Early years education, language and social background: A decade of changing policy and practice

Maria Mroz; Carolyn Letts

doi:10.1515/eujal-2014-0003

Article

Early years education, language and social background: A decade of changing policy and practice

Maria Mroz and Carolyn Letts

Published/Copyright: March 27, 2014

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From the journal European Journal of Applied Linguistics Volume 2 Issue 1

Abstract

In recent years educationalists have been concerned that children from more socially deprived areas of the UK come to formal schooling at age five with poor language skills. In 2001 responses by early years professionals (responsible for children aged 0–5 years), to a questionnaire and follow-up interview, found that their general levels of training in language development were low. Since 2001 training has increased in the sector and there have been new initiatives around promoting language development in the early years. This paper aims to reflect on the educational context in the Early Years Foundation Stage (children aged 3–5) a decade ago; to consider how this context has changed; and, to discuss what potential impact the changes may have had on the training of Foundation Stage professionals in relation to children with speech, language and communication needs. It will draw on results from a large sample of children aged 2;0 to 7;6 years that were tested for language comprehension and production in 2010 as part of the standardisation of a redeveloped language test (New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS): Edwards et al. 2011). There is some evidence from this study that the percentage of children from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds who have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) or language delay may be decreasing.

Zusammenfassung

Seit einigen Jahren sorgen sich Erziehungsspezialisten darüber, dass Kinder aus sozial schwächeren Gebieten in Großbritannien mit fünf Jahren, d. h. am Anfang ihrer schulischen Laufbahn, sprachlich schlecht ausgestattet sind. Die Ergebnisse einer Umfrage- und Interviewstudie aus dem Jahre 2001 haben gezeigt, dass pädagogische Fachkräfte der frühkindlichen Bildung, die verantwortlich sind für Kinder von drei bis fünf Jahren, nur spärlich in den Bereichen Sprachentwicklung und -verlauf ausgebildet werden. Seither wurde die Aus- und Weiterbildung diesbezüglich verstärkt und zahlreiche Initiativen unterstützen die sprachliche Entwicklung in der frühen Bildung. In diesem Artikel wollen wir über den frühkindlichen Bildungskontext vor zehn Jahren reflektieren, und zeigen, wie sich dieser Kontext geändert hat und welche Veränderungen dies mit sich gebracht hat. Wir präsentieren Ergebnisse einer Teilstichprobe einer großangelegten Studie unter zwei- bis siebenjährigen Kindern, die 2010 das Sprachverständnis und die Sprachproduktion der Kinder im Rahmen der Standardisierung eines weiter-entwickelten Sprachtests (New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS): Edwards et al. 2011) erfasst hat. Die Resultate weisen darauf hin, dass die Anzahl der Kinder aus sozio-ökonomisch schwachen Familien, die Förderbedarf in den Bereichen Sprache und Kommunikation haben oder sprachliche Defizite aufweisen, geringer wird.

Resumen

Recientement los educadores se han preocupado por el hecho de que los niños que proceden de clases sociales menos favorecidas del Reino Unido acceden a la educación forma la la edad de cinco años con unas destrezas lingüísticas muy pobres. En el año 2001 se analizaron las respuestas procedentes de un cuestionario y una posterior entrevista a profesionales responsables de los niños de entre 0 y 5 años y se descubrió que sus niveles de formación en desarrollo lingüístico eran muy bajos. Desde el año 2001 ha habido un crecimiento en los programas de formación en en el sector y se han puesto en marcha nuevas iniciativas que fomentan el desarrollo lingüístico en las primeras etapas de la escolarización. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre el contexto educativo en la etapa fundacional de los primeros años (niños de entre 3 y 5 años) hace diez años, considerar cómo ha cambiado ese contexto y discutir qué impacto potencial pueden tener esos cambios en la formación de los profesionales de la etapa fundacional en relación con niños que muestran carencias en el habla, carencias, lingüísticas y de comunicación. Se basará en resultados procedentes de niños entre 2;0 y 7;6 años que fueron evaluados en el año 2010 para determinar su comprensión y producción como parte de la estandardización de la nueva prueba lingüística New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS) (Edwards et al, 2011). Existe alguna evidencia de que puede estar disminuyendo el porcentaje de niños procedentes de entornos socio-económicos bajos que tienen problemas de habla, lengua y comunicación o retrasos en el lenguaje.

Keywords: language development; early years; socio-economic status; training; initiatives

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Published Online: 2014-3-27

Published in Print: 2014-4-1

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https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2014-0003

Keywords for this article

language development; early years; socio-economic status; training; initiatives