Communication and language approaches involve intentionally acting to develop young children’s understanding of language and their ability and confidence to use language, and other strategies, to communicate effectively. The evidence consistently shows that young children’s language development benefits from approaches that support communication through talking and verbal expression.
Evidence suggests a persistent gap between the early language skills of socio-economically disadvantaged children and their peers. Evidence also suggests that the gap between socio-economically disadvantaged children and their peers is greater for communication and language than for other prime areas of learning (physical development and personal, social and emotional development).
Our 2025 review of early years professional development highlighted the importance of supporting communication and language in the sector. While many settings engage with communication and language professional language programmes, access and quality are uneven, with inconsistencies in depth, follow-up, and integration suggesting that current provision is not fully sufficient. Practitioners also report a strong desire for more tailored, practical support that can be applied directly in daily practice.
There is substantial policy interest in this area, providing conditions for influencing change: the government has recognised early communication and language as a national priority and continues to fund the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).
Due to its significance to children’s later learning, there is a substantial evidence base for early communication and language.
The EEF guidance report, Preparing for Literacy: Improving Communication, Language and Literacy in the Early Years (2018), draws on evidence from the Early Years Toolkit and a wide range of other sources to recommend that settings actively prioritise children’s communication and language development. It highlights that:
- Language provides the foundation of thinking and learning and should be prioritised.
- High-quality adult – child interactions are important and sometimes described as talking with children rather than just talking to children.
- Adults have a vital role to play in modelling effective language and communication.
- Settings should use a wide range of approaches including shared reading, storytelling, and explicitly extending children’s vocabulary.
The Early Years Toolkit, based on 66 studies, finds that communication and language approaches typically have a very high impact, increasing young children’s learning by seven months for very low cost. The evidence is relatively consistent, suggesting that communication and language approaches can be successful in a variety of environments. Additional key findings include:
- Positive effects have been identified on early language and literacy skills. When selecting strategies, it is important to consider outcomes.
- Staff are very likely to benefit from training or professional development to use programmes and approaches successfully.
- There are many communication and language approaches. High-quality provision is likely to include multiple strategies across vocabulary, language, talk and social communication skills.
| EEF Toolkit | The Early Years Toolkit includes a strand on communication and language approaches, rated with three padlocks for evidence strength. It highlights that targeted support for early language development may be especially beneficial to children experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. |
| Evidence Store | The Early Years Evidence Store includes a dedicated communication and language page, published in April 2024. It presents synthesised evidence across five key approaches: • Teaching and modelling vocabulary • Teaching and modelling language • Interactive reading • Teaching through collaborative talk • Teaching and modelling social communication skills |
| Guidance Report | The EEF’s guidance report, Preparing for Literacy: Improving Communication, Language and Literacy in the Early Years (2018), finds that language is the foundation of thinking and learning and should be prioritised by early years practitioners. |
| Evidence Review | In 2017, the EEF published the evidence review, Early Language Development: Needs, provision, and intervention for preschool children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The review included 49 early language interventions, identifying priorities for improving practice to support young children with delays in early language. The review also suggested carrying out further evaluations on two types of intervention, which informed the EEF’s commissioning in Spring 2022: • parent – child interaction interventions with young children as a means of promoting children’s language abilities and ensuring that children are ready for learning when they get to nursery at 2 – 3 years; and • training early years practitioners (professional development) to deliver interventions within early years settings. |
| Scale-up projects | The Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) has been subject to multiple trials and received scale-up funding. The programme’s journey through the EEF pipeline can be viewed here. |
The EEF included early language as a priority in the Spring and Autumn 2022 funding rounds, with a specific focus on:
- Implicit and/or explicit oral language teaching approaches
- Awareness, assessment and identification of language needs
- Family support
We funded 53 communication and language projects, 38 of which have been completed. Including regrants, the EEF has commissioned 18 early-stage programme development projects, six pilots, 33 trials (including four effectiveness and three scale-ups) and one Teacher Choices project on early language. The majority of funded projects have been efficacy trials or development projects, and have focused on implicit and/or explicit oral language teaching approaches.
We have funded fewer projects focussing on two-to-three-year-olds compared to older age groups, with only three efficacy trials. The majority of trials have demonstrated no additional impact on outcomes.
