recommendations for a cross-agency response.

ERO’s recommendations

ERO has identified five areas for action, and 10 recommendations, to support children’s oral language development.

Conclusion

Oral language is a critical building block for all children and essential to setting them up to succeed at school and beyond. More needs to be done to ensure that oral language support is effective, well-supported, and embedded across our early childhood services. Quality ECE can make a difference.

We have identified five key areas of action to support children’s oral language development. Together, these areas of action can help address the oral language challenges children face.

In the next sections of this report, we set out practical guidance for teachers (Chapter 3) and service leaders (Chapter 4) to take their own actions to improve oral language support.

Oral language is foundational for children’s ongoing learning, through and beyond their early years. ERO reviewed international and local evidence to find the most powerful practices that teachers can use to support children’s oral language development. Then we visited early childhood services across Aotearoa New Zealand and gathered examples of how teachers bring these evidence-based practices to life.

This part of the report provides practical guidance for teachers to reflect on and build their practice. Each practice area is unpacked into key practices, with real-life examples of what we saw and heard in early childhood services. We encourage teachers to use the examples of practice to help them consider how they can apply these in their own service.

Overview of this section

This section sets out:

1. how we found out about good practice
2. five key practice areas.

1) How we found out about good practice

We looked at the evidence base, talked to early childhood services and experts

ERO looked at good practice in supporting oral language in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services and classrooms.

We took a deep dive into the literature on good practice for supporting oral language development. This covered both the national and international literature base, and then we checked our understandings with Aotearoa New Zealand experts.

In our fieldwork, we asked teachers about the practical ways that they bring evidence-based oral language practices to life in their early childhood service. We wanted to know about the particular strategies that have worked well in their experience. You can find their ideas in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

2) Five key practice areas

Practice areas are ways that teachers can actively support children’s oral language development in early childhood education. These are drawn from the established evidence base.

We have broken down each of the five practice areas into specific ‘key practices’ that make the most difference for children. These are illustrated by real-life stories, strategies, insights, and ideas from early childhood services, including education and care, home-based early childhood services, and kindergartens from rural areas, small towns, and cities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The five practice areas are:

This practice area is about teaching and modelling a wide range of words and their meanings to children.

When this is going well, teachers use a range of strategies to build children’s vocabulary, including naming, labelling, explaining, showing, repetition, and extending.

In this section, we set out why teaching and modelling new words is so important for supporting children’s oral language development. We also offer practical guidance on how teachers can build this area of their own practice.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about teaching new words and how to use them. It includes:

1. what this practice area is
2. why this is important
3. what good practice looks like in real life
4. a good practice example
5. reflective questions for teachers.

1) What is this practice area?

This practice area is about deliberately teaching and modelling words to children through everyday interactions. This includes intentionally using words to build a child’s understanding of words (their ‘receptive vocabulary’) and encouraging them to use and apply words in the right context (‘expressive vocabulary’). To support children, teachers use strategies like naming, labelling, explaining, showing, repetition, and extending.

2) Why is this important?

Adults teaching and modelling different words for children is necessary for children to be able build and use a larger vocabulary themselves.  This means children are increasingly able to comment on and describe things around them, interpret their world, and use more specific words (rather than general terms). Repeatedly naming and labelling the things children take an interest in helps them understand new words and store them in their memory. It also helps children understand that words can mean different things in different contexts.

3) What does good practice look like in real life?

The key evidence-based practices that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we talked to teachers and service leaders about strategies that have worked well in their experience. We’ve collected their ideas and strategies here. It is important to think carefully about which of these will be the right fit for the unique context and community of each early childhood service – no strategy is one-size-fits-all.

a) Naming

This key practice involves supporting children to use the words for objects, people, and ideas in their environment. Teachers do this by tuning in to the things that children are experiencing or gesturing towards, so they can provide children with the right words to match what they see, play with, and think about.

For example, ‘ball’, ‘cat’, or ‘funny’. Teachers might use a ‘sportscasting’ strategy with infants and non-speaking children, where they narrate activities and describe things and events in the child’s view.

Teachers can also support multilingual children by affirming their use of home language words to name things, and then explaining what the word is in English, te reo Māori, or relevant Pacific or other languages that are used at the service. This privileges children’s capabilities as well as growing their word bank in the language(s) used most at the service.

“If it's a play-based learning environment, they get used to working with other children and they hear other vocabulary. So that's a gifting of vocabulary and practising their oral language skills.”​ (Teacher)

“We expand their emotions and identify key words that they can use to express themselves.”​ (Teacher)

Real-life strategies

b) Labelling

This key practice involves using words to identify objects, people, and ideas across different mediums – such as relating something learnt from a screen to something seen in real life, or pointing to something in the ECE environment that is also being labelled in a story book.

Real-life strategies

c) Explaining

This key practice involves explaining the meanings of words to help children express ideas. Children benefit from teachers clarifying and unpacking words to gain a deeper understanding of new vocabulary.

“They can generally talk about it. Even if they can't give you specific names, they can tell you what it looks like or feels like.”​ (Teacher)

“We see a change in our playground behaviours. We've seen a change in children's wellbeing. They're actually expressing their feelings and needs…[they’re] actually able to articulate and feel okay about going and articulating to people.”​ (Leader)

Real-life strategies

d) Showing

This key practice involves being clear about the mouth and tongue movements used when saying particular words, to help children get used to the sound as well as the feeling of saying the word. Teachers might say parts of new words extra clearly, loudly, or slowly, or talk with children about what the mouth movements look like or feel like. However, teachers should be cautious about over-exaggerating their mouth movements, as this can distort sounds.

Real-life strategies

e) Repeating

This key practice involves intentionally repeating certain words to help children gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of a word, and how the word is used in context.

“Always repeat the words as well, and what you want them to do.”​ (Teacher)

Real-life strategies

f) Extending

This key practice involves adding extra words, for example, adjectives or adverbs, to descriptions (e.g., ‘big red ball’). This helps children to extend and expand their knowledge, by giving them the words to do so. Teachers can also encourage sustained shared thinking by responding to questions that children ask and helping them to articulate and extend their ideas by modelling new vocabulary. For infants and children who are not yet speaking, ‘serve and return’ interactions which involve teachers responding to gestures, eye contact etc., with spoken words, are another useful form of extending.

Real-life strategies

“I've actually seen great results ... I've got one child in the toddlers’ room that's really keen to speak, and he keeps repeating everything we say. [He’s] really determined to use the language. He would point at his shoes and say, ‘On the shelf, up, up there, up there’. Then from this… I'd give him extra words and a week later he would say, ‘My shoes, they are up there’ – which was incredible.” (Teacher) 

4) Good practice example

5) Reflective questions for teachers

These questions may be useful to reflect on individually or discuss as a team. Think carefully and critically about your day-to-day practices.

