Episode 12: Developing language and literacy in the early years

In this episode, guest presenter Dr Kate Smith (Froebel Trust Travelling Tutor) looks at the ways educators can support babies and young children's language and literacy in schools and settings today.

Kate is joined by a panel of experts, sharing the latest research and exploring a holistic approach to developing literacy in early childhood education. Together they discuss how babies learn language, the use of phonics in schools, the importance of singing, play, storytelling and much more...

"...rhythm is the hidden glue that underpins all the world's language systems..."
Prof. Usha Goswami

"This idea that there's one way to teach children to learn to read is just not tenable..."
Prof. Dominic Wyse

Guests appearing in this episode:

Professor Usha Goswami
Usha Goswami CBE FRS FBA is Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She is also founding Director of the Centre for Neuroscience in Education. 

After training as a primary school teacher, Usha decided to pursue research in child psychology. Her core interests are the neural mechanisms underpinning language acquisition, including relationships to the rhythmic structure of infant- and child-directed speech and the brain basis of dyslexia and speech and language difficulties. She is researching the potential utility of assistive listening technology, coupled with music- and rhythm-based behavioural interventions. Find out more at BabyRhythm

Jane Whinnett
Jane Whinnett MBE is an associate tutor on the Froebel in Childhood Practice course at the University of Edinburgh and a Froebel Trust Travelling Tutor.She is author of the Froebel Trust pamphlet on Froebel’s Gifts and Block Play Today and co authored Sewing with Young Children. She has published chapters in 'Early Childhood Practice: Froebel Today' (2012) and co-edited the award winning book 'Putting Storytelling at the Heart of Early Childhood Practice' (2020) and 'The Bloomsbury Handbook to Friedrich Froebel' (2023).

Jane trained as a primary school teacher, later specialising in early years and went on to become Headteacher at two local authority nursery schools in Edinburgh. In 2019 Jane was awarded an MBE for services to Early Childhood Education.

Professor Dominic Wyse
Dominic Wyse FAcSS FRSA is Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL). He is Founding Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (0-11 Years) (HHCP), a research centre devoted to improving young children’s education. Dominic was President of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) from 2019 to 2022.

Dominic has made a leading contribution to research on curriculum and pedagogy, including national curricula, for more than 25 years. He has led multiple research projects and has published many books and research papers. Dominic’s main research is on effective teaching of reading and writing. His book ‘The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing’ (co-authored with Charlotte Hacking. Routledge Publishing), and a research paper, advanced ‘The Double Helix of Reading and Writing’, a new theory and model for teaching. Dominic’s research on writing developed ‘the ear of the writer’ as a metaphor for effective writing across the life course, for novice and expert writers. This multidisciplinary research was published in the book ‘How Writing Works: From the invention of the alphabet to the rise of social media’ (Cambridge University Press). An original feature of the work was the comparisons made between language and music.

Dominic’s research on grammar and writing, in the context of national curricula, has included seminal research papers and more recently a randomised controlled trial to examine a new approach to teaching grammar. The book ‘Teaching English, Language and Literacy - 5th Edition’ (with Helen Bradford and John-Mark Winstanley. Routledge) has been a leading text for teachers and teacher education for more than 20 years.

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During Episode 12 presenter, Dr Kate Smith and guests refer to the following research and resources for educators:

How rhythm and tone are key for the early language-learning brain by Prof. Usha Goswami (Nursery World magazine, March 2024)

BabyRhythm Project, University of Cambridge

The Baby Room by Kathy Goouch and Sacha Powell, OU Press, 2013

Froebel’s principles and practices today by Helen Tovey, Froebel Trust, 2020 (free to download)

Empowering learning: Play, symbols and creativity by Prof. Tina Bruce, Froebel Trust, 2023 (free to download)

The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing
by Prof. Dominic Wyse, Charlotte Hacking, Routledge, June 2024

Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading by Dominic Wyse and Usha Goswami, British Educational Research Journal, 2008 (free to access)

 

Visit the Froebel Trust website to access the free resources mentioned in this episode and find out more about a Froebelian approach to early childhood education. froebel.org.uk