Completed trials and pilot studies
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results | Beyond the headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale-up | Nuffield Early Language Intervention Scale Up Impact Evaluation | OxEd & Assessment, Nuffield Foundation and Department for Education | Ages 4 – 5 | Targeted | A national scale-up of the Reception Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) to support COVID-19 education recovery. NELI involves scripted individual and small-group language teaching sessions delivered by teaching assistants, or early years educators, to children identified as being in need of targeted language support. Several robust EEF trials have shown that NELI can improve children’s oral language and early literacy skills. | +4 months 3 padlocks Effectiveness: +3 progress 5 padlocks Efficacy: +4 months 4 padlocks | Findings from the scale-up evaluation suggest that the average impact of the programme was maintained when delivered at national scale and when an online training and support model was adopted. |
| Scale-up | Nuffield Early Language Intervention Scale-up (2020−21 and 2021 – 22 trials) | University of Oxford, EEF, Department for Education | Ages 4 – 5 | Targeted | To support education recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department for Education provided funding to offer NELI‑R to all schools with Reception pupils in 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. Approximately 10,000 schools across England registered to take part over the two years. Two reports published in March 2023 evaluate the implementation of the national NELI scale-up, assessing and understanding the scaling process in a COVID-19-affected context, and providing recommendations for supporting future scale-up of educational interventions. | N/A | The first report suggested that despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, staff training largely progressed as intended as did schools’ delivery of the programme to pupils up to July 2021. The second report highlighted that COVID-19 continued to influence how much of the programme schools were able to provide to pupils, but that NELI was perceived by school staff to be beneficial for pupils’ language development. |
| Effectiveness | Nuffield Early Language Intervention | University of Oxford and Elklan | Ages 4 – 5 | Targeted | The NELI programme is designed to improve the language skills of Reception pupils (aged 4 – 5) and involves scripted individual and small-group language teaching sessions delivered by trained teaching assistants. NELI is published by Oxford University Press and was delivered in this trial by the University of Oxford in partnership with Elklan. Since the efficacy trial, a revised version of the 20-week reception programme had been published and was used in this effectiveness trial. This 20-week version consisted of two 15-minute individual sessions and three 30-minute small group sessions each week and was scalable to all schools. The children selected to participate in the trial were the five children in each classroom who obtained the lowest scores on a school-administered app-based assessment of oral language skills named LanguageScreen. | +3 months 5 padlocks Efficacy trial: +4 months 4 padlocks | The report published in March 2023 showed that NELI‑R had a sustained influence on children’s oral language skills and early word reading and those who had received NELI‑R had higher scores in reading comprehension than those who did not receive the programme. |
| Efficacy | Concept Cat | Better communication CIC | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The Concept Cat approach teaches children concepts such as‘first’,‘wide’ and‘empty’. This is taught in a structured and engaging manner with explicit teaching of vocabulary followed by implicit teaching in play-based learning. | +2 months 3 padlocks | Children who were eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium made three months’ additional progress, although these findings are less secure due to the smaller sample size for this group. |
| Efficacy | Flexible Phonics | UCL Institute of Education | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | Flexible Phonics aims to train Reception teachers to optimise and complement their existing phonics teaching to improve children’s word reading. Flexible Phonics approaches include teaching children to add another step after they have blended phonemes to recognise whether they have successfully identified a word and if not that they will need to use alternate strategies to identify it. | -1 months 3 progress | This trial took place during the COVID-19 pandemic so some aspects of Flexible Phonics delivery were changed to accommodate this e.g. the length of programme delivery. This may have affected the impact observed from Flexible Phonics in the study. |
| Efficacy | Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) | University College London and ICAN | Ages 4 – 5 | Targeted | NELI is designed to improve listening, narrative and vocabulary skills. Three to five weekly sessions are delivered to small groups of children identified as needing support with speaking. There are two version: a 30-week programme that starts in the final term of nursery and continues in Reception year, and a 20-week programme delivered in reception only. The trial studied both versions. | +4 months 4 padlocks | NELI had a positive impact on the language skills of children in the trial. This is true for both the 30-week version, starting in nursery, and the 20-week version, delivered only in school. |
| Efficacy | PACT (Parents and Children Together) – second trial | University of Manchester | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | Parents and Children Together (PACT) is an early language programme for pre-school children (aged 3 – 4) that parents deliver to their child at home. PACT is centred on improving children’s language skills through interactive book reading, supplemented with direct teaching of vocabulary and work on narrative skills. A previous trial was significantly disrupted by COVID-19. | 0 months 3 padlocks | When assessed immediately after the intervention, children offered the PACT programme made no additional progress in overall language skills compared to children who did not receive the PACT programme. Assessments completed 11 months after intervention delivery showed children who received PACT made, on average, 1 additional month’s progress in overall language skills compared to children who did not receive the programme. However, there is some uncertainty in this estimate. |