→ How often do I repeat words when speaking to children? How about explaining or discussing what they mean?

→ How often do I ask children to vocalise what they are doing and their ideas or emotions? Can I add to their word bank, for example, by naming objects, or labelling connections to other contexts?

→ When working with infants and non-verbal children, how regularly do I maximise interactions with ‘serve and return’ responses to their gestures and non-verbal cues, or use ‘sportscasting’ strategies to describe what is happening around them?

→ How do we show children that the language they speak at home is welcomed in our service and that their added vocabulary is a strength?

→ When could I say a bit more or add complexity to my language, to increase children’s knowledge of words? (E.g., during care routines, mealtimes, discussing children’s construction creations, etc.)

This practice area is about teachers deliberately modelling the way that words are linked together.

When this is going well, teachers use a range of strategies to show children how words are put together, including storytelling, using songs, questioning, sequencing, and recapping.

In this section, we set out why teaching and modelling how words make sentences is so important for supporting oral language. We also offer practical guidance on how teachers can build this area of their own practice.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out information about modelling how words make sentences. It includes:

1. what this practice area is
2. why this is important
3. what good practice looks like in real life
4. a good practice example
5. reflective questions for teachers.

1) What is this practice area?

This practice area includes intentionally using language to show how words are linked to make sentences (grammar), and providing opportunities for children to practice this in their own speech. To support children, teachers use strategies like storytelling, songs and waiata, questioning, sequencing, and recapping.

2) Why is this important?

Teaching and modelling how words link together helps children become familiar with the different sounds in words, rhythm, and rhyme, gain an interest in storytelling, and be able to be creative and expressive through describing and telling stories.

These learning outcomes and strengths are emphasised in Te Whāriki and are pivotal to children’s ongoing literacy learning. Good practices to foster early language and communication development includes using songs, nursery rhymes, and stories. When teachers ask children follow-up questions and recap previous learning, this helps consolidate children’s language.

Building children’s understandings of language construction helps children to use oral language at mealtimes and take the lead during care rituals, and increases their interest in group action songs and waiata.

3)What does good practice look like in real life?

The key evidence-based practices that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we talked to teachers and service leaders about the strategies that have worked well in their experience. We’ve collected their ideas and strategies here. It is important to think carefully about which of these will be the right fit for the unique context and community of each early childhood service – no strategy is one-size-fits-all.

a) Storytelling

This key practice involves using stories to intentionally model the use of language. For example, emphasising how words and language are used when reading books with children. In Pacific language services, teachers might engage in talanoa with children to share stories and build language skills

Real-life strategies

b) Singing

This key practice involves using songs and rhymes to intentionally model the different uses and forms of language. For example, the use of rhyming words, rhythm, music, and songs and waiata to engage children and teach language patterns and rules.

“We have different songs for different seasons…So it's all linked with the rhythm of the earth.” (Leader)

Real-life strategies

c) Questioning

This key practice involves asking a range of questions to invite different forms of responses from children. For example, asking children both closed questions (with only a few possible answers, eg., ‘yes’ or ‘no’) and open-ended questions during different types of interactions, to allow them opportunities to practice a range of oral language skills when giving answers. It helps when teachers listen to what children are talking about and the ideas they’re expressing, in order to ask relevant, engaging questions that challenge children to consider more expressive or complex answers.

It’s important to keep in mind that relentless questioning can reduce children’s participation in conversation – so teachers should balance their use of questions with statements and comments that encourage children to think, respond, and take the lead in conversation too. ‘I wonder about…’ statements can be useful for this.

“We did shift our language a little bit as well, to talk with the children about what do you want to learn about today, not what do you want to do…it changes their thinking and also makes the space a lot safer to get things wrong as well.” (Teacher)

Real-life strategies

“They know that they are expected to speak, but we also give them that prep time beforehand … so they have that time to turn and talk…And then you know that they've all had that processing time and then they can share.”​ (Teacher)

d) Sequencing

This key practice involves telling stories to model how events and activities are put into order. For example, choosing books to read to and with children that show clear sequences and timelines. This helps children develop scripts for how things happen (an order of events) and learn the language used for signalling sequences and what to expect in a narrative. For example, words like ‘then’, ‘next’, ‘just before’, or ‘finally’.

“It's the warning, saying, ‘Hey, we're going to be finishing and packing this away soon’.” (Teacher)

Real-life strategies

e) Recapping

This key practice involves intentionally recapping and repeating language used, to review children’s learning. For example, going over topics and subjects that children have previously learned about, to revisit what was covered and help children remember the language that was used.

Real-life strategies

4) Good practice example

5) Reflective questions for teachers

These questions may be useful to reflect on individually or discuss as a team. Think carefully and critically about your day-to-day practices.

→ Am I intentional about supporting children to explore language and construct sentences?

→ Do I ask open-ended questions (or comments like ‘I wonder…’) that encourage children to talk and experiment with language? Do I allow them enough time to consider their answers?

→ How can I use songs and stories to engage children in different aspects of oral language – like rhyme, rhythm, narrative, etc.?

→ What opportunities do children have to reflect and recap on past learning, language, and new words? How could I build this into my everyday practice?

This practice area is about teachers engaging children in interactive reading activities.

When this is going well, teachers use a range of strategies to prompt active interaction from children during book-reading, including using questioning, recalling, expanding, extending, explaining, retelling, and rereading.

In this section, we set out why interactive reading is so important for supporting oral language. We also offer practical guidance on how teachers can build this area of their own practice.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about reading interactively with children. It includes:

1. what this practice area is
2. why this is important
3. what good practice looks like in real life
4. a good practice example
5. reflective questions for teachers.

1) What is this practice area?

This practice area is about involving children in the process of reading aloud from books. This means encouraging children to be active participants during teachers’ book-reading. To support children, teachers use strategies like questioning, recalling, expanding, extending, explaining, retelling, and rereading.

2) Why is this important?

Reading with children supports children to enjoy poetry, pūrākau, fiction, and non-fiction, and encourages them to be confident storytellers. Teachers can stimulate children’s interest in reading by regularly sharing interesting books with them. Following up by asking questions, explaining in further detail, retelling the story, and reading it again make the process of reading more engaging. Oral storytelling is a valued form of oral language teaching and learning, in the evidence base and within many cultures – for example some Pacific communities use storytelling as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and promoting cultural values.

Children who are learning in more than one language can benefit from hearing stories that feature one or more of their languages - see the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of this report for links to some dual language story books.

3)What does good practice look like in real life?

