Early Child Development and Care

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Improvement of preschool children’s speech and

language skills

Jane Brodin & Karin Renblad

To cite this article: Jane Brodin & Karin Renblad (2019): Improvement of preschool
children’s speech and language skills, Early Child Development and Care, DOI:
10.1080/03004430.2018.1564917

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1564917

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EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1564917

Improvement of preschool children’s speech and language skills

a b
Jane Brodin and Karin Renblad
a
Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; bSchool of Education and
Communication, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Many children in preschool have speech and language disorders and a Received 22 September 2018
poor communication development, and the need for support is Accepted 29 December 2018
extensive. The aim was to find out if and how reading aloud and
KEYWORDS
storytelling could enhance children’s communication development, the Preschool children; speech
study was interactionistic. Eleven municipal preschools with 23 child and language development;
units (573 children) participated. A questionnaire containing 15 communication; reading
questions with 54 sub-items was answered on group level by the staff. aloud; storytelling;
The results showed that reading aloud and storytelling was used improvements in preschool
continuously, and the staff believed that the activity would help the and school; preschool
children to develop their communication both regarding speech and curriculum
development of concepts. But this is provided that the staff prioritize
literacy in preschool and have knowledge about how to use reading
aloud and storytelling to support children’s communication.

Introduction
Concurrently with the rapid development in the digital society, the demand for a functional com-
munication is evident already in childhood. All children in Sweden, despite mother language or
social background, have the right to get equal opportunities to acquire the Swedish language
(SOU :). Preschool and school have a key role in these respects and constitute the basis for children’s
language development. In Sweden preschool is part of the general education system (Education Act,
2010), and the Ministry of Education and Science is responsible for preschool teacher education on an
academic level. To reach the goals of equality for all children Sweden implemented the first national
curriculum for preschool in 1998 (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010). It appears that speech and communication is
regarded as vital in child development, and therefore forms a goal area in the curriculum.
Preschool is expected to stimulate children’s learning and development from a holistic point of
view, and most children between one and five years attend preschool. The leading star is ‘a school
for all’, although Sweden is at present experiencing many challenges. The demands on the preschool
teachers are growing, in pace with an increasing number of immigrant children arriving to Sweden
without being able to speak the Swedish language. This is a challenge for the preschool system. The
goals in preschool are many and the teachers are responsible for attaining the goals ‘as far as
possible’.
The goals for children’s language learning and development in preschool are in short:

to be able to differentiate shades of meaning in concepts,

to develop the ability to listen, reflect and express their own views,

CONTACT Karin Renblad karin.renblad@ju.se

© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
2 J. BRODIN AND K. RENBLAD

to develop their use of spoken language, vocabulary and concepts, ask questions, and argue and
communicate with others,
to develop an interest in written language, understand symbols, pictures, texts and different media,
and
to develop their creative abilities (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010).

The goals are not intended to be used for assessment of children’s development or learning. They
are primarily directed to the preschool staff and are goals to strive for (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010; Norling &
Lillvist, 2016).

