Communication in the early years: An introduction - THE EDUCATION HUB (2024)

Communication is a collaborative process that developsfrom birth. There is no one way that children learn to communicate, butresearch has shown that it is significantly influenced both by the social andcultural environment surrounding a child and by individual factors such as theirinterests, dispositions, health and wellbeing. Communication is about more thanjust spoken or written words, and it encompasses many forms of sharedunderstanding and expression. Communication is crucial to children’s holisticdevelopment, and research evidence supports the pivotal role that teachers playin facilitating the development of children’s communication skills in educationalsettings.

What is communication?

A process for sharing meaning

Communication is a collaborative process through whichtwo or more individuals connect and share meaning around thoughts, ideas andfeelings.[i]Learning to communicate with others is one of the most important but complex socialtools that children will develop, and is a key foundation to learning,development and wellbeing for all human beings. Children’s communicationdevelopment starts at birth – indeed, there is evidence that it may begin inutero. It is shaped by significant people in their lives and inextricablylinked with the cultures they experience.

A process for giving information

Communication also involves sharing information. Childrenmight express themselves in a range of ways such as talking, gestures, signlanguage, picture symbols, drawing or writing. In some cultures, using facialexpressions or ‘eye talk’ like an eyebrow lift might also convey unspokenmessages. Infants and toddlers communicate using a variety of forms ofexpression including gesture, vocalisations, noises and touch before they can usewords and sentences.

A process for receivinginformation

Communication also includes the ways in which childrencomprehend or make sense of meaning in a given situation. Children learn to dothis by engaging with others through looking, listening and gaining anunderstanding of language. They also develop a social awareness of how peopleinteract in context using both spoken and unspoken forms of communication.

What are the key aspects of communication?

While communication and its development need to be viewedwithin situated, cultural contexts, there are key aspects of communication thatall communities have in common, including speech, language, literacy andcommunicative competence. Theseterms are sometimes used interchangeably but actually refer to different butinterrelated facets of communication. These facets have their own processesthat children learn about as they experience social interactions with others.Understanding these different aspects of communication can support teachers inrecognising the potential contribution that every child brings to theirinteractions in educational settings.

Speech

Speech is a verbal means of communication that involvesthe articulation of sounds like ‘b’, ‘k’, ‘ch’ and ‘f’. Articulating individualspeech sounds and combining sounds into words is a process that requiresprecise neuromuscular coordination involving placement of the lips, tongue, teethand palate as well as breath control. Voice quality, intonation (the musical riseand fall of our voices), fluency and rate of speech also enhance howeffectively a speaker can make their message understood.

Each language has specific sounds (phonemes) orsound patterns that are characteristic of particular languages. Understandingthe rules of how sounds and sound combinations go together (phonologicalawareness) pertains to the branch of language development involving thesound system of languages called phonology. Children’s ability to usesounds in words is a gradual process that starts at birth, if not before, andis influenced by the sounds that infants hear people speaking in theirimmediate environment. Infants also start experimenting with making sounds fromthe day they are born, and then subsequently learn to articulate and refine soundand sound combinations into syllables and words throughout their interactionswith others in the early years.

Language

Language is a socially shared code or system of symbols(such as signs and words) for thinking and communication with others.[ii]Every culture in the world has languages that continue to evolve within theirsocial, historical and cultural contexts. Spoken language is one form ofcommunication, although languages also exist in other non-spoken forms (such assign language or written language). Language has different modes such as receptivelanguage, whichrefers to a child’s comprehension of words, phrases andsentences (spoken, written or signed), and expressive language, which refersto a child’s ability to use words, phrases and sentences (spoken, written orsigned) to get messages across to others. The words that a child understands orcan use are referred to as their vocabulary.

Language development can be thought of terms of the threemajor components of language –form, content and use:[iii]

• Form refers to thestructural aspects of language, including phonology (sound units and sequences), syntax(word order and relationships) and morphology(the internal organisationof words)
• Content refers to the semantic system ofrules governing the meaning or content of words, phrases and sentences
• Use refers to the pragmatic aspectsof language as a social tool, with conventions around how language is used in real-lifecontexts

Children develop language in different ways and atdifferent rates. For example, it is common for children who are bilingualto take a little longer to speak fluently, or to frequently switch languagecodes while processing the different languages they hear and speak across theirhome and educational environments.[iv]

Literacy

Literacy is another important component of communicationdevelopment. Traditionally, the term literacy referred to written languageinvolving skills in reading and writing and using print symbols like lettersand numbers. Today, researchers talk about emergent literacy, whichrefersto the notion that young children develop skills in reading and writing at homeor in early childhood settings, well before the formal process of teachingchildren to decode or encode print begins at school. Conversations, vocabulary,comprehension, print knowledge and phonological awareness are all importantaspects of literacy development that underpin the ability to communicate usingwritten language.

In today’s digital age, some research literature extendsand challenges the notion of literacy as focused only on reading, writing andprint, and draws attention to other kinds of texts that use a range oftechnologies and involve images, gesture and sound.[v] Inthis sense, literacy or literacies might be reconceptualised to move beyond theindividual, cognitive process of encoding and decoding print, and encompass theways in which children learn to communicate meaning through a wide range ofmultimodal signs, symbols and media in order to engage with communicativepartners in different social contexts.