The key evidence-based practices that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we talked to teachers and service leaders about the strategies that have worked well in their experience. We’ve collected their ideas and strategies here. It is important to think carefully about which of these will be the right fit for the unique context and community of each early childhood service – no strategy is one-size-fits-all.

a) Questioning

This key practice involves asking questions while reading to prompt discussion and encourage active engagement. This supports children to answer logically using clues from the book and its context – such as the title of the story – and also to answer creatively and use their imagination.

Real-life strategies

b) Recalling

This key practice involves linking ideas in books to prior learning. For example, helping children to make links between the content that they read and hear in stories, and what they learn about in other areas of their learning.

Real-life strategies

c) Expanding

This key practice involves identifying and adding new vocabulary from stories or rhymes being read, to expand children’s vocabulary. This way, rather than just listening or reading along, children can also start practising new words that they hear.

Real-life strategies

d) Extending

This key practice involves intentionally extending on ideas from books, using the specific ideas and themes in books to broaden children’s thinking. In this way, children can start verbalising concepts that are familiar to them through stories they have heard or read.

Real-life strategies

e) Explaining

This key practice involves using different words to clarify ideas from books. For example, thoughtful use of language to explain ideas that come up in the stories children hear and read. By clarifying the meaning of a concept in different ways, teachers can help children to understand difficult-to-grasp concepts when they are reframed slightly differently.

Real-life strategies

f) Retelling

This key practice involves encouraging children to retell stories in different formats. For example, teachers might model retelling a story in a creative way and provide physical props and tools to help children retell a story themselves. Teachers can also encourage children to use dance, art, music, or drama performances to retell stories in new ways.

Real-life strategies

g) Rereading

This key practice involves being intentional about the selection of stories that will be read again and again. For example, carefully choosing which books children can most easily access, to maximise opportunities for engagement and target particular oral language skills.

Real-life strategies

Dual-language books

In our interviews, we heard about children hearing stories in that use languages that are familiar to them, which aligns with research evidence around the positive impacts of dual-language stories.See the ‘Useful Resources’ section of this report for some links for dual-language story books in English and te reo Māori, and English and Pacific languages.

4) Good practice example

5) Reflective questions for teachers

These questions may be useful to reflect on individually or discuss as a team. Think carefully and critically about your day-to-day practices.

→ Do I actively involve children in reading, by asking them questions, commenting on the story, and allowing opportunities for retelling?

→ Are we purposeful about the selection of books and reading material that is accessible to children? What specific areas of oral language learning are we working to promote with this selection?

→ Are our books interesting and relevant to our children? For example, do we choose books with characters that look like the children at the service, and reflect the cultural backgrounds of the children at the service?

→ How can I use books and stories as a jumping-off point for more oral language learning? For example, by extending on the story in a performance or through a construction activity, or by relating stories to rich discussions about children’s home lives and interests?

This practice area is about teachers having conversations with children as a deliberate language teaching strategy. This is sometimes called ‘collaborative talk’.

When this is going well, teachers use a range of strategies to engage children in activities where they can practice sharing their ideas out loud with others, including making links, evaluating, and testing working theories.

In this section, we set out why extending language through conversations is so important for supporting oral language. We also offer practical guidance on how teachers can build this area of their own practice.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about using conversations to extend language. It includes:

1. what this practice area is
2. why this is important
3. what good practice looks like in real life
4. a good practice example
5. reflective questions for teachers.

1) What is this practice area?

This practice area is about teaching through purposeful discussions with children. This means intentionally using language to engage children in challenging activities which encourage them to hear and use language to understand and share ideas, as well as reason with others. Teachers support children by using strategies like making links, evaluating, and testing working theories.

2) Why is this important?

Teaching through discussions with children allows children to increase their language ability and use language to communicate complex information and engage in problem-solving. Talking together helps children make connections between different concepts and ideas, make evaluative judgements, and test out their ideas about how the world works. These skills are foundational to their ongoing learning.

3) What does good practice look like in real life?

The key evidence-based practices that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we talked to teachers and service leaders about the strategies that have worked well in their experience. We’ve collected their ideas and strategies here. It is important to think carefully about which of these will be the right fit for the unique context and community of each early childhood service – no strategy is one-size-fits-all.

a) Making links

This key practice involves talking with children to help them make connections between ideas, experiences, and events. For example, intentionally starting conversations about topics that relate to children’s own experiences. This can help them see similarities across different areas in their lives, and in how language is used in different contexts.

Real-life strategies

b) Evaluating

This key practice involves supporting children to evaluate their own learning through talking about it. For example, teachers creating opportunities for children to reflect on their learning and talk about why they think or do things in a certain way. More complex ideas – like metacognition (thinking about your own thinking) – often require more nuanced language, and teachers have a key role in equipping children with that language.

Real-life strategies

c) Testing working theories

This key practice involves engaging with children’s play to identify the learning taking place and then encouraging children to test their own and each other’s thinking through talk. Teachers can make the most of opportunities within interactions to support children to talk through their theories about the world. For example, this could include talking about why their peers show certain emotions during conflict, how the sun helps plants to grow, or why they feel good when someone listens to them during a conversation.

Real-life strategies

4)Good practice example

5) Reflective questions for teachers

These questions may be useful to reflect on individually or discuss as a team. Think carefully and critically about your day-to-day practices.

→ How can I enhance the learning environment or daily schedule to maximise small group activities and peer interactions?

→ Do I take time to listen carefully to children’s ideas, and encourage them to do the same and listen to others? Are all children, including quieter or non-speaking children, invited to contribute?

→ How often do I support children to talk about the links between their experiences and ideas, and others’ experiences and ideas? How about making links back to past learning?

→ How can I prompt children to evaluate their own learning and progress through talk? How can I ensure that these conversations are safe, fun, and challenging?

This practice area is about teaching and modelling positive and inclusive social communication skills.

When this is going well, teachers use a range of strategies to deliberately teach children spoken and non-spoken social communication skills, including waiting, body positioning, mirroring, gesturing, and reminding.

In this section, we set out why teaching and modelling social communication skills is so important for supporting oral language development, and offer practical guidance on strategies teachers can use to build this area of their own practice.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about developing positive social communication. It includes:

1. what this practice area is
2. why this is important
3. what good practice looks like in real life
4. a good practice example
5. reflective questions for teachers.

1) What is this practice area?

This practice area includes providing opportunities for children to learn social ‘norms’ (the ways we tend to talk with each other in social situations) and rules of communication. Positive social communication is both verbal and non-verbal, and will help them to navigate interactions with others in education contexts and beyond. This includes children building skills like changing the words they use, how quietly or loudly they speak, and how they position themselves when they listen and communicate with others. To support children, teachers use strategies like waiting, body positioning, mirroring, gesturing, and reminding.