Communication and literacy

Communication and speech and language development have been on the research agenda long
time ago. It started with discussions related to heredity and environment, about the relationships
between thought and language and the importance of experiences for meaningful thinking.
Today two of the researchers (Piaget and Vygotsky) still influence the view on child and language
development in preschool in many countries (Brodin, Hollerer, Renblad, & Stancheva-Popkostadi-
nova, 2015). Piaget stressed the importance of sensations and experiences with focus on cognitive
models and the mental structures driven by an inherited capacity while Vygotsky focused on learning
and the zoon of proximal development (ZPD). He highlighted the importance of social-cultural con-
texts and stressed that adults played a supportive role in social interaction. However, in a dissertation
on children with severe intellectual disabilities Brodin already in 1991 showed that both models were
needed as complements to explain communication and communication development in these chil-
dren. It appears from research that many literature reviews are conducted (e.g. Evans & Jones, 2007;
Håland Anveden, 2017; Lennox, 2013; Saracho & Spodek, 2007) but the need for further studies based
on new research is still actual. Evans and Jones (2007) have in an Editorial section collected 14 articles
on oracy, i.e. speaking and listening skills. Oracy is a concept used in the U.K. curriculum. The text
cover both theoretical and pedagogical aspects and stress language acquisition, language learning
in different cultural settings and aspects of second language learning. The studies from the U.K.
refer to school-based education of children (5–6 years) as well as (7–8 years). Preschool in Sweden
covers children between one and five years.
Communication is a wide concept that includes both speech and language, and as it appears from
the Swedish preschool curriculum (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010), communication is a vital and thus priori-
tized goal area. The importance of being able to talk to people around, to understand what they
want to express, and to share their own experiences is stressed. Communication is a social activity
based on interaction and means to share experiences, feelings and activities (Brodin, 1991; Honig,
2007; Saracho, 2004). It is based on participation and mutuality. The need for a functioning communi-
cation is decisive for a child’s health and wellbeing. The interaction between the parents and the child
(mother–child and father–child) starts already at birth and continues when the parents are nursing
their newborn child (Brodin, 2018; Sommer, 2012). To conclude, early interaction is decisive for
child development (e.g. Bruce, 2014; Horowitz, 2005; Renblad & Brodin, 2013). The main reason for
this is that there is no other period in childhood that contains that much learning as the first five
years in life. However, many children need support to develop their communication, identity and
creativity, and the stress should be on oral language experiences, which will help children ‘learn
and understand the relationship between the spoken and written language’ (Saracho & Spodek,
2007). It is evident that most researchers agree on many aspects e.g. that social interaction (both
receptive and expressive), many language experiences and activities, and participation in different
cultural groups will promote children’s communication (Evans & Jones, 2007).
A concept often used when talking about speech and language development is literacy (Svensson,
2009). Briefly, literacy means the ability to read and write, but in this concept also other aspects of
communication are included, such as interpretation of what people say and to interpret and
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 3

understand a message (Björklund, 2008). Literacy is thus a concept that is included in communication
in a broader perspective (Brodin & Renblad, 2015). The concept oracy is used in the U.K. National Cur-
riculum when talking about speaking and listening, and it involves both discourse activities and
speech events (Saracho & Spodek, 2007). Today it is necessary to be able to express feelings, thoughts
and preferences (i.e. what we feel, think and like), and consequently everybody needs a well-devel-
oped communication and a rich language. Children learn language in a socio-cultural context, i.e.
during social play in the preschool group by listening to their peers and to express themselves
(Brodin, 2018). The mission in many countries is to stimulate children’s learning and development
from a holistic view and to lay the basis for lifelong learning. The pedagogical activities in preschool
must therefore be adapted to fit all children, and the preschool teachers must consider that all chil-
dren arrive from different environments with different needs. Communication, i.e. speech and
language, is a highly prioritized area that promotes inclusion.
Preschool teachers have, in a variety of global studies, reported that many children have a poor
speech and language development, and thus need support (e.g. Wilson, 2011). The need for
different modes to support communication is extensive. Preschool plays a key role in child develop-
ment, and it includes both daycare and kindergarten. All children, typical and atypical, attend the
inclusive preschool, and the motto in Sweden is ‘a (pre)school for all’. Focus in this article is to find
out if and how reading aloud and storytelling could enhance children’s communication development,
as reported in many global studies.