| Efficacy | ParentChild+ | Family Lives | Ages 2 – 3 | Targeted | ParentChild+ is an intensive 15-month home visiting programme primarily for low-income families with a 2 – 3‑year-old child. During the twice weekly (30-minute) visits trained home visitors model reading, conversation and play activities to parents. These activities seek to increase parent-child interaction, promote positive behaviours and encourage early literacy skills with the overall aim to enhance the home learning environment and foster academic success. | -2 months 3 padlocks | Delivery was paused due to COVID-19 lockdowns, resuming in the context of social distancing. The findings are inconsistent with trials of the programme conducted in the United States. |
| Efficacy | Peep Learning Together Programme | Peeple | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The Peep Learning Together Programme is a parent education programme developed by the charity Peeple. The version of the programme evaluated in this trial, Peep-LTS, aims to improve parenting skills and the quality of the home learning environment in the early years. This involves an initial home visit, then 20 weekly one-hour sessions held in the nursery setting, delivered by nursery practitioners and attended by parents and their child. The course evaluated in this trial focused on two topics: communication and language; and early literacy. | 0 months 3 padlocks | The analysis of the secondary outcomes showed a positive effect of the intervention on early literacy development. Pupils in the intervention group made, on average, two months’ additional progress compared to those in the control group. This finding is less secure than the estimate for the primary outcome. |
| Efficacy | The REAL Programme | National Children’s Bureau | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | The REAL programme (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) is an intervention that works with practitioners to support children’s early literacy development. The programme aims to help practitioners build parents’ confidence in creating a home learning environment that supports children’s reading, writing and oral language. The programme evaluated in this trial used REAL approaches including home visits, group literacy events and the ORIM Framework, which supports parents to: create Opportunities for literacy learning; Recognise and value small steps; Interact in positive ways; and make a point of being a Model of a literacy user. | N/A | This project was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not possible to deliver assessments in order to estimate the impact of the programme on pupil attainment so the final report instead focuses on implementation and process evaluation activities. The programme was very well received by practitioners. Evidence of positive outcomes for parents and children was less consistent. |
| Efficacy | Tips by Text | BIT | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | The Behavioural Insights Team’s Tips by Text programme delivers a 9‑month text curriculum to the parents of Reception children, sending 3 texts per week designed to improve 4 – 5‑year olds’ literacy, language, numeracy and social and emotional skills. These texts are derived from the READY4K! programme developed and tested in California. | N/A | Children whose parents received the Tips by Text programme showed no additional progress on a measure of literacy skills compared with children whose parents had not received the programme. This project and its evaluation were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Efficacy | URLEY (Using Research Tools to Improve Language in the Early Years) | University of Oxford, UCL, and A+ Education | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | The URLEY programme trains early years teachers to improve children’s language and social-behavioural outcomes in nursery and Reception. Teachers take part in 5 day-long professional development workshops in which they are introduced to a set of evidence-based language learning principles, taught how to use these and a range of research tools (primarily the Environment Rating Scales (ERS)) to assess their practice, and provided with strategies for refining practice. | -1 month 3 padlocks | The programme had a positive impact on quality of provision (as measured by ERS). This suggests that quality of practice improved, but not at a sufficient level to translate to improved language outcomes for children. It may be that impacts on pupil outcomes would only be observed in the longer term, or with even larger improvements to practice. |
| Pilot | Communication-Friendly Home-Based Settings | Elklan Training Ltd | Ages 3 – 5 | Whole class | Communication Friendly Home-based Settings (CFHBS) aims to equip childminders with knowledge and strategies to improve young children’s language development. Childminders may either complete the Let’s Talk with Under 5s (LTU5s) course or the Speech and Language Support for 3 – 5‑year-olds (SLS 3 – 5s). These courses lead to accreditation awards through an Ofqual approved and regulated national awarding organisation. | N/A | The study found evidence that the CFHBS programme leads to the intended changes outlined in the theories of change. Childminders reported increased skills, knowledge, and confidence across both variants of the programme. |
| Pilot | Learning Language and Loving It – The Hanen Program for Early Childhood Educators | Communicate SLT CIC | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | Learning Language and Loving It™ (Hanen LLLI) is a training programme for early years educators to promote language and literacy learning in nurseries as well as social skill development. It is designed to provide staff with practical strategies to enhance children’s communication and language skills while interacting and communicating with children during normal daily routines. | N/A | As part of the pilot the EEF wished to evaluate whether a mixture of online and face to face training delivery was feasible and found that a mixed-mode of delivery was met with positive feedback from participants. |
