Foundation - Speech, Language and Communication
Age 4 - 6
Early language development is key in the development of literacy skills in the Foundation Stage. Pupils need to have developed attention and listening skills before they can begin to learn. Poor receptive language will impact on how words are stored in long-term memory. If a pupil does not hear a word correctly, the long-term storage of this information can result in errors in expressive language, for example, if the pupil says “wif” for “with”. Language development begins with the young child recognising sounds, such as, ‘bah’ ‘bah’ then single syllable words, like, “car,” “mum,” “dad” and this progresses for many pupils to phrases and sentences. Pupils will begin to listen and recognise nursery rhymes and stories.
For some pupils the process is not as straightforward. Pupils may have co-occurring difficulties, such as, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), which has no known cause. Further guidance on language difficulties is available at: Speech, Language and Communication Needs SEN resource file.
Developing phonological awareness is a prerequisite for reading and writing. Through oral language the pupil will develop an awareness of words, syllables, rhymes, and phonemes and increase his / her chance of success in learning to read and write.
Receptive and Expressive Language
The development of receptive and expressive language skills provides an important foundation for reading, spelling and writing
Receptive Language Skills- Understanding Language
A receptive language disorder is where a pupil struggles to understand and process the messages and information, he / she receive from others. This can impact a pupil’s ability to access the curriculum. This difficulty is sometimes referred to as a ‘language comprehension’ difficulty.
| Indicators of listening difficulties and their impacts | Recommendations for Reasonable Adjustments |
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The pupil may appear to not be listening to lessons
He / she may ‘tune out’ because he / she does not understand what is happening |
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Pupil seems disinterested when others are speaking and rarely asks questions or contributes to the conversation
He / she may rely upon watching and copying his / her peers when an instruction is given |
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| The pupil may use avoidance tactics such as trips to the toilet when unsure of the task or activity |
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| He / she may respond inappropriately to instructions or questions or gives vague answers |
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| The pupil may appear slow to reply to a question |
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| He / she may have difficulty with learning new vocabulary |
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| The pupil may have a difficulty perceiving syllables and identifying rhyme patterns |
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Expressive Language Skills- Using Language
Pupils who struggle with expressive language have difficulty expressing themselves when they speak. This may be due to a difficulty with communication rather than with an underlying speech disorder, it requires ongoing monitoring. Developing spoken language plays a key role in the development of written language. Difficulties with expressive language will translate to difficulties with written expression.
| Indicators of speaking difficulties and their impacts | Recommendations for Reasonable Adjustments |
|---|---|
| The pupil may have a difficulty with articulation of sounds |
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The pupil may over- rely on gesture, tending to point at items rather than say the word
He / she may not complete a sentence |
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| He / she may present as quiet / shy and reluctant to participate in conversations |
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| The pupil may use simple phrases or learnt phrases to communicate |
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| The pupil may take time to express his/her thought |
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| The pupil may substitute words for others that he / she know, for example saying, ‘I want my t-shirt’ when he / she means, ‘I want my jumper’ |
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He / she may use sentences more typical of a younger pupil, for example, ‘Me go home’ Omits or makes mistakes with word endings such as ‘ing’ and ‘ed’ |
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| The pupil may struggle to retell stories or events in a meaningful sequence |
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| He / she may find it difficult to learn new vocabulary and use it appropriately in sentences |
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A pupil may struggle or be slow to answer questions posed or to form questions appropriately
Pauses frequently when speaking as he / she may be trying to retrieve the words required, or may use fillers such as, ‘you know, thingy’ |
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| The pupil may find it hard to contribute to class discussions, give explanations or describe what he / she is doing |
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| He / she may often appears to have forgotten new vocabulary introduced in previous lessons |
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Vocabulary Development
Developing a rich and varied vocabulary enables a pupil to communicate fluently and expressively. Possessing a limited vocabulary inhibits a pupil’s ability to access a language-rich curriculum and will negatively impact on his / her reading comprehension and written expression. It is of key importance therefore that vocabulary development is prioritised and planned for as the development of word meaning (semantic knowledge) will in turn aid reading development.
Vocabulary Instruction
New vocabulary should be introduced explicitly in a clear and detailed manner. Leave no room for confusion and create a rich language environment that provides exposure to unfamiliar words and opportunities to experiment with them.
When new vocabulary is introduced, teachers should ensure repeated exposure includes modelling of vocabulary in a variety of contexts.
Pupils could act or draw pictures to show the meanings of unfamiliar words. Words that have been taught could be displayed in the classroom.
