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

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.

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').

What is 'modelling' language and why is it important?

The adult demonstrating rich, correct and varied language so the child hears good examples to imitate and internalise, expanding vocabulary and grammar.

What is the difference between open and closed questions in supporting talk?

Closed questions invite short/one-word answers (e.g. 'Is it red?'), while open questions invite extended thinking and longer responses (e.g. 'What do you think will happen?').

Why is talk and conversation important for young children's development?

It builds vocabulary, grammar and communication skills, supports cognitive and social development, fosters relationships, and underpins later reading and writing.

What is the difference between storytelling and story reading?

Storytelling is telling a story orally, often without a book, using expression and interaction; story reading involves reading the text from a book, sharing print and illustrations.

Name three benefits of rhymes and songs for early language development.

They develop phonological awareness (hearing sounds/rhythm), build vocabulary and memory, and support listening, attention and a sense of language patterns.

How does storytelling support narrative skills in young children?

It introduces story structure (beginning, middle, end), sequencing, characters and cause and effect, helping children understand and later create their own narratives.

What practices help children develop a love of books and stories?

Providing an inviting book area, sharing books daily with enthusiasm, offering varied and high-quality texts, re-reading favourites, and modelling reading for pleasure.

What is 'print awareness' and how is it fostered through books?

Understanding that print carries meaning and follows conventions (e.g. left-to-right, top-to-bottom in English). It is fostered by sharing books and pointing out features of print.

Define phonological awareness.

The ability to hear, identify and manipulate the sounds of spoken language, including words, syllables, rhymes and individual phonemes.

What is the difference between phonological awareness and phonics?

Phonological awareness is the oral ability to hear and play with sounds; phonics is the systematic teaching of the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) for reading and writing.

What is a phoneme?

The smallest unit of sound in spoken language that can change meaning (e.g. the three phonemes in 'cat': /c/ /a/ /t/).

What is a grapheme?

A letter or group of letters representing a single phoneme in writing (e.g. 'a', 'sh', 'igh').

What is the difference between alliteration and rhyme in phonological awareness?

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial sound in words (e.g. 'big brown bear'); rhyme is words sharing the same end sound (e.g. 'cat', 'hat').

What does 'systematic synthetic phonics' (SSP) mean?

A structured approach where children are taught letter-sound correspondences in a planned sequence and learn to blend (synthesise) phonemes to read and segment them to spell.

In synthetic phonics, what is 'blending'?

Merging individual phonemes together to read a word, e.g. /c/-/a/-/t/ blended into 'cat'.

In synthetic phonics, what is 'segmenting'?

Breaking a spoken word into its individual phonemes for spelling/writing, e.g. 'dog' segmented into /d/-/o/-/g/.

What are 'tricky' or 'common exception' words in phonics teaching?

High-frequency words that cannot be fully decoded using the phonic knowledge a child has so far (e.g. 'the', 'said', 'was') and must be partly learned by sight.

What is a 'grapheme-phoneme correspondence' (GPC)?

The relationship between a written letter or letter group (grapheme) and the sound it represents (phoneme), the core knowledge taught in phonics.

What is comprehension in the context of early reading?

The ability to understand and make meaning from text, including grasping vocabulary, events, characters and ideas, rather than just decoding the words.

According to the 'Simple View of Reading', what two components combine to produce reading comprehension?

Word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension; both are necessary, and reading comprehension is the product of the two.

How do adults support meaning-making when sharing a story?

By asking questions, discussing pictures and events, linking to children's experiences, explaining vocabulary, and encouraging prediction and inference.

List the typical stages of emergent writing in order.

Random scribbling, controlled scribbling, mock/pretend letters, letter-like forms, recognisable letters and name writing, then invented/phonetic spelling, and conventional writing.

What is meant by 'mark making' in early writing development?

The early marks, lines, scribbles and patterns young children make (with crayons, paint, fingers, etc.) that represent the beginnings of writing and drawing.

What is 'emergent' or 'invented' spelling?

When children spell words using their developing phonic knowledge, representing sounds they hear (e.g. writing 'wnt' for 'went'), an important step toward conventional spelling.

Why is gross and fine motor (physical) development important for writing?

Writing requires core stability, shoulder and arm strength (gross motor) plus hand and finger control (fine motor) to grip and manipulate a writing tool effectively.

Name two activities that strengthen the fine motor muscles needed for writing.

Activities such as threading beads, using tweezers/pegs, playdough manipulation, cutting with scissors, and finger rhymes (any two that develop hand and finger strength).

How does a child apply phonics to early writing (linking sounds to letters)?

By segmenting a spoken word into its phonemes and then writing a grapheme for each sound, e.g. saying 'sun' as /s/-/u/-/n/ and writing the letters s-u-n.

Give examples of purposeful, play-based contexts for writing in early years.

A role-play shop with order pads or price labels, a post office writing letters, making cards/invitations, taking 'orders' in a café, writing signs for constructions, and labelling artwork.