| Pilot | Manor Park Talks | Sheringham Nursery School | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | Manor Park Talks is based on Every Child a Talker (ECAT), a course of training for early years staff that helps them to identify and support children with early language development difficulties including through resources and audit tools. The intervention aims to create pedagogical change in the settings through a set of core strategies that practitioners can be trained to deliver, whilst also aiming to achieve impact without significantly increasing practitioner workload. | N/A | The independent evaluation found that the full set of five strategies that practitioners were initially introduced to was perceived to be daunting. Practitioners reported that a revised version of Manor Park Talks focusing on specific conversational responsiveness techniques was easier to apply. The evaluation concluded that the revised intervention could be implemented across all settings in Newham. |
| Pilot | Tales Toolkit | Goldsmiths, University of London | Ages 3 – 5 | Whole class | Tales Toolkit is a training and resource package designed to support the early language and social development of 3 – 5‑year-old children through oral storytelling. In Tales Toolkit sessions, educators guide children through an interactive story-creation process, using props or pictures that are relevant to the children’s experiences. The package includes five 50-minute online training videos for all members of the early years team, along with a set of physical resources used to deliver the programme in practice. | N/A | The pilot found some promising evidence. Most educators who participated in surveys and interviews reported increased confidence, strong motivation to deliver the approach, and noticeable changes in their practice. However, evidence of feasibility of implementation was mixed. |
| Pilot | TWiTCH (Talk With Tales for Children) | Sheffield Hallam University | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | TWiTCH is a professional development programme for nursery practitioners in both maintained and private, voluntary and independent settings. The programme aims to improve the language and communication skills of 3- and 4‑year olds through enhanced, high-quality interactions during storytime, using a dialogic pedagogy approach. Practitioners are trained to deliver nine themed, three-week story cycles using familiar fairy tales in small-group sessions. | N/A | The evaluation found evidence of promise, with practitioner data indicating increased knowledge and confidence, as well as changes to storytelling and general practice to support children’s language development. |
Completed early-stage programme development projects
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development | Building Blocks to Phonics | The Education People | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole setting | Building Blocks to Phonics aims to train a member of staff to become an‘early phonics skills champion.’ The early phonics skills champion is responsible for leading the quality of phonics provision in their setting, and for building staff confidence, knowledge, and skills in delivering high quality, developmentally appropriate phonics practice, ahead of formal phonics teaching in Reception. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Chatterbugs | Gipsy Hill Federation | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | Chatterbugs is a targeted, evidence-informed intervention to develop foundational early communication skills in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It aims to help children develop school readiness skills, in preparation for Key Stage 1. Staff can also benefit from the daily use of communication friendly strategies that are an explicit part of the programme. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Child-led Book Talk | Wandle Learning Partnership | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | The Child-Led Book Talk programme is a targeted intervention for children in Nursery and Reception who have been identified as not currently meeting age-related developmental milestones for their oral language skills. The Child-Led Book Talk sessions use high-quality picture books and other texts to provide an opportunity for the child and staff member to engage in dialogic talk. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Early Words Together for Childminders | National Literacy Trust | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | This programme aims to improve the practice of childminders who are potentially reaching children previously under-served, whilst also contributing to the evidence base of engaging and supporting parents remotely. The programme involves participation in activities which aim to support early language (imaginative play, singing songs and rhymes, sharing books and stories, mark-making, getting out and about, visiting the library) and increases childminders’ skills and confidence in using language-supporting strategies. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Enhancing Communication Support (ECS) for Childminders | Communicate SLT CIC | Ages 0 – 5 | Whole class | An evidence-informed approach for childminders working with children aged 0 – 5, to promote speech, language and communication development. ECS aims to provide childminders with access to high quality training and one-to-one coaching, to enhance the support they provide for all children’s speech, language and communication development. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Language Lead Approach | Nottingham City Council and Notts Health Care Trust | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | The Language Lead Approach enhances the offer of speech, language and communication support within settings as a significant opportunity for early intervention, both for children with speech, language and communication needs and the wider early years population. The Language Lead Approach is based on an interactional pedagogy and the intervention is carried out within typical Early Years Foundation Stage provision. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Launchpad for Language | Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Hackney Education | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class and targeted | Launchpad for Language provides a holistic universal framework to upskill early years staff and families in building children’s language and communication skills. This model of speech and language therapy intervention was designed to respond to the needs of schools with a high population of socio-economically disadvantaged families. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Launchpad for Literacy | Launchpad for Literacy | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | This programme aims to support early years settings with embedding Launchpad for Literacy as a tool to upskill practitioners and support children’s speech, language and communication development. While Launchpad can be used to support all children, this programme will initially teach settings to use the Launchpad Toolkit to address the needs of children who are not meeting age-related expectations. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Let’s Talk About… | Ryders Hayes Stronger Practice Hub in partnership with Roy Broadfield, Impact in Learning | Ages 2 – 3 | Whole class | The Let’s Talk About (LTA) programme aims to help young learners to acquire the skills to develop strong foundations in communication and language that will support them to become more confident communicators. Through play-based activities using real-life images and photos, supplemented with everyday resources available in the setting, practitioners will use LTA prompt cards to develop children’s communication and language effectively through vocabulary rich collaborative conversations. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Sing & Learn: Teach and Read | Musiko Musika | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class and targeted | Sing & Learn aims to be an engaging music-based approach to support children’s communication and language skills. The programme is primarily a universal approach for all children to receive through adult-led group sessions with targeted small groups for children who would benefit from additional support. Building on the way in which songs and singing are regularly embedded in daily routines, nursery practitioners engage children in stories, rhymes and role play, harnessing routine activity to deliver targeted improvements. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Supporting Spoken Language in the Classroom (SSLiC) | Early Years South West Stronger Practice Hub | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole setting | An approach to promoting a language-rich environment to support all learners, including those will lower-level language skills. The programme supports reflective practice and upskills practitioners across a whole setting to develop language awareness and self-assessment. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Talking 2gether: Collaborative Health Visiting and Early Years Setting Implementation of the Early Language Identification Measure and Intervention | Newcastle University and The Institute of Health Visiting | Ages 2 – 4 | Universal and targeted | This project aims to improve the language and communication development of children aged between 2 and 3.5 years through the development of language enriching early years environments at home and in early childhood education settings, bringing together Early Years educators and Health Visitors. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Through My Eyes | West Berkshire Local Education Authority | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | Through My Eyes (TME) aims to help early years practitioners understand, celebrate and support children with social communication differences, addressing key challenges, such as knowing how to provide opportunities for positive social interactions and support transitions to primary school. By providing knowledge and tools (evidence-based activities and strategies), TME supports practitioners to identify needs and tailor support to each child’s unique profile. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | WellComm Workforce Training and Support | Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | This programme aims to improve delivery of the WellComm tool for assessment and intervention for children in the early years across Greater Manchester to improve Speech Language and Communication outcomes and reduce the attainment gap. This project aims to develop and provide more comprehensive evidence-based training and supporting materials to enable practitioners in early years settings to feel more confident and skilled to deliver the WellComm assessment and interventions. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Innovation | Plan, Do, Review | Wingate Community Nursery School | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The Plan, Do, Review approach supports all children in listening, speaking and understanding. The approach is based around group conversation and shared sustained thinking. Small groups of children take part in Plan, Do and Review sessions. During the‘Plan’ session, the children are supported to share their plans with one another; using a conversational style. During the‘Do’ session, the children work on these plans and during the‘Review’ session children are supported to have a conversation about their play experiences | Progressed to pilot. |
Trials and pilot studies in progress
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness | NELI Preschool | OxEd & Assessment | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class with targeted intervention | NELI Preschool is a 20-week oral language programme for 3 – 4‑year-old children, centred around shared storybook reading and guided play, which is designed to improve the oral language skills of children in nursery. Each week focuses on a different book – a mixture of traditional tales, contemporary stories and non-fiction – and is comprised of activities to encourage the development of a rich vocabulary and ability to listen to, tell and enjoy stories. The NELI Preschool intervention includes two core components: universal language enrichment for all children in nursery and targeted intervention for those with the weakest oral language skills. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. An addendum looking at longer-term outcomes will be published in Summer 2027. |
| Effectiveness | NELI Whole Class (project page not yet available) | University of Oxford | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | NELI Whole Class is a whole-class programme delivered by teachers and is intended to complement the teaching assistant-led targeted NELI programme, which has been extensively delivered across England. Delivered by teachers during the Reception year, the class teacher delivers 3 – 4 oral language sessions of around 20 minutes to the whole class per week for 20 weeks. Each session is centred around key vocabulary or stories. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Effectiveness | Tips By Text: Engaging Parents in Early Learning | BIT | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | This programme, developed by The Behavioural Insights Team, delivers a 9‑month text curriculum to the parents of Reception children, sending 3 texts per week containing simple and practical activities to do at home with their children. It is designed to improve 4 – 5‑year-olds’ literacy, language, numeracy and social and emotional skills. These texts are derived from the READY4K! Programme, developed and tested in California. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