2) Why is this important?

Teaching and modelling how to communicate well with others helps children learn how to respond to verbal and non-verbal requests from others and be responsive and reciprocal in their interactions (e.g., by taking turns to talk and listen).32,33 Social communication is an important skillset, and the key to success in a range of life and learning areas. A lot of social communication is picked up through interactions, but deliberate and purposeful teaching is needed too. Social communication norms vary between cultures.

When teachers role-model good social communication – such as using gestures to complement oral language, eye-contact with a conversational partner, and mirroring body language – children can pick up these unspoken rules and social norms and learn to apply them independently.

“You can't separate oral language and social competencies. They all kind of come together… And they complement each other.” (Teacher)

3) What does good practice look like in real life?

The key evidence-based practices that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we talked to teachers and service leaders about the strategies that have worked well in their experience. We’ve collected their ideas and strategies here. It is important to think carefully about which of these will be the right fit for the unique context and community of each early childhood service – no strategy is one-size-fits-all.

a) Practising the social rules of communication

This key practice involves establishing and clarifying the social norms (expectations) of play and communication with children. For example, clearly and regularly talking about the service’s expectations about how to talk kindly to others or expectations for listening and responding to others.

“They know in all circumstances that their voice is heard and valued… It's okay to disagree… But it's disagreeing respectfully.” (Teacher)

“They know that that's also okay – that if you can't hear it that it's fine to ask. And the speaker knows that that's fine as well.”​ (Teacher)

Real-life strategies

b) Waiting

This key practice involves teachers consistently giving children time to respond after asking a question, to model respectful waiting as part of the conversation. Teachers also discuss the reasons for this with children – for example, that often people need to think about what they’re going to say before they are ready to speak out loud. In Pacific services, teachers model and discuss the warmth and respect that are a key part of unhurried conversations that include waiting (e.g., mafana ofa fakaaloalo).

Real-life strategies

c) Body positioning

This key practice involves modelling positive social body language. For example, teachers maintaining open, welcoming postures and gestures when interacting with children – like meeting children at their eye-level when speaking to them, and not having their arms crossed. This practice also includes supporting children to practice positive body positioning themselves.

Real-life strategies

d) Mirroring

This key practice involves mirroring children’s engagement to model active listening. For example, teachers taking time to listen to children during one-on-one and group interactions, matching eye-contact, and repeating back what children say to support them to feel heard.

Real-life strategies

e) Gesturing

This key practice involves modelling the use of gestures to support and complement oral communication. For example, nodding along while listening to someone speak or using hand motions during a story or while giving instructions to help show what is being talked about.

Real-life strategies

f) Reminding

This key practice involves using social language to reinforce established social expectations and support children to communicate positively. For example, gentle reminders for children about the social rules of behaviour like asking for a turn.

Real-life strategies

4) Good practice example

5) Reflective questions for teachers

These questions may be useful to reflect on individually or discuss as a team. Think carefully and critically about your day-to-day practices.

→ Do I use non-verbal communication, like gestures and body positioning, to complement my spoken communication with children and support their understanding?

→ Do the children at my service know why different social expectations and rules about communication are important? Would it be useful to be clearer and more explicit about how and why we communicate in particular ways in this place?

→ How well do I model being a respectful conversational partner?

→ What communication ‘rules’ or norms are valued by parents, whānau, and community?

This report is mostly focused on effective teaching practices. But there are also some foundations that need to be in place before teachers can do their best work in supporting oral language.

To be well set up, teachers need good service leadership and conditions that prioritise oral language teaching. They also need good professional knowledge and assessment understandings themselves, positive partnerships with parents and whānau, and an understanding of how and when to work with specialists around oral language.

This chapter of the report will be useful for service leaders, to reflect on how well set-up their teachers are for supporting oral language in their service.

Overview of this section

This section sets out:

1. how we found out about the foundational supports that need to be in place for teachers
2. the four key supports that make the biggest difference for supporting oral language.

1) How we found out about foundational supports

We took a deep dive into the literature on the key supports that need to be in place for supporting oral language. This covered both the national and international literature base, and then we checked our understandings with Aotearoa New Zealand experts. We established four key supports that need to be in place for teachers to be able to do their best work.

In our fieldwork, we asked teachers and service leaders about what these four key supports look like at their service. You can find their stories in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

2) Four key supports

These supports are the foundations that need to be in place for teachers to do their best work in supporting oral language. These are strongly established in the evidence base as effective for improving oral language provision.

The four key supports are each broken down into specific ‘elements of good support’. These are illustrated by real-life stories, strategies, insights, and ideas from early childhood services - including education and care, home-based early childhood services, and kindergartens from rural areas, small towns, and cities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The four supports are:

This support is about service leaders prioritising oral language teaching and support. This includes ensuring that teachers are provided with the conditions and resources they need.

To be well set up, teachers need access to relevant and ongoing professional learning that includes mentoring and coaching, time to do observations and analyse assessment data, and a staff culture that prioritises oral language teaching and learning.

In this section, we set out why early childhood service leadership and priorities are important for supporting oral language, and provide real-life examples of what this looks like in Aotearoa New Zealand services.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about why and how early childhood service leadership and priorities support oral language teaching. It includes:

1. what this support is
2. why this support is important
3. what this support looks like in real life
4. reflective questions for service

1) What is this support?

This support is about prioritising oral language teaching and learning, and making sure that teachers are set up with what they need to deliver good oral language support. This includes service leaders setting clear expectations for teachers, ensuring they have the right tools and resources, arranging staff appropriately, and providing learning opportunities. Service leaders can prioritise professional learning that is specifically about children’s oral language development, so that teachers can increase their knowledge and extend children’s oral language with evidence-based strategies.

2) Why is this support important?

Service leadership and priorities have a powerful influence on the overall quality of early childhood services and the oral language support that happens there.35 When service leaders share their expectations for teaching and learning oral language in a structured way, it reduces the chance of misunderstandings and sets a consistent standard of teaching practice across the service.

It is important that – alongside the right professional learning – teachers have the right tools and assessments to use, and time to analyse the data they collect from these. This way, teaching can be informed by tools and assessments to deliberately support and improve children’s oral language skills. Appropriate staffing allows teachers to spend more time focusing on oral language within quality interactions, rather than managing the environment.

3) What does this support look like in real life?

The elements of good support that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we asked teachers and service leaders about what these elements of good support look like at their service. Their stories are reflected in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

a) Service leaders set clear expectations for teaching and learning

When service leaders are clear and consistent about their expectations for oral language teaching and learning, teachers are better equipped to deliver practice that aligns with current evidence and is consistent across the team. Sharing this information in a structured way reduces the chance of misunderstandings. This might include service leaders working to weave together the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki and the New Zealand Curriculum, to support smooth pathways of teaching and learning between early childhood services and schools and kura.