Previous research
There is a variety of methods that can be used to stimulate children’s language development. In this
article, we focus on reading aloud and storytelling as a tool to stimulate communication. In congru-
ence with many researchers, social play including reading aloud and storytelling is one of the most
essential ways to stimulate children’s literacy, i.e. speech and language development (Brodin &
Renblad, 2015; Sommer, 2012). It is well known that children with poor communication skills can
develop both their active and passive vocabulary if they get the right kind of support (Hargrave
& Sénéchal, 2000). In this case ‘right’ means individually adapted. Reading aloud can thus be
regarded as a tool for enhancement of communication (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010). One role of the pre-
school teachers is to observe the children’s communication abilities based on the abilities of each
child. Preschool is in many countries regarded to have a compensatory role for children who do not
get support from their immediate environment, i.e. from their homes (Brodin et al., 2015). Research-
ers, such as Ziolkowski and Goldstein (2008) have shown that children with a delayed language
development can catch up with peers and increase their communication skills and later their lit-
eracy if they get support. This is supported by Grabmeier (2012) and Lennox (2013). It is also
obvious that children with many reading experiences from various media, and from environments
where the parents were involved in their reading activities, have a higher phonological conscious-
ness, broader knowledge of letters, and a more extensive vocabulary compared to children who do
not get this support (Foy & Mann, 2003; Gibbons, 2009; Westlund, 2009).
Saracho and Spodek (2007) have conducted a review with focus on how language develops, the
teacher’s role, and experiences concerning the relationship between spoken and written language.
The studies focused on the cultural context in relation to cognitive development. The results of
the review had practical implications and showed that an efficient language programme should
include both receptive (listening and reading) and expressive (speaking and writing) activities.
They stated that the emphasis in preschool should be on oral language experiences and stressed
that language develops in cultural contexts in interaction with adults and peers. This is in congruence
with Vygotsky.
In a longitudinal study on systematic quality work in preschool Brodin and Renblad (2014a, 2014b)
found that the quality in preschool affects children’s health and wellbeing. Aspects influencing the
quality are for instance educated and competent staff, enough time for pedagogical planning and
4 J. BRODIN AND K. RENBLAD

follow-up, small child groups, high teacher density, low staff turnover, and a good (safe and positive)
physical and psychical environment. Other aspects are e.g. an efficient value system, a useful curri-
culum, and inclusive education. The quality of preschool has importance for children’s learning,
and is vital for promoting children’s learning. The more the children learn within the goal areas
(e.g. communication), the more they will develop, and this is essential for their future life e.g. perform-
ance in school (Håkansson, 2013; Sheridan & Pramling Samuelsson, 2009; Taguma, Litjens, & Mako-
wiecki, 2013). High quality is also connected to lifelong learning and the more children learn in
preschool the better their opportunities are in the future.
Honig (2007) stated that caregivers and teachers are crucial supporters for oral language
flowering. Since the social context is so critical for rich oral language acquisition, parents and teachers
need to become aware of their own understandings about how language is organized and what the
different aspects of language are. These metalinguistic skills permit talk about all rules, aspects and
stages of language development.
Lennox (2013) has from a review on reading aloud concluded that children’s language develop-
ment is a critical factor in reading and later academic success. Lennox means that pedagogical knowl-
edge is extremely important as well as selection of books, quality of interactions around the books
and developing the vocabulary and inferential language skills. The way the books are talked about
in the group may open or close opportunities for learning and talking about the book. The role of
the preschool teacher is thus important for literacy learning. This is also pointed out by Jones
(2007) who means that reiterate, planning, teaching and assessing are ‘parts of a cycle’. She stresses
that planning for teaching and assessment should go together, and consequently speaking and lis-
tening (i.e. oracy) are fundamental to learning and teaching. To promote reading skills in preschool
children Grabmeier (2012) emphasizes the teacher’s role and that just a small change in how teachers
read aloud for the children may stimulated their reading skills. Simple steps like pointing out letters
and words, showing capital letters and how to read text from left to right, and from top of the side to
bottom.

Aim and method

The overall aim of this article is to describe the work conducted in 11 preschools to improve the chil-
dren’s speech and language development. The aim of the study was to find out if and how reading
aloud and storytelling may influence children’s communication development. An underlying assump-
tion was to increase the consciousness of communication among staff and parents and to inspire
them to read along with the children in everyday life. Focus was on speech and language develop-
ment in preschool where reading aloud and storytelling were the leading concepts (Renblad &
Brodin, 2013).
The study has an interactionistic approach, where the social and cultural interaction between the
children develops their communication and language in a natural setting, i.e. the preschool.