Communicative competence

Communicative competencerecognises children’s linguistic knowledge and skills and emphasises theirability to use those resources effectively in sharing and understanding meaningwith others in social situations. [vi] Thenotion of communicative competence aligns with the pragmatic componentof language, in which a child’s communicative efforts are viewed in termsof their intention, purpose or function within social contexts.[vii] Whenchildren engage in social interactions, they develop an understanding of what, where,and with whom to communicate for certain purposes, as well as how to adapt theircommunication style to suit different audiences or contexts. Communicative competence acknowledgesa child’s linguistic form and content and the ways in which they are able to usethose resources, as well as others such as gesture, facial expression, reading,writing or drawing, to communicate effectively.

Why does communication matter?

Research shows thatchildren’s competencies in language and communication underpin their holisticdevelopment and wellbeing. Communication skills are vital not only forchildren’s cognitive and conceptual development but for their social, emotionaland cultural awareness and understanding.

Cognitive development

A child’slearning depends on communication skills such as being able to understand whatanother person is saying, as well as thinking, responding, and interacting withothers in a range of verbal and non-verbal ways. All areas of the curriculum in earlychildhood education and school contexts involve some form of language orcommunication, and research has consistently demonstrated the role of oral languagein underpinning children’s cognitive and literacy development, with strongcorrelations between early oral language and later learning areas such asreading comprehension.[viii]

Socioemotionaldevelopment

Responsiveinteractions with adults and peers are pivotal to supporting young childrendevelop social and emotional skills in a variety of ways. Language and conversationhelp children to reflect on, regulate and express their emotions, to understandhow or why other people might have different perspectives, and to learn how todevelop friendships with other children.[ix]

Socioculturalunderstanding

Learning how to use different language and communication modes helps children to learn about their own culture and the cultures of other. Interactions at home and in education settings allow children to learn the system of symbols related to their particular languages and cultures, but also to develop competencies in how to use those skills effectively and respectfully in a variety of social and cultural situations.

What influences the developmentof children’s communication skills?

There is no one correct or universal pathway throughwhich children develop their communication skills. For centuries, theoristshave debated how human beings learn the symbols of their cultures, particularlyin the field of children’s language development. Dichotomies such as thewell-known nature versus nurture debate are still evident in theresearch literature today. Most current literature appears to support the viewthat the development of language and communication depends on a combination ofboth individual and environmental factors, and that social relationships arekey to supporting children to learn the language codes of their culturalcommunities.

Individual factors

Individual factors include a child’s interests, naturaldisposition and learning preferences, all of which shape the communicativeopportunities and purposes that drive a need or desire for the child tocommunicate. Some children are simply more talkative or expressive than others!A child’s overall health and wellbeing can also underpin their energy levelsand motivation to communicate. One individual factor that can have a directimpact on speech and language development is hearing, which can affect achild’s ability to listen and perceive sounds and words, in turn affecting theway in which the child might learn to say sounds and words. Hearing andlistening also underpin children’s ability to share and sustain their attentionalfocus during language and learning activities in early childhood and schoolcontexts.

Social Factors

Social factors also provide an important foundation forthe development of communication. A communication-rich environment that allowsfor a range of forms of expression such as verbal language, drawing, writing, bodymovements, music and pictures can enhance children’s creativity, comprehensionand meaning-making. Responsive communicative partners, both adults and other children,who are available and engaged with the child during play and learningsituations provide opportunities and support to extend the child’s learning anddevelopment in everyday situations.

Research suggests that responsive adult communication incorporates planned, unhurriedinteractions that follow the child’s interests and leads, while also responding in ways that reinforce, model and extend aspects of language and communication to build on where the child is at.[x] Building on the languages and communicative patterns children bring from home to their education contexts is crucial for valuing and sustaining the growing cultural and linguistic richness of our communities.

It is remarkable to think that young children are developing in all the complex areas of communication concurrently, and that most learn to do so quite naturally through engaging in responsive, reciprocal interactions encountered with adults and other children in their everyday home and education environments. The role of teachers is critical in supporting children’s communication development to flourish in early childhood and school settings. Teachers have a powerful impact through the communication environment they provide as well as through the nature of their interactions that facilitate children’s speech, language, literacy and communicative competencies.

References & FurtherReading

[i] Pence Turnbull, K. L., & Justice, L.M. (2012).Language development from theory to practice(2nded.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

[ii] Owens, R. E. (2016).Languagedevelopment : An introduction(9th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

[iii] Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. (1978).Languagedevelopment and language disorders. New York: Wiley.

[iv] Owens (2016).

[v] Larson, J., & Marsh, J. (Eds.). (2013).TheSAGE handbook of early childhood literacy(2nd ed.). Los Angeles:SAGE.

[vi] Hymes, D. (1972). On communicativecompetence. In J. Pride, & J. Holmes (Eds.),Sociolinguistics:Selected readings(pp. 269-293). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

[vii] Halliday,M. A. K. (1978).Language as social semiotic : The socialinterpretation of language and meaning. Baltimore: University Park Press.

[viii] Dickinson,D. K., & Porche, M. V. (2011). Relation between language experiences inpreschool classrooms and children’s kindergarten and fourth-grade language andreading abilities.Child Development,82(3), 870-886.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01576.x

[ix] Mortensen, J. A., & Barnett, M. A. (2015). Teacher-childinteractions in infant/toddler child care and socioemotional development.EarlyEducation and Development,26(2), 1-21.doi:10.1080/10409289.2015.985878

[x] Weitzman, E., Girolametto, L., & Greenberg, J.(2006). Adult responsiveness as a critical intervention mechanism for emergentliteracy: Strategies for preschool educators. In L. M. Justice (Ed.),Clinicalapproaches to emergent literacy intervention(pp. 75-120). San Diego,CA: Plural.