Linking these learning outcomes can help the teaching team see the bigger picture of how their practice will support children’s transitions and ongoing learning.

“We have a huge buy-in from the teachers. The teachers want to learn. They know that this is a centre that prioritises that.”​​ (Leader)

Service leaders’ expectations should aim to reduce barriers to education for all children, particularly for Māori children, Pacific children, disabled children, and those with learning support needs. When service leaders clarify for teachers how their service intentionally reduces barriers to education through strong oral language support, this empowers teachers to join in helping to make this happen.

b) Service leaders ensure teachers have the right tools and resources

Assessment tools can help teachers notice and recognise when children are having difficulty with particular skills or aspects of oral language.37 Providing the right tools and resources equips teachers to tailor their practice to the needs of individual children, and to find out how effective their teaching practice has been.38 This can include leaders accessing, and providing training in, dedicated tools for assessing children’s oral language progress. Assessment information can then inform teaching – teachers can respond by tailoring their teaching to the specific oral language needs of children. Some tools and resources are included in the ‘Useful Resources’ section at the end of this report.

c) Service leaders provide appropriate staffing

There are a range of evidence-based ways that service leaders can make strategic staffing decisions to foster oral language learning. When leaders arrange staffing according to legal frameworks, regulations, and funding protocols, they should also consider how they can maximise benefits for children through the range and arrangement of teaching staff.

Unhurried group interactions between teachers and a small number of children, which are sustained for more than just a few minutes, are highly effective for supporting children’s oral language development. Service leaders can support teachers to engage in these sorts of back-and-forth interactions through rostering and arranging staff to enable some smaller, slower-paced interactions alongside larger group activities.

“Part of our curriculum that allows them to have…that time in the centre where they're in a small group of children with a shared interest or a shared learning experience happening… and the teacher is dedicated to those children at that time… that teacher is really there to give their full attention to those children – and I think that's quite important in a busy space.” (Leader)

Employing diverse staff, with diverse cultural backgrounds and linguistic capabilities, can foster multicultural and language-rich learning spaces for all children.41 Using home languages within interactions with multilingual children is well-established to be beneficial for their oral language development.42,43 Service leaders can support diverse staff to enrich the learning environment through encouraging the use and visibility of multiple languages, particularly those that reflect the languages of enrolled children and their families.

d) Service leaders provide opportunities for staff to learn

When service leaders provide opportunities for staff to learn about oral language teaching strategies, staff are more likely to use evidence-based practices. Promoting and supporting the ongoing learning and development of teachers is a key responsibility of educational leaders.

ERO’s evaluation found that teachers with strong professional knowledge are nine times more likely to use effective practices.

This could include offering professional learning about oral language to all staff – or where a particular staff member has received professional learning, making sure they can share their learnings with other staff to build capability and consistency across the team. It can also include listening to staff requests for learning about particular topics or subject areas, that may help them with individual children’s oral language concerns, or trends they are seeing across children’s oral language at the service. Professional learning provision also includes sharing useful resources and readings (like this report), offering modelling and observation opportunities, or working with local speech-language therapists.

“We had a lot of PLD for all of our teachers, on how to integrate poetry and music and rhythm and rhyme. (Teacher)

“Sometimes it used to feel awkward talking to the children and not getting the language back. And throughout that [professional learning] workshop, I guess it helped overcome these sorts of barriers, because you know that you are using this strategy that is researched and proven to work.” (Teacher)

4) Reflective questions for service leaders

These questions about the elements of good support may be useful for service leaders to reflect on individually or to discuss as a team.

→ Do teachers have regular opportunities for discussion about all children’s oral language, where leaders can support them to develop their skills? Is this prioritised?

→ Do leaders and teachers work together to make sure learning environments and staffing arrangements are set up to facilitate oral language development? How could we improve these arrangements?

→ Do our staffing arrangements allow for quality one-on-one and small group teacher- child interactions and authentic situations for facilitating language development?

→ What assessment and/or teaching tools might staff need for their professional toolkit? How will they build their confidence to use those tools?

→ Are there particular areas of oral language development that staff would benefit from professional learning on? How can we ensure this professional learning is shared among all staff for consistent practice?

This support is focused on teachers’ own professional knowledge – about how oral language is developed, taught, assessed, and supported.

To be well set up, teachers need good foundational training about oral language teaching and up-to-date knowledge around what to expect and how to respond as children’s oral language develops. It is important that teachers know how to assess progress and recognise language difficulties so additional support can be provided.

In this section, we set out why teacher knowledge and assessment are important for supporting oral language and provide real-life examples of what this looks like in Aotearoa New Zealand services.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about why and how teacher knowledge supports oral language. It includes:

1. what this support is
2. why this support is important
3. what this support looks like in real life
4. reflective questions for service leaders and teachers.

1) What is this support?

This support is about teachers having sufficient knowledge about the development of children’s oral language, to help them observe, monitor, and support children’s progress across the different aspects of oral language development. Initial teacher education and ongoing professional learning play an important role in this area of support.

This includes teachers understanding how children’s language develops (including for bilingual and multilingual children), knowing about indicators of progress, knowing how to assess children’s oral language skills, knowing how to identify and seek support to address possible difficulties, and knowing strategies that support oral language development. For example, teachers can learn about the different aspects of development, such as speech sounds and vocabulary, that children typically display at different stages of their oral language learning.

They can then carry this knowledge with them in their everyday interactions, using this knowledge to make informed in-the-moment decisions about how to extend children’s oral language learning through play.

2) Why is this support important?

Good teacher knowledge is strongly linked to teacher capability.44 Teachers need specific knowledge, skills, and supports to be able to support oral language successfully and this learning needs to be developed deliberately over time. Ongoing professional learning in this key area of teaching should build on the foundations of initial teacher education.45

Teacher knowledge fosters key aspects of oral language development and learning, as well as a strong understanding of the holistic nature of children’s development and learning.46,47 When teachers have a good evidence-based understanding of oral language progress indicators, this helps them to recognise evidence of progress within interactions and to adapt their strategies in response. When this progress indicator knowledge is combined with knowledge about how to spot possible speech and language difficulties, and where to go to request additional specialist support as needed, teachers are better equipped to quickly source extra help.

3) What does this support look like in real life?