Target group and procedure of the study

The target group was 11 municipal preschools in a small municipality, serving 573 children between 1
and 5 years of age, and divided into 23 child units. In the child groups children with many different
backgrounds and languages (totally 18 nationalities) were represented and this raised high demands
on the preschool teachers, especially as focus was on reading aloud and storytelling. All municipal
preschools in this municipality in Jönköping region were included in the study. From start 25 pre-
school units were invited to participate but there was a decline of two units due to lack of time.
Data were collected in 2 steps: 2012 and 2013 by a web-based questionnaire (see Appendix) that
was answered on group level by the 23 child units. The questions could be answered very short
with ‘yes, no or don’t know’ but every question had plenty of space to develop and widen their
answers. We urged them to use this space to develop their answers as we really wanted to get
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 5

rich answered. Our choice of method is based on our experiences of many years qualitative and quan-
titative studies. We believe that a combination of both would better illuminate the findings. The same
questions were raised at both occasions and the same staff participated with minor exceptions, due
to illness.
Data were thus collected, stored and processed in a simple computer program mainly to discover
the differences between the two years. The results are reported in running text as descriptive and
comparative data and will show how reading aloud and storytelling may influence children’s com-
munication and how this activity was used in the participating 11 preschools. Data have previously
been reported in a book in Swedish.

Results
All participating preschool units reported in 2012 and in the follow-up study in 2013 that they daily
read aloud for the children. Most of them read several times a day. The staff were asked if they used
storytelling and made up stories for the children. In 2012 6 of them did, but in 2013 the number had
increased to 17 units. The children had also started to make up stories and told their peers and they
got opportunities to express themselves with their own words. This turned out to support the devel-
opment of their fantasy and creativity. The staff commented that they had been aware about the
importance of this activity during the second project year.
The purpose of reading aloud and storytelling was primarily to develop the children’s language
consciousness, and to support their development and fantasy. In 2013 the number of comments
by the staff increased and they reported that it was important for the preparation of their literacy,
i.e. reading and writing, and to develop their creativity and fantasy. In the questionnaire 2012 the
staff had mentioned that reading aloud was important in order to train the ability to concentrate,
but this was hardly mentioned at all in 2013.
One question was if all children were involved in reading aloud. In 2013 this was a fact but in
2012 this was a big problem as the children had a varying time schedule. For instance, some of
the children attended preschool 15 hours a week. However, this is a problem related to planning.
The older children (3–5 years) had reading aloud and storytelling according to the pedagogical
planning daily when the toddlers (0–3 years) rested. The toddlers had this activity as part of the
free play.
Reading aloud took mainly place in small groups but it appears that it also took place in the large
group or for an individual child. When a child initiated reading aloud e.g. coming up to the teacher
with a book in his/her hand, the staff always said yes and this made them feel that they could
influence their daily activities. Reading aloud and storytelling were included in the pedagogical
work and took place all over the day. A majority of the preschools had routines for it but it
appears from the answers that it also took place spontaneously. One preschool teacher commented
that they tried to take the opportunity whenever a child shows interest in reading a book.
The staff used different kinds of books: fairy tales, rhymes and jingles, fact books, song books, real-
life stories, picture books. None of the 23 units used poetry. They lent books from the local library,
they bought books as included in the budget or they brought own books to preschool. Some of
the children contributed and brought books to preschool. This was especially common regarding
children with other cultural background.
About the accessibility to the books, all answers and comments show an improvement in all
respects. Many preschools had bought books, and the accessibility of books on other languages
had increased (from 5 to 12). For children with other cultural background than the Swedish, there
was also a great difference, as it has increased. Another change was that the staff introduced the
books when new arrivals.
At most of the preschools the staff analysed the children’s interest before buying new or lending
books from the library, and often the children were asked to help when selecting books. All preschool
units talked about the books with the children after having read them. They talked about the pictures
6 J. BRODIN AND K. RENBLAD