| Efficacy | Communication-Friendly Home-Based Settings (project page not yet available) | Elklan Training Ltd | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | Communication-Friendly Home-Based Settings aims to accelerate children’s oral language development through increasing childminder knowledge and confidence in supporting children’s communication and language skills through daily and routine interactions, and supporting childminders to provide an appropriate environment to promote children’s communication. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Efficacy | Communication-Friendly Settings | Elklan Training Ltd | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | Elklan provides online training and coaching to two staff (Lead Communication Practitioners or LCPs) from each setting who cascade a shorter course, and provide mentoring, to the whole staff team in their nursery. The LCPs then lead in embedding practice change for the setting to gain Communication Friendly Settings status. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
| Efficacy | Early Talk Boost | Speech and Language UK | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | Early Talk Boost is a targeted early language intervention aimed at 3 – 4‑year-old children. The programme is designed to support children who require a targeted approach to develop their speech, language and communication skills, allowing them to catch-up with their peers. The programme is nine weeks long and comprises three 15 – 20-minute sessions a week. It is usually delivered to small groups of six to eight children. A previous trial was suspended due to challenges with baseline data collection. | The report will be published in Summer 2027. |
| Efficacy | Early Years Conversation Project (EYCP) | East London Research School | Ages 2 – 3 | Whole class | EYCP (piloted as Manor Park Talks) is a professional development programme to promote conversational responsiveness in both private, voluntary and independent nurseries and school-based nurseries. The room lead or nursery teacher will be trained as an‘EYCP Champion’ and given expert support from an experienced mentor to enable them to implement and embed the ShREC strategies in everyday practice. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. |
| Efficacy | Talk With Tales for Children (TWiTCH) (project page not yet available) | Sheffield Hallam University | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The TWiTCH programme supports nursery practitioners in using dialogic pedagogy to enhance language interactions with 3 – 4‑year-olds during story-time and related activities. Practitioners deliver the programme through nine three-week story cycles, each based on a familiar traditional fairy tale, with 15-minute small group sessions. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Efficacy | Talking Time | University of Oxford | Ages 3 – 5 | Whole class | Talking Time is a universal intervention targeting the oral language skills of children aged 3 to 5. It supports early years practitioners in delivering a programme of engaging, structured small-group activities to children. Children take part in two 15-minute activities per week during regular provision, for a period of 20 weeks. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. |
| Pilot | Plan, Do, Review | Wingate Community Nursery School | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | Plan, Do, Review is an intervention targeting the communication and language skills of children aged three to four. The programme combines structured“plan, do, review” sessions where children share ideas, engage in play, and reflect on their learning, supported by educators using conversation-enhancing techniques. | The report will be published in Autumn 2026. |
| Teacher Choices | Story Choices | Coventry University | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole Class | This project will investigate the impact of different approaches to planning storybook activities in private, voluntary, independent settings and maintained nurseries: a) Responsive or Child-led Approach: Educators ask children to select the book for the daily group reading session or actively involve them in the book selection process. While reading, the questions and discussion points occur spontaneously. b) Planned Storybook and Discussion Points Approach: Educators not only select the storybook ahead of time, but they also plan the specific discussion points they will use while engaging children in conversations about the story. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
Completed early-stage programme development projects
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development | Building Blocks to Phonics | The Education People | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole setting | Building Blocks to Phonics aims to train a member of staff to become an‘early phonics skills champion.’ The early phonics skills champion is responsible for leading the quality of phonics provision in their setting, and for building staff confidence, knowledge, and skills in delivering high quality, developmentally appropriate phonics practice, ahead of formal phonics teaching in Reception. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Chatterbugs | Gipsy Hill Federation | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | Chatterbugs is a targeted, evidence-informed intervention to develop foundational early communication skills in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It aims to help children develop school readiness skills, in preparation for Key Stage 1. Staff can also benefit from the daily use of communication friendly strategies that are an explicit part of the programme. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Child-led Book Talk | Wandle Learning Partnership | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | The Child-Led Book Talk programme is a targeted intervention for children in Nursery and Reception who have been identified as not currently meeting age-related developmental milestones for their oral language skills. The Child-Led Book Talk sessions use high-quality picture books and other texts to provide an opportunity for the child and staff member to engage in dialogic talk. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Early Words Together for Childminders | National Literacy Trust | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | This programme aims to improve the practice of childminders who are potentially reaching children previously under-served, whilst also contributing to the evidence base of engaging and supporting parents remotely. The programme involves participation in activities which aim to support early language (imaginative play, singing songs and rhymes, sharing books and stories, mark-making, getting out and about, visiting the library) and increases childminders’ skills and confidence in using language-supporting strategies. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Enhancing Communication Support (ECS) for Childminders | Communicate SLT CIC | Ages 0 – 5 | Whole class | An evidence-informed approach for childminders working with children aged 0 – 5, to promote speech, language and communication development. ECS aims to provide childminders with access to high quality training and one-to-one coaching, to enhance the support they provide for all children’s speech, language and communication development. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Language Lead Approach | Nottingham City Council and Notts Health Care Trust | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | The Language Lead Approach enhances the offer of speech, language and communication support within settings as a significant opportunity for early intervention, both for children with speech, language and communication needs and the wider early years population. The Language Lead Approach is based on an interactional pedagogy and the intervention is carried out within typical Early Years Foundation Stage provision. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Launchpad for Language | Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Hackney Education | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class and targeted | Launchpad for Language provides a holistic universal framework to upskill early years staff and families in building children’s language and communication skills. This model of speech and language therapy intervention was designed to respond to the needs of schools with a high population of socio-economically disadvantaged families. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Launchpad for Literacy | Launchpad for Literacy | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | This programme aims to support early years settings with embedding Launchpad for Literacy as a tool to upskill practitioners and support children’s speech, language and communication development. While Launchpad can be used to support all children, this programme will initially teach settings to use the Launchpad Toolkit to address the needs of children who are not meeting age-related expectations. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Let’s Talk About… | Ryders Hayes Stronger Practice Hub in partnership with Roy Broadfield, Impact in Learning | Ages 2 – 3 | Whole class | The Let’s Talk About (LTA) programme aims to help young learners to acquire the skills to develop strong foundations in communication and language that will support them to become more confident communicators. Through play-based activities using real-life images and photos, supplemented with everyday resources available in the setting, practitioners will use LTA prompt cards to develop children’s communication and language effectively through vocabulary rich collaborative conversations. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Sing & Learn: Teach and Read | Musiko Musika | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class and targeted | Sing & Learn aims to be an engaging music-based approach to support children’s communication and language skills. The programme is primarily a universal approach for all children to receive through adult-led group sessions with targeted small groups for children who would benefit from additional support. Building on the way in which songs and singing are regularly embedded in daily routines, nursery practitioners engage children in stories, rhymes and role play, harnessing routine activity to deliver targeted improvements. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Supporting Spoken Language in the Classroom (SSLiC) | Early Years South West Stronger Practice Hub | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole setting | An approach to promoting a language-rich environment to support all learners, including those will lower-level language skills. The programme supports reflective practice and upskills practitioners across a whole setting to develop language awareness and self-assessment. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Talking 2gether: Collaborative Health Visiting and Early Years Setting Implementation of the Early Language Identification Measure and Intervention | Newcastle University and The Institute of Health Visiting | Ages 2 – 4 | Universal and targeted | This project aims to improve the language and communication development of children aged between 2 and 3.5 years through the development of language enriching early years environments at home and in early childhood education settings, bringing together Early Years educators and Health Visitors. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | Through My Eyes | West Berkshire Local Education Authority | Ages 3 – 5 | Targeted | Through My Eyes (TME) aims to help early years practitioners understand, celebrate and support children with social communication differences, addressing key challenges, such as knowing how to provide opportunities for positive social interactions and support transitions to primary school. By providing knowledge and tools (evidence-based activities and strategies), TME supports practitioners to identify needs and tailor support to each child’s unique profile. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Development | WellComm Workforce Training and Support | Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | This programme aims to improve delivery of the WellComm tool for assessment and intervention for children in the early years across Greater Manchester to improve Speech Language and Communication outcomes and reduce the attainment gap. This project aims to develop and provide more comprehensive evidence-based training and supporting materials to enable practitioners in early years settings to feel more confident and skilled to deliver the WellComm assessment and interventions. | Delivery completed, not carried forward to a pilot. |
| Innovation | Plan, Do, Review | Wingate Community Nursery School | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The Plan, Do, Review approach supports all children in listening, speaking and understanding. The approach is based around group conversation and shared sustained thinking. Small groups of children take part in Plan, Do and Review sessions. During the‘Plan’ session, the children are supported to share their plans with one another; using a conversational style. During the‘Do’ session, the children work on these plans and during the‘Review’ session children are supported to have a conversation about their play experiences | Progressed to pilot. |
Trials and pilot studies in progress
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness | NELI Preschool | OxEd & Assessment | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class with targeted intervention | NELI Preschool is a 20-week oral language programme for 3 – 4‑year-old children, centred around shared storybook reading and guided play, which is designed to improve the oral language skills of children in nursery. Each week focuses on a different book – a mixture of traditional tales, contemporary stories and non-fiction – and is comprised of activities to encourage the development of a rich vocabulary and ability to listen to, tell and enjoy stories. The NELI Preschool intervention includes two core components: universal language enrichment for all children in nursery and targeted intervention for those with the weakest oral language skills. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. An addendum looking at longer-term outcomes will be published in Summer 2027. |
| Effectiveness | NELI Whole Class (project page not yet available) | University of Oxford | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | NELI Whole Class is a whole-class programme delivered by teachers and is intended to complement the teaching assistant-led targeted NELI programme, which has been extensively delivered across England. Delivered by teachers during the Reception year, the class teacher delivers 3 – 4 oral language sessions of around 20 minutes to the whole class per week for 20 weeks. Each session is centred around key vocabulary or stories. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Effectiveness | Tips By Text: Engaging Parents in Early Learning | BIT | Ages 4 – 5 | Whole class | This programme, developed by The Behavioural Insights Team, delivers a 9‑month text curriculum to the parents of Reception children, sending 3 texts per week containing simple and practical activities to do at home with their children. It is designed to improve 4 – 5‑year-olds’ literacy, language, numeracy and social and emotional skills. These texts are derived from the READY4K! Programme, developed and tested in California. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
| Efficacy | Communication-Friendly Home-Based Settings (project page not yet available) | Elklan Training Ltd | Ages 2 – 4 | Whole class | Communication-Friendly Home-Based Settings aims to accelerate children’s oral language development through increasing childminder knowledge and confidence in supporting children’s communication and language skills through daily and routine interactions, and supporting childminders to provide an appropriate environment to promote children’s communication. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Efficacy | Communication-Friendly Settings | Elklan Training Ltd | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | Elklan provides online training and coaching to two staff (Lead Communication Practitioners or LCPs) from each setting who cascade a shorter course, and provide mentoring, to the whole staff team in their nursery. The LCPs then lead in embedding practice change for the setting to gain Communication Friendly Settings status. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
| Efficacy | Early Talk Boost | Speech and Language UK | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | Early Talk Boost is a targeted early language intervention aimed at 3 – 4‑year-old children. The programme is designed to support children who require a targeted approach to develop their speech, language and communication skills, allowing them to catch-up with their peers. The programme is nine weeks long and comprises three 15 – 20-minute sessions a week. It is usually delivered to small groups of six to eight children. A previous trial was suspended due to challenges with baseline data collection. | The report will be published in Summer 2027. |
| Efficacy | Early Years Conversation Project (EYCP) | East London Research School | Ages 2 – 3 | Whole class | EYCP (piloted as Manor Park Talks) is a professional development programme to promote conversational responsiveness in both private, voluntary and independent nurseries and school-based nurseries. The room lead or nursery teacher will be trained as an‘EYCP Champion’ and given expert support from an experienced mentor to enable them to implement and embed the ShREC strategies in everyday practice. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. |
| Efficacy | Talk With Tales for Children (TWiTCH) (project page not yet available) | Sheffield Hallam University | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | The TWiTCH programme supports nursery practitioners in using dialogic pedagogy to enhance language interactions with 3 – 4‑year-olds during story-time and related activities. Practitioners deliver the programme through nine three-week story cycles, each based on a familiar traditional fairy tale, with 15-minute small group sessions. | Reporting timeline not yet confirmed. |
| Efficacy | Talking Time | University of Oxford | Ages 3 – 5 | Whole class | Talking Time is a universal intervention targeting the oral language skills of children aged 3 to 5. It supports early years practitioners in delivering a programme of engaging, structured small-group activities to children. Children take part in two 15-minute activities per week during regular provision, for a period of 20 weeks. | The report will be published in Spring 2026. |
| Pilot | Plan, Do, Review | Wingate Community Nursery School | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole class | Plan, Do, Review is an intervention targeting the communication and language skills of children aged three to four. The programme combines structured“plan, do, review” sessions where children share ideas, engage in play, and reflect on their learning, supported by educators using conversation-enhancing techniques. | The report will be published in Autumn 2026. |
| Teacher Choices | Story Choices | Coventry University | Ages 3 – 4 | Whole Class | This project will investigate the impact of different approaches to planning storybook activities in