The elements of good support that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we asked teachers and service leaders about what these elements of good support look like at their service. Their stories are reflected in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

a) Teachers understand how children’s language develops

When teachers understand how children’s language develops, they can be more mindful about the strategies they use. This can include taking a structured approach to teaching oral language skills and supporting children’s use of their home languages.

b) Teachers know the indicators of progress

When teachers have a good awareness of what typically expected development is, it means that children are less likely to ‘fall through the gaps’ and go unnoticed when it comes to oral language concerns. Leaders can support teachers by facilitating discussion around resources that include progress indicators - such as Talking Together,

Te Kōrerorero stepping stones in oral language, or the Much More Than Words or Learning Through Talk resources. When teachers are familiar with indicators of progress, they are better equipped to notice when children’s oral language development might need extra support.

This area of support might include service leaders working to weave together the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki with the New Zealand Curriculum (2007), to support smooth pathways of teaching and learning between early childhood education services and schools and kura.

c) Teachers assess children’s progress

It’s important that teachers are confident to use assessment to understand children’s learning progress and inform their teaching.49 Progress assessment not only helps teachers gain a better picture of where individual children are with their oral language skills, but it can also give a useful picture of children’s progress as a group – both of which can inform specific teaching activities and strategies

With any assessment tools, it is crucial for teachers to be trained in how and when to use them – to avoid inappropriate use of tools or inaccurate data analysis. Leaders can also consider providing dedicated time for teachers to analyse and discuss assessment data as a team.

“We track carefully how the children are going and so we can reflect on what are we doing that's working and what are we doing that's not working, what can we tweak?... We're given the freedom to do that by our management.” (Teacher)

“Assessment…should be embedded within authentic interactions between adults and children.”​​ (Cloney & Picker, 2021)

d) Teachers know how to identify and address language difficulties

Like all areas of child development, children develop their oral language at their own pace. However, there are established progress indicators that apply to broad age ranges that can help parents and whānau, teachers, and speech and language experts to recognise progress and know what to look for next. Oral language progress indicators are flexible, evidence-based progress markers which help teachers to understand children’s skills and development, tailor their teaching to support their ongoing progress, as well as to notice and respond to any areas of possible difficulty.

When teachers know how to identify, seek support, and work collaboratively with experts to address difficulties in oral language development, this means less waiting time for children’s specific oral language needs to be met. It can be useful to have a clear process for when to talk to a specialist, and clear actions such as a flowchart that shows what teachers should do when they notice oral language difficulties (e.g., how and when to involve experts). Teachers should consider markers of both receptive (listening skills) and expressive (speaking skills) difficulties.

It helps to create a culture where teachers feel free to share and discuss what they notice with their team. It is not useful for teachers to be overly hesitant about bringing up concerns, particularly with colleagues. Leaders can play a key role in encouraging and affirming open discussions.

e) Teachers know strategies for supporting children’s oral language

Teachers need support to be confident and comfortable using evidence-based strategies (like those outlined in Chapter 3 of this report) in a flexible way with children. Leaders can provide tailored and specific professional learning, discussion opportunities, and dedicated resources about oral language that include the evidence behind strategies, as well as practical examples of how to enact strategies with children.

“We got [provider] to come in and talk to us about the science, and the brain, and the neuroscience behind basically play-based learning.”​ (Teacher)

4) Reflective questions for service leaders and teachers

These questions about the elements of good support may be useful for service leaders to reflect on individually or to discuss as a team.

→ How do we track and monitor oral language development across our early childhood service? Do our teachers need support to understand how and why targeted assessment matters?

→ Do our processes encourage teaching staff to critically reflect on how their teaching practice is impacting on children’s oral language development?

→ Are we clear about what indicators of progress look like – and what it looks like when oral language is not progressing well?

→ Do our teachers feel safe and confident to raise concerns about children’s oral language progress? Can we think of examples of times where teachers have discussed this openly?

This support is about the partnerships that need to be in place with parents and whānau, to best support children’s oral language development across both the early childhood service and at home.

To be well set up, teachers need established connections with parents and whānau. This includes conversations about progress and ways to share understandings, resources, and strategies that empower parents and whānau and draw on their knowledge.

In this section, we set out why partnership with parents and whānau is an important foundation for oral language teaching, and provide real-life examples of what this looks like in Aotearoa New Zealand services.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about why and how partnership with parents and whānau supports oral language. It includes:

1. what this support is
2. why this support is important
3. what this support looks like in real life
4. reflective questions for service leaders and teachers.

1) What is this support?

This support is about how teachers can partner with parents and whānau to foster the best learning outcomes for children’s oral language – at the early childhood service and at home. This includes teachers talking with parents and whānau about children’s progress, and sharing resources, observations, and knowledge.

Is this section, ‘talking’ with parents and whānau refers to findings ways to share information – while it’s ideal to speak with them directly, emails, texts, notebooks etc. can be useful as well. Service leaders and teachers can explore multiple ways to communicate with parents and whānau in ways that work for their community.

2) Why is this support important?

Good practices to foster early language and communication development in early childhood services include encouraging parents and whānau to be involved in their child’s oral language learning, and sharing information about the importance of quality of oral interactions between parents and whānau and their children.

Partnering closely with parents and whānau promotes consistent support for children, between home and the service. Teachers can partner with whānau by regularly sharing information about children’s changing interests, needs, and learning outcomes. Family knowledge can be incorporated into teaching and learning practices.

Partnership with parents and whānau also allows teachers to teach inclusively – by working together with families, whānau, and community, barriers to children’s oral language development can be identified and overcome, and opportunities identified and maximised.

3) What does this support look like in real life?

The elements of good support that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we asked teachers and service leaders about what these elements of good support look like at their service. Their stories are reflected in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

a) Teachers talk with parents and whānau about children’s progress – at home and at the early childhood service

Talking to parents and whānau about their children’s oral language progress helps boost their engagement by collaborating to celebrate success and make decisions about areas for more support. Teachers and parents and whānau can share ideas and discuss how they use key, simple strategies, like open questions and descriptive language.

Some services find it useful to invest in an app or communication platform that is accessible for their community. This can allow for an informal way of reporting and keeping parents and whānau up to date, and vice versa, to complement in-person discussions and more formalised documentation. Other services use portfolio files or notebooks.

“There's a wee blurb on the front about how this is a celebration book and some prompts to talk to your child about what they're learning.” (Teacher)

“They get two different kinds of reports. They get an interview with it so it doesn't just go out… And it's not rushed. Half an hour minimum where you get to hear their queries and questions too. That is a safe place for them. And that becomes a real partnership then, doesn't it?” (Leader)

“Earlier this year, I had some concerns about a stutter developing, but thanks to the teachers at the kindergarten [my child] attends I was better able to understand this developmental stage and how to support my child. The stutter stage was short-lived, and we are in a good place now.” (Parent)

Sharing information about oral language is particularly important for children with multiple languages – to support teachers to understand the fuller picture of children’s oral language development journey.

