The educator intentionallyThe educator acts in a planned, thoughtful and purposeful way. uses language structures to show children how words can be combined to form sentences (grammar). Educators encourage children to use increasingly complex language structures as their understanding increases.

This approach is likely to be used alongside the Teaching and Modelling Vocabulary approach.

There is strong evidence that this approach can have a positive impact on children’s communication and language skills, including those from lower-income families.

Based on the evidence, educators should:

• Carefully monitor children’s progress in their language development, as evidence does not tell us whether teaching this approach equally to all children will narrow learning gap
• Teach this approach through stories and interactive reading, as there is strong evidence to suggest this can be effective
• Provide opportunities for children to recall and discuss previous experiences
• Combine verbal practices with physical strategies, such as acting out stories, or the use of props and pictures, to have the most impact.

The overall evidence behind Teaching and Modelling Language is strong. In many studies, educators did this through stories and imaginative play. However, evidence does not tell us which individual practices are most effective, so educators should use their professional judgement to select the practices likely to be appropriate for the interaction.

Within the evidence, educators used some of the following practices:

• Questioning: using questions to encourage children to think about and use new knowledge
• Sequencing: using language to organise a story, event or experience into simple, ordered steps
• Recalling: using language to describe a previous event or experience
• Recasting: repeating a phrase used by a child with the correct grammar/​pronunciation
• RepetitionIntentionally repeating and reinforcing a taught concept in different contexts, over time.: intentionallyThe educator acts in a planned, thoughtful and purposeful way. repeating and reinforcing a taught concept in different contexts, over time
• Imitation: encouraging children to copy a word/​phrase.

When we spoke with educators, they described using some practices that were not explicitlyThe direct and intentional teaching of new words and their meanings. included in the evidence we found. For example:

• Narrating: modelling increasingly complex language structures.

Many of the practices are included in the Teaching and Modelling Vocabulary approach, so educators may wish to consider these together. For example:

• Commenting: articulating an observation to highlight information – for example, how a child has used language
• Explaining and showing: providing extra information to support children’s understanding – for example, of word meanings and/​or language.