Teach vocabulary that is related to curricular topics or text that is being read as it will help the pupil understand its meaning. New vocabulary can be incorporated into a Clicker 8 grid to provide a multisensory, alternative way of learning these words, while also manipulating them into sentences:
Teacher Guidance: Installing Clicker 8 on a Personal Device
Use pre-reading discussion / shared reading as an opportunity to introduce any new vocabulary within the text and discuss its meaning.
Teach pupils how to spell new vocabulary as it improves their likelihood of remembering the pronunciation and meaning of words and helps develop confidence using unfamiliar words in their own writing.
Language Development Through Reading
Introduce pupils to a wide range of challenging texts to expose them to new vocabulary. The pupil does not have to be able to read the text independently, audiobooks or eBooks and class novels, that are read to the pupils, can support those with weak decoding skills, helping them enjoy age-appropriate text at the level they can comprehend.
All teachers in Northern Ireland have access to the Literacy Service - Initial Contact Support Portal. It is a resource that has been designed to help bolster your in-school support for pupils with literacy needs. If you have not been added to this site and would like to access it, please complete the registration form at the following link:
Literacy Service: Initial Contact Support Portal - Staff Details Form
Inference skills can be developed through listening activities, this will help to by-pass decoding difficulties. Teachers can model the use of inference skills by answering questions aloud and talking through their thinking processes.
Pupils’ language skills can be developed through discussion of the text. Use open-ended questions, such as “who, what, where, when, why, how” to extend thinking and increase opportunities for vocabulary instruction.
Making connections between text and pupils’ life experiences (autobiographical learning) creates opportunities for meaningful discussion and establishes links in long-term memory.
Speaking and Listening
Create a classroom culture that promotes dialogue by encouraging pupils to ask questions.
This could be underpinned by a class charter that emphasises respectful listening.
Incorporate speaking and listening activities into curricular planning.
Provide opportunities for pupils to articulate their ideas before they begin to write. Pupils with working memory difficulties will benefit from writing frames and sentence starters and model examples of sentences.
Collaborative learning provides an opportunity for developing speaking and listening skills, but effective collaboration requires support and practice. It is most effective when structured opportunities are provided for pupils to participate in carefully designed tasks.
Teachers can model the process of effective communication during collaborative tasks, with peers gradually taking on the role of modelling this for each other.
Phonology
There are pupils who display phonological difficulties but who do not develop dyslexia. They may be unable to establish all phoneme / grapheme correspondences beyond the initial consonant sounds, and in particular, experience significant difficulties with the vowel sounds. Vowel sounds can be more easily learned and retrieved from memory within an end rhyme, for example, the vowel sound /a/, can be heard more clearly in ‘hat, sat, cat’. Some pupils cannot discriminate and retain phoneme to grapheme correspondence for the vowel sounds when taught in isolation but can when they are within a pattern. Therefore, it is important that this learning is facilitated through ‘onset and rime’ patterns that are consistent in sound and spelling, for example, ‘red, fed, led, bed’ and not ‘red, said, bread’. Teachers, therefore, need to teach phonics at orthographic levels as well as the alphabetic level to ensure that all pupils can develop a phonics strategy that works for them, given their strengths and difficulties. Pupils also need to be taught the letter names in Primary 1 and an alphabet frieze should be on display. An alphabet arc may be used for familiarisation activities, with individual pupils who have difficulties sequencing the alphabet. It can also be used as an aid when learning the link between letters and sounds:
Teacher Guidance: Alphabet Arc Activities
Many pupils will learn about patterns and sequences and the rules and regularities in print implicitly from their reading experience but pupils with literacy difficulties / dyslexia have an implicit learning deficit and intentional teaching is vital. To ensure that all pupils can read fluently and spell correctly, it is essential to teach phonics at orthographic levels as well as the alphabetic level. Orthographic knowledge is essential for automatic sight word recognition spelling recall. Teaching phoneme / grapheme correspondence ‘only’ ignores the other important levels of sounds in English phonology, such as rhyme, syllables, and whole words.
Signposting for Free Professional Learning Modules
The following professional learning modules may be helpful for additional information regarding the strategies recommended in this chapter.They are provided by the Language and Communication Service and are available through the ‘Children and Young People's Services Professional Learning Programme’, which is hosted on the EA (Education Authority) website. The access code to the courses is updated each year and shared with your Principal in September:
Bibliography and References
Catts, H.W., McIlraith, A., Bridges, M.S. and Nielsen, D. C. (2017) Viewing a phonological deficit within a multi-factorial model of dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 30, (3): 613-29.doi. org/ 10.1007/s 11145-016-962-2
Kelly, K and Phillips, S (2022) Teaching Literacy to Learners with Dyslexia, A Multisensory Approach, 3rd Edn.
Speech, Language and Communication Needs’ chapter in ‘A resource for school to support children who have or may have special educational needs Amended SEN Resource File