“The other thing we check is whether that speech problem is there in their first language, or whether it's only just there in the second language.” (Leader)

b) Teachers share resources, so parents and whānau can support children’s learning at home

When teachers share resources, parents and whānau are equipped to reinforce current focuses for teaching and learning at home. This consistency helps children’s oral language learning. It is useful for teachers to go through resources together with parents and whānau, to help them understand the reasoning behind strategies.

This might include digital communication or a book that goes between home and the early childhood service, where teachers record progress, and let parents and whānau know what activities and topics have been covered at the early childhood service. This gives parents and whānau with the information they need to ask questions and follow up with their child about their learning.

Sharing resources that are guided towards parent and whānau education is also useful, such as articles that explain why it is valuable for multilingual children to speak their home language with their parents and whānau at home.

“The learning stories about my child on [app] always refer to an aspect of my child’s oral language development. We were asked early in the year about our aspirations as parents, for our child, and I had expressed that her ability to communicate and express herself was an area we wanted to see her continuing to develop in. In a recent learning story, her early childhood centre had set up a library play provocation where she was exploring different books and using words to communicate the pictures she could identify.” (Parent)

4) Reflective questions for service leaders and teachers

These questions about the elements of good support may be useful for service leaders to reflect on individually or to discuss as a team.

→ Do we know what oral language goals and aspirations parents and whānau have for their child? How could teachers work with parents and whānau together on these aspirations?

→ How can we share oral language development information, so parents and whānau can understand and use strategies with their child at home?

→ How can we gather important information about the oral language context and learning happening at home, so that teaching practice is based on information about the full picture?

→ Are parents and whānau of multilingual children actively involved in the planning and assessment of their children’s oral language development? Do they need reassurance and evidence that speaking their home language is beneficial to that development? (see the ‘Useful Resources’ at the end of this report for some helpful information on this)

This support is about teachers having a good understanding of when and how to work with specialists, such as speech-language therapists, to enhance teaching and learning.

To be well set up, teachers need clear guidance about when to seek specialist support, including having information about timelines and pathways. They also need good working relationships with local specialists.

In this section, we set out why working with specialists is important in supporting oral language and provide real-life examples of what this looks like in Aotearoa New Zealand services.

Overview of this section

This part of the report sets out useful information about why and how working with specialists supports oral language. It includes:

1. what this support is
2. why this support is important
3. what this support looks like in real life
4. reflective questions for service leaders.

1) What is this support?

This support is about teachers being equipped to work with specialists, particularly speech-language therapists, in a way that best supports children’s oral language.

This includes teachers knowing when and how to seek advice from specialists, how to arrange more targeted and intensive support from specialists where needed, and how to work effectively with specialists. To support teachers, service leaders might follow a model of support that involves a speech-language therapist providing professional learning for teachers.

2) Why is this support important?

Working with specialists gives children the best chance at improving their oral language skills, by having the expertise and knowledge of their teachers supplemented with expert advice and guidance. For the best support, teachers need to know who their local specialists are, know when to talk to a specialist, and be committed and confident to adapt their practice according to specialist advice. Timely support prevents further oral language difficulties that will have ongoing impacts on children’s learning.

3) What does this support look like in real life?

The elements of good support that we focus on are:

As part of this study, we asked teachers and service leaders about what these elements of good support look like at their service. Their stories are reflected in the ‘real-life examples’ boxes throughout this chapter of the report.

a) Teachers know when to request support from specialists

Service leadership has a key role in supporting teachers to know the difference between the expected range of progress against progress indicators, and oral language development that requires extra help and expertise. This should include ensuring that teachers understand how multilingual children’s rates of progress can differ from monolingual children.

Oral language development is a key foundation for ongoing learning success, so timely support is essential. This practice can include having a list of local specialists that the early childhood service has a relationship with, and clear guidance for when teachers should contact a specialist. There are different levels of support that specialists can provide, from one-off advice and guidance to intensive and ongoing support.

“That's the teacher saying, ‘Hey…we've got a child here who we find has got some type of speech delay. Let's try and get a speech therapist straight away.’… I find the teachers here very supportive.”​ (Teacher aide)

“Many are attending ECE, but not being referred early enough once the delay in oral language is noticed.” (New entrant teacher)

a) Teachers work effectively with specialists

Working closely and effectively with specialists means teachers can tailor their teaching according to expert advice to have the best impact for children. Teachers first need access to specialists with whom they can collaborate to meet children’s learning needs.54 This can include having a strong working relationship with speech- language therapists and other early childhood services in the area, so teachers can draw on their expertise as needed. It is useful to involve parents and whānau in specialist conversations where possible.

“[We had a] Really good relationship with the Ministry speech-language therapist. I had asked her to come in and do some PLD on Te Kōrerorero.”​ (Teacher)

“The specialists will work with the families on site, and then the families will share with us what strategies we should use in the classroom. So, the families are kind of holding the knowledge – the power.” (Leader)

4) Reflective questions for service leaders

These questions about the elements of good support may be useful for service leaders to reflect on individually or to discuss as a team.

→ Do staff know enough about indicators of progress and expected progress markers to be able to recognise when children have possible language difficulties?

→ Do staff know who to go to, and how to access external supports? Would they feel hesitant about raising concerns – and if so, how can we make sure they know this is important?

→ Are staff provided with relevant, targeted professional learning about how to support children? How is specialist advice communicated across the teaching team, to promote shared and consistent practice?

→ How do we know that specialist advice and strategies are understood and enacted by the teaching team? As leaders, how can we set clear expectations and provide the support that is needed so that teaching doesn’t drift back to familiar practices?

Oral language is foundational for children’s ongoing literacy learning and has a big impact on their future outcomes.

This good practice report describes the five most powerful areas of practice and four foundational supports that evidence shows make a real difference for children’s oral language development. We use robust evidence to clarify ‘what good looks like’ for supporting oral language, and how good practices can be implemented and supported in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood services.

ERO’s companion evaluation report shares findings from our evaluation on oral language in early childhood services, showing that oral language is a significant challenge throughout Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood services.

ERO also reviewed international and local evidence to find the most powerful practices and supports for oral language learning and development in early childhood services.

ERO identified five key areas of practice and four supports

Below are the five evidence-based areas of teacher practice and four evidence- based supports for those practices.

Leaders’ and teachers’ practice can make a difference to children’s oral language development

Supporting oral language is a challenge, but service leaders and teachers have the power to make meaningful change. The evidence shows that clear and consistent service-wide practices make a real difference for children. This report is focused on good practice for teachers and service leaders, using robust evidence to clarify ‘what good looks like’ for teaching in this key area of children’s learning and development. It is intended to help inform positive shifts to practice – setting children up for better oral language and literacy outcomes going forward.

