Early language learning linked to academic ability in primary school
Nicole Weinstein
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Children who spend more time discussing letters and sounds with their parents are better at reading and mathematics when they start school, a new report by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) reveals.
Researchers looked at the impact of the home learning environment, following 274 children from the age of four up to Year 2.
They found that during the pre-school period, parent-child interactions that focus on the links between letters and sounds – initiated when engaging with books, toys and environmental print such as signs and packaging – produced higher scores in reading, spelling and mathematics assessments at Key Stage 1.
These children also performed better at spelling in Year 2.
These are just two findings from the Liverpool Early Number Skills Project (LENS) at Liverpool John Moores University.
LENS – led by Drs Fiona Simmons, Anne-Marie Adams and Elena Soto Calvo - examined the impact of the home learning environment, following children from pre-school to Year 2.
Principal investigator Dr Fiona Simmons, in the School of Psychology at LJMU, said, ‘These early interactions can give children the tools to understand abstract symbolic systems - the idea that a printed symbol on a page can stand for something else.
‘If children can understand this concept as it relates to language, it might be easier for them to apply it to numbers and maths.’
The LJMU team asked parents about the frequency of different home learning experiences and continued to monitor the progress of 120 children up to Year 2 in primary school.
They found that:
- Pre-school early number skills predicted children’s mathematics attainment in Year 1.
- Pre-school language skills predicted children’s mathematics and reading attainment in Year 1 and their word spelling skills in Year 2.
- The frequency of parent-child, letter-sound interactions at pre-school age predicted children’s mathematics and reading attainment in Year 1 and spelling attainment and letter writing skills in Year 2. The relationships with spelling and letter writing were independent of the children’s pre-school language skills.
The report concludes, ‘The parent-child interactions that appear most influential are those that highlight the links between letters and sounds.
'Parents and early years educators need support in understanding the nature of age-appropriate letter-sound interactions that are likely to be beneficial in laying the foundations for pre-schoolers’ later academic development.’
The Liverpool Early Number Skills Project (LENS) was funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
