Research School Network: Talk First: Closing the Early Literacy Gap in the Early Years “High-quality talk is deliberate, equitable, precise and cumulative.”

As an Early Years leader working across primary schools, I often return to a simple question: how early can we begin to close the disadvantage gap?

The evidence suggests the answer is very early indeed.

In 2024, the disadvantage gap among pupils aged five was 4.7 months, wider than in the five years before the pandemic (Education Policy Institute, 2025). A significant portion of the gap visible at age sixteen is already present by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

If we want to reduce educational inequality, we cannot afford to wait until later in primary school. The work must begin in the Early Years and Key Stage 1.

Imagine it is 9am in a lively Reception classroom, early in September. Thirty children gather on the carpet as the teacher begins a favourite story. For some children, this routine is familiar; they have been read to every night since infancy. For others, it may be one of the first books they have held or heard read aloud.

These differences in early experiences matter. If literacy is one of our strongest levers for equity, then language must come first.

Communication and language underpin reading and writing development. Children learn to understand stories before they can decode them, and they encounter new vocabulary through conversation before they meet it in print.

The EEF guidance reports Preparing for Literacy and Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1 highlight several important principles:

• prioritise communication and language development
  
• extend children’s vocabulary
  
• develop high-quality classroom talk
  
• use interactive approaches to reading

The EEF Early Years Toolkit reinforces this message, suggesting communication and language approaches can have a positive impact of around +7 months’ progress.In practice, this means shifting from story time as performance to story time as dialogue.

Across our schools, we have introduced a structured approach to talking through stories, rather than simply reading them aloud.

During shared reading, adults deliberately:

• pre-teach and revisit Tier Two vocabulary
  
• model full sentences and precise language
  
• prompt children to predict, explain and justify
• use structured partner talk so every child speaks
• revisit the same story across the week

For example, instead of asking a general question like ​“What’s happening here?”, a teacher might ask:

​“Why do you think the character felt frustrated? What in the picture tells you that?​”

Children are then encouraged to extend their thinking:

​“The character felt frustrated because…​”

These routines help children rehearse the language of stories before they encounter it independently in reading or writing.

Research evidence informed the design of this approach. Drawing on EEF guidance reports, we:

• selected high-quality texts with rich narrative structures
• identified vocabulary worth teaching explicitly
• planned opportunities for structured discussion, not just spontaneous questioning
• built routines for revisiting stories across the week

Of course, evidence does not implement itself. Professional development focused on helping staff to:

• identify and teach Tier Two vocabulary
• model extended sentences
• use wait time deliberately
• prompt children to elaborate their ideas

This approach is not resource-heavy, but it is training-heavy. The investment lies in developing teachers’ expertise in high-quality interaction.

In practice, high-quality talk is:

Deliberate – teachers plan key vocabulary and questions.
Equitable – routines such as talk partners ensure every child participates.
Precise – adults’ model ambitious vocabulary and grammar.
Cumulative – language builds across the week through repeated encounters with the story.

Over time, we see noticeable shifts. Children produce longer utterances, retell stories more coherently, and begin to transfer new vocabulary into their own speaking and writing.

These changes are particularly significant for children who arrive at school with fewer language experiences.

Children who begin school with limited vocabulary are not less capable. They have simply had fewer opportunities to build language and narrative knowledge.

Structured talk around stories helps to level the playing field because it:

• guarantees exposure to rich vocabulary for all children
• makes comprehension processes visible
• provides repeated opportunities to rehearse language
• ensures every child speaks, not just listens

If the disadvantage gap is visible by age five, our response must be visible in the Early Years classroom.

When we invest in communication and language, we strengthen the foundations of literacy. We support reading comprehension, develop writing, and build children’s confidence as communicators.

That is why when thirty children gather on the carpet at 9am, every child deserves the language to enter the story. We are not just teaching literacy.

We are expanding futures.

That is why, in our schools, we start with talk.

And that is why we talk first.