There are a range of useful resources available for leaders and teachers around supporting oral language in the early years. Some key resources are linked below.

1. Education Review Office. (2022). A great start? Education for disabled children in early https://evidence.ero.govt.nz/documents/a-great-start-education-for-disabled-children-in-early- childhood

2. Heppner, D.H. (2020). Oral language assessment in the preschool and primary grades: Definitions, measures, and theoretical lens. McGill Journal of Education, 55(2), pp. 376-396. Oral Language Assessment in the Preschool and Primary Grades: Definitions, Measures, and Theoretical Lens |  McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l’éducation de McGill

3. Law, J., Charlton, J., Dockrell, J., Gascoigne, M., McKean, C., & Theakston, A. (2017). Early Language Development: Needs, provision, and intervention for preschool children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds A Report for the Education Endowment Foundation. UK: Public Health England and Education Endowment Foundation.

4. Meissel, K., Reese, E., & Turnbull, S. (2019). Factors of the early learning environment that promote early learning outcomes in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Ministry of Social Development. Microsoft Word - 12November_EARLYLEARNING..docx (msd.govt.nz)

5. Educational Assessment Research Unit, University of Otago, and New Zealand Council for Educational Research (2020) NMSSA Report 22: English 2019 – Key https://nmssa-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/2019_NMSSA_ENGLISH.pdf

6. Education Review Office (2017). Extending their language – Expanding their world: Children’s oral language (birth-8 years). Extending-their-language-expanding-their-world2.pdf (ero.govt.nz)

7. Ministry of Social Development (2013). Incredible Years pilot study: Evaluation report. incredible- years-report-august2013.pdf (msd.govt.nz)

8. Ministry of Social Development (2014). Incredible Years: Follow-up study. Incredible Years Follow- up Study - Ministry of Social Development (msd.govt.nz)

9. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

10. Mātauranga (He Anga Marau Kōhungahunga) Pānui 2023 / Education (Early Learning Curriculum Framework) Notice 2023 - 2023-go1546 - New Zealand Gazette

11. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

12. Ministry of Education (2021) ‘What we know about Māori-medium early learning’ What we know about Māori Medium early learning | Education Counts

13. Education Review (2021). Āhuru mōwai, Evaluation report for Te Kōhanga Reo. ERO

14. Education Review (2016). Tuia te here tangata: Making meaningful connections’ ERO

15. Education Review (2022). Poutama reo framework. ERO https://evidence.ero.govt.nz/ documents/poutama-reo-framework

16. May, St., Hill, R., Tiakiwai, S. (2004). Bilingual/immersion education: Indicators of good practice: Final report to the Ministry of Education. www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ pasifika/5079

17. Shaeffer, S. F. (2020). Mother tongue and early childhood care and education: Synergies and challenges. UNESCO Bangkok.

18. The Education Hub (2022, October 29). Supporting children to become bilingual in Aotearoa New Zealand. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/supporting-children-to-become-bilingual-in-aotearoa- new-zealand/

19. Taggart, B., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., & Siraj, I. (2015). Effective pre-school, primary and secondary education project (EPPSE 3-16+). UCL Institute of Education. Effective pre-school,  primary and secondary education project (EPPSE 3-16+) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

20. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

21. Ministry of Education (2020). Talking Together Te Kōrerorero. https://tewhariki.tahurangi.education. nz/te-k-rerorero---talking-together/5637169352.p

22. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

23. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

24. Callanan, M., Anderson, M., Haywood, S., Hudson, R., & Speight, S. (2017). Study of Early Education and Development: Good Practice in Early Education. UK: Department for Education & Development and Government Social Research. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/5a8061f4ed915d74e622e223/SEED Good_Practice_in_Early_Education_-_RR553.pdf

25. Ministry of Education (2020). Talking Together Te Kōrerorero. https://tewhariki.tahurangi.education. nz/te-k-rerorero---talking-together/5637169352.p

26. Ministry of Education (2020). Talking Together Te Kōrerorero. https://tewhariki.tahurangi.education. nz/te-k-rerorero---talking-together/5637169352.p

27. Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. American Educator, 44(2), 4–39.

28. Siilata, R., Gaffney, J., & Stephenson, J. (2016, April). Dual language texts for Pasifika bilingual children. In 35th International Board on Books for Young People Congress.

29. Schaughency, E. & Carroll, J., (2020). Assessment of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy Indicators in the First Year of School. https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/assess-oral- language/

30. Ministry of Education (2020). Talking Together Te Kōrerorero. https://tewhariki.tahurangi.education. nz/te-k-rerorero---talking-together/5637169352.p

31. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

32. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

33. Ministry of Education (2020). Talking Together Te Kōrerorero. https://tewhariki.tahurangi.education. nz/te-k-rerorero---talking-together/5637169352.p

34. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

35. OECD (2011). Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.

36. Ministry of Education (2022). Insights that Informed the Literacy & Communication and Maths Strategy. https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/Ministry/Changes-in-education/ ELS-0778-Insights-that-informed-LCMS_web2.pdf

37. Schaughency, E. & Carroll, , (2020). Assessment of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy Indicators in the First Year of School. https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/assess-oral- language/

38. OECD (2011). Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.

39. OECD (2011). Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.

40. Callanan, M., Anderson, M., Haywood, S., Hudson, R., & Speight, S. (2017). Study of Early Education and Development: Good Practice in Early Education. UK: Department for Education & Development and Government Social Research. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/5a8061f4ed915d74e622e223/SEED_Good_Practice_in_Early_Education_-_RR553.pdf

41. OECD (2011). Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.

42. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

43. Ministry of Education (2009). Learning Through Talk.

44. OECD (2011). Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264123564-en.

45. Schaughency, E. & Carroll, J, (2020). Assessment of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy Indicators in the First Year of School. https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/assess-oral- language/

46. Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. American Educator, 44(2), 4–39.

47. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

48. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

49. Cloney, D., & Picker, K. (2021). Developing an assessment of oral language and literacy: Measuring growth in the early years.

50. Cloney, D., & Picker, K. (2021). Developing an assessment of oral language and literacy: Measuring growth in the early years.

51. Callanan, M., Anderson, M., Haywood, S., Hudson, R., & Speight, S. (2017). Study of Early Education and Development: Good Practice in Early Education. UK: Department for Education & Development and Government Social Research. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/5a8061f4ed915d74e622e223/SEED_Good_Practice_in_Early_Education_-_RR553.pdf

52. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

53. Ministry of Education (2017). Te Whāriki. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early- Childhood/ELS-Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf

54. Schaughency, E. & Carroll, J., (2020). Assessment of Oral Language and Emergent Literacy Indicators in the First Year of School. https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/assess-oral- language/