Foundation Stage
Communication, Language and Literacy
Requirements
Children's learning and competence in communicating, speaking and listening, being read to and beginning to read and write must be supported and extended. They must be provided with opportunity and encouragement to use their skills in a range of situations and for a range of purposes, and be supported in developing the confidence and disposition to do so.
What Communication, Language and Literacy means for children?
Communicating and being with others helps children to build social relationships which provide opportunities for friendship, empathy and sharing emotions. The ability to communicate helps children to participate more fully in society.
To become skilful communicators, babies and children need to be with people who have meaning for them and with whom they have warm and loving relationships, such as their family or carers and, in a group situation, a key person whom they know and trust.
Babies respond differently to different sounds and from an early age are able to distinguish sound patterns. They learn to talk by being talked to. Babies and children use their voices to make contact and to let people know what they need and how they feel, establishing their own identities and personalities.
Parents and immediate family members most easily understand their babies' and children's communications and can often interpret for others. All children learn best through activities and experiences that engage all the senses. For example, music, dance, rhymes and songs play a key role in language development. As children develop speaking and listening skills they build the foundations for literacy, for making sense of visual and verbal signs and ultimately for reading and writing. Children need lots of opportunities to interact with others as they develop these skills, and to use a wide variety of resources for expressing their understanding, including mark-making, drawing, modelling, reading and writing.
How settings can effectively implement this area of Learning and Development
To give all children the best opportunities for effective development and learning in Communication, Language and Literacy practitioners should give particular attention to the following areas.
Positive Relationships
Help children to communicate thoughts, ideas and feelings and build-up relationships with adults and each other. Give daily opportunities to share and enjoy a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books, rhymes, music, songs, poetry and stories.
Allow children to see adults reading and writing and encourage children to
experiment with writing for themselves through making marks, personal writing
symbols and conventional script.
Identify and respond to any particular difficulties in children's language
development at an early stage.
Enabling Environments
Plan an environment that is rich in signs, symbols, notices, numbers, words,
rhymes, books, pictures, music and songs that take into account children's
different interests, understandings, home backgrounds and cultures.
Allow plenty of time for children to browse and share these resources with
adults and other children. For children who may need to use alternative communication
systems provide opportunities for
them to discover ways of recording ideas and to gain access to texts in an
alternative way, for example through ICT.
Provide time and relaxed opportunities for children to develop spoken language
through sustained conversations between children and adults, both one-to-one
and in small groups and between the children themselves. Allow children time
to initiate conversations, respect their thinking time and silences and help
them develop the interaction.
Show particular awareness of, and sensitivity to, the needs of children learning
English as an additional language, using their home language when appropriate
and ensuring close teamworkbetween practitioners, parents and bilingual workers
so that the children's developing use of English
and other languages support each other.
Learning and Development
Link language with physical movement in action songs and rhymes, role-play and practical experiences such as cookery and gardening. Show sensitivity to the many different ways that children express themselves non-verbally, and encourage children to communicate their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a range of expressive forms, such as body movement, art, dance and songs.
Talk to children and engage them as partners in conversation. Show them how what they say can be written and read. Develop children's phonological awareness, particularly through rhyme and alliteration and their knowledge of the alphabetic code. Develop children's awareness of languages and writing systems other than English, and communication systems such as signing and Braille.