and reflected on the content. At this occasion, the children got an opportunity to express how they
have conceived and understood the content. They also heard the comments from their peers. This
widened their perspectives on the content and made them think about closely related questions
that were discussed and reflected.
To process the content of the books and the stories told in the books are regarded as very positive
for their communication development. In 2013 this has increased, and the staff stated that they had
changed their ways to handle the reading aloud and storytelling. The results also showed that the
children used several forms of play to express and process the content in the books, e.g. dramatic
play, theatre, puppet theatre, drawing and painting had increased during 2013 compared with the
survey 2012. The most remarkable change concerned reading and writing when it increased from
2 to 16 units. From the comments, it appears that the staff used special storytelling boxes in their
work. A storytelling box contained different figures and dolls, animals, houses and trees for building
up a mini environment before telling a fairy tale or a story.
Another area which was obvious during the project was the cooperation with the homes. In 2012,
8 of the units replied that they cooperated with regard to reading and storytelling and in 2013 this
figure had increased to 18. The preschool units had developed their cooperation and talked about
different ways to support children’s language development, and one idea was to have special
bags with books. The children brought their favourite books from home to preschool and told
their peers about the book before the teacher read it aloud for the whole group. The importance
of reading aloud and storytelling was also discussed with the parents on the reoccurring develop-
mental dialogues concerning each child. The role of reading aloud was highlighted by the staff
and most parents listened and adapted it. They also informed the parents in which way the children’s
speech and language development was influenced, and what their child has learnt by participating in
the project.
The results showed that the achievements with focus on communication had resulted in several
positive changes in the daily routines and activities. The staff experienced that all children appreci-
ated reading aloud and storytelling. Children’s interest in signs, symbols, pictures and letters had
developed, and their vocabulary, understanding of language and concepts had been widened.
The children were better prepared to read and write, and they had developed their fantasy and crea-
tivity which was evident in play. The understanding of concepts have been elaborated and the staff
feel more comfortable to support reading aloud and storytelling.

Reflections of reading aloud and storytelling

The main question was if reading aloud and storytelling could be used to support communication (i.e.
speech and language development) in preschool children. The results showed that the answer is yes
and based on that the second question raised was how to use it. This is in line with the Education Act
(2010) and the Curriculum for Preschool (Lpfö, 1998/rev. 2010) in Sweden. It appears from the results
that reading aloud, and storytelling can be an effective tool but to be optimal, it is important that the
staff are aware how to work with the books they read (Grabmeier, 2012; Hargrave & Sénéchal, 2000;
Lennox, 2013; Westlund, 2009). Reading aloud does not automatically mean that children’s communi-
cation will be improved. To read, follow-up, discuss and reflect on the content and the pictures are
necessary. The preschool staff need a pedagogical idea behind the reading of a book and for children
in need of special support it is even more important to get literal stimulation to develop their com-
munication skills (Brodin, 2018). Many researchers point out that if children get support in preschool
this will contribute to a better language development and learning in school (e.g. Foy & Mann, 2003;
Håkansson, 2013; Ziolkowski & Goldstein, 2008). One problem was that many preschools read aloud
for the children, but they did not follow-up the content or discuss the books. This means that the
vocabulary will probably not be developed, and the understanding of different concepts and
shades of meaning will get lost. The children in our study had 18 different nationalities and this
caused some problems for the teachers. Sometimes they asked children with another mother
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 7

