Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) Communication, Language and Early Literacy Syllabus

Communication, Language and Early Literacy syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Communication, Language and Early Literacy in Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Speech, Language and Communication Development

   4 topics

   • Pre-verbal communication and babbling
     • Non-verbal cues and gesture
     • Intentional communication
   • Stages of language acquisition
     • First words to two-word utterances
     • Grammar and vocabulary explosion
   • Receptive versus expressive language
   • Theories of language acquisition
     • Chomsky's language acquisition device
     • Social interactionist perspectives
2. 2

   Promoting Communication and Language

   4 topics

   • Creating a communication-friendly environment
   • Adult interaction strategies
     • Commentary, modelling and recasting
     • Wait time and turn-taking
   • The importance of talk and conversation
   • Storytelling, rhymes and songs
3. 3

   Early Reading and Phonics

   4 topics

   • Developing a love of books and stories
   • Phonological awareness
     • Rhyme, alliteration and sound discrimination
   • Systematic synthetic phonics
     • Phonemes, graphemes and blending
     • Phase one of Letters and Sounds
   • Comprehension and meaning-making
4. 4

   Early Writing and Mark-Making

   4 topics

   • Stages of emergent writing
     • Mark-making to emergent letters
   • Physical development and the muscles for writing
     • Gross to fine motor for handwriting
   • Linking sounds to letters in writing
   • Purposeful contexts for writing in play

Communication, Language and Early Literacy flashcards for Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS)

22 of 50 cards from the Communication, Language and Early Literacy deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is pre-verbal communication?

   The ways babies communicate before they can use spoken words, including eye contact, facial expressions, crying, gestures, body movements, and vocal sounds such as cooing and babbling.

2. Define babbling and state roughly when it begins.

   Babbling is the repetition of consonant-vowel sound combinations (e.g. 'ba-ba', 'da-da'). It typically begins around 6 months of age.

3. What is the difference between reduplicated (canonical) babbling and variegated babbling?

   Reduplicated babbling repeats the same syllable (e.g. 'da-da-da'), while variegated babbling mixes different consonant-vowel combinations (e.g. 'ba-di-gu').

4. What is 'cooing' and when does it occur in pre-verbal development?

   Cooing is the production of vowel-like sounds (e.g. 'ooh', 'aah') that emerges around 6-8 weeks, before true babbling begins.

5. List the broad stages of language acquisition in order.

   Pre-linguistic (cooing and babbling), holophrastic/one-word stage, two-word stage, telegraphic stage, and post-telegraphic (more complex grammatical) stage.

6. What is the holophrastic (one-word) stage and when does it typically occur?

   The stage, around 12 months, where a child uses single words to convey whole meanings or ideas (e.g. 'milk' to mean 'I want milk').

7. What characterises the telegraphic stage of language acquisition?

   Around 24-30 months, children produce short sentences containing mainly content words while omitting function words (e.g. 'Daddy go car'), resembling a telegram.

8. Define the two-word stage of language development.

   Around 18-24 months, children combine two words to express relationships or ideas (e.g. 'more juice', 'mummy gone'), beginning to show early grammar.

9. What is the difference between receptive and expressive language?

   Receptive language is the ability to understand language (what a child comprehends), while expressive language is the ability to produce and use language to communicate.

10. Which usually develops first in a child, receptive or expressive language?

    Receptive language develops first; children understand more words and instructions than they can yet say.

11. Give an example of assessing receptive versus expressive language in a toddler.

    Receptive: the child points to the correct picture when asked. Expressive: the child names the picture aloud when prompted.

12. According to Noam Chomsky, what innate mechanism enables language acquisition?

    The Language Acquisition Device (LAD), an innate biological capacity that allows children to learn the rules of grammar, underpinned by Universal Grammar.

13. What is the nativist theory of language acquisition?

    The view (associated with Chomsky) that humans are biologically pre-programmed to acquire language, with an innate Universal Grammar guiding learning.

14. What is B.F. Skinner's behaviourist explanation of language acquisition?

    Language is learned through imitation, reinforcement and conditioning; children copy adults and are rewarded (e.g. praise) for correct utterances.

15. What does Bruner's 'Language Acquisition Support System' (LASS) describe?

    The supportive social framework provided by caregivers, including scaffolding, routines and shared interactions, that helps a child acquire language.

16. How does Vygotsky's social interactionist theory explain language development?

    Language develops through social interaction with more knowledgeable others; talk is first social, then becomes a tool for thought, supported within the Zone of Proximal Development.

17. What is Piaget's view on the relationship between language and cognitive development?

    Piaget argued that language reflects and depends on cognitive development; children can only use language for concepts they have already understood through their stage of thinking.

18. What is a 'communication-friendly environment' in an early years setting?

    A space designed to support and encourage talk, with manageable noise levels, calm cosy areas, good acoustics, accessible resources, visual prompts and opportunities for interaction.

19. Name three features of a communication-friendly space.

    Reduced background noise, quiet/cosy areas for talking, and visual supports such as labels, photos or symbols (also good lighting and accessible interactive resources).

20. What is 'sustained shared thinking' as an adult interaction strategy?

    When an adult and child work together to solve a problem, clarify an idea or extend understanding, with both contributing to and developing the thinking.

21. What is meant by 'serve and return' interaction?

    A back-and-forth exchange where a child communicates (serve) and the adult responds warmly and contributedly (return), building the foundations of language and relationships.

22. Define 'recasting' as an adult language strategy.

    Repeating a child's utterance back in a grammatically correct or expanded form without overt correction (child: 'doggy runned'; adult: 'yes, the doggy ran').

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