language to bring books from home to look at and talk about and sometimes the parents assisted to
translate.
Most preschool units in the region today have routines for reading aloud and storytelling and
less staff talk about the aim with reading aloud to train the child’s concentration and attention.
Instead, they talk about the opportunity to stimulate the children’s learning and development.
The limitation of this study is that it is a small number study (23 units with a total of 573 children)
and that the children have not been heard about their opinions but only the preschool staff.
Another limitation is that the psychological and linguistics aspects have not been taken stressed
when talking about communication, but these were excluded already from start. The ability to com-
municate is decisive for a healthy life and for the quality of life (Brodin & Renblad, 2014b; Sommer,
2012).
Another result of interest is the cooperation with the homes. In 2012, 8 units replied that they dis-
cussed reading aloud and storytelling with the parents and one year later the cooperation had
extended to 18. When working with communication support it is necessary to involve all natural set-
tings a child is involved in, i.e. preschools and homes.
It is evident that the staff try to attain the goals of the curriculum but there are too many goals to
attain. To work with young children is demanding and new challenges appear constantly. Therefore,
it is necessary that the staff are flexible and have ability and possibility to change their eventual plans,
to meet the needs of the children. The second year we noted a great improvement on flexibility. An
example is when a child comes up to a teacher with a book and says ‘please read this’. Perhaps the
teacher may consider to change the planned activity or get the child to understand that they will read
in a minute. The most important is the attitude of the teachers because the attitude will show how
important reading is. The staff at preschool show with this behaviour that reading is an important
activity.

Conclusion
Our study shows that reading aloud and storytelling can be a pedagogical tool for child development.
With a well- thought-out strategy reading aloud and storytelling will work as a tool (Brodin & Renblad,
2015). The preschool teachers said that they were aware of the fact that reading aloud and storytell-
ing was effective to support communication and language development but they did not have a
know-how strategy to conduct the idea, until they understood the meaning of research results
and practice. One explanation to this is that research is often presented in a foreign language,
another is probably lack of time. As soon as we had opportunities to discuss this with the staff,
they realized that they had to go one step further. They have so much to do with the children
during daytime that they did not have time for in-service training. Early support before school
starts is needed to catch up with peers is suggested by many researchers (e.g. Bruce, 2014;
Norling & Lillvist, 2016¸Wilson, 2011). It is, however, important to state that reading aloud and story-
telling is not the only method that can be used to support communication. More research need to be
conducted in this field especially as so many preschool children have difficulties due to communi-
cation delays or disorders. Finally, the preschool teachers need support and in-service training con-
cerning how to support each child in the most efficient way.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID
Jane Brodin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2214-3032
Karin Renblad http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8533-6851
8 J. BRODIN AND K. RENBLAD

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Appendix
Basic data (name of preschool, unit, and ages of the children)
Do you read aloud for the children in preschool? (If yes, what is the main purpose of the activity?
If no, why not?
How often do you read aloud? Six reply alternatives (from several times a day till once a week)
Do you present new arrivals of books for the children?
What types of books do you use? (pictures, stories, facts, reality based, poetry, rhime and xx, song books, other)
Who picks out the books to read? (teachers or the children)
Do you read books available at the preschool?
How do you read aloud? (in big group, in small groups, individually for each child)
Do you have routines for reading aloud? (If yes, what are they?)
When do you read aloud? (at gathering, resting time, afternoon, during play, other)
Do you lend books from the library?
Do you analyze the children’s needs and interest before buying the books or loans?
(If you lend books from the library, are the children joining you)
Have you read the books before reading them for the children?
Is reading aloud a planned or spontaneous activity?
Do you work with the books in other ways? (e.g. teamwork, drama play, theatre, doll theatre, music, pictures, play,
reading and writing, poetry, other)
Do you use flanello graphs when telling stories for the children?
Do you create own stories and fairy tales for the children?
Do the children created fairy tales for each other?
Do you cooperate with the children’s homes about reading aloud for the children? (If Yes, how … ?)
Do you cooperate with the library? (If yes, how?)
Do the children appreciate reading aloud and storytelling?
Do the children ask you to read?
Do you experience that the children are in interested in signs, symbols, pictures and letters?
How do the children show their interest?
Do you experience that there is a difference in interest between boys and girls?
Do you present the content of the book before reading it?
Do the children present the books for each other`?
Do you talk with the children about the content after reading?
Do you talk with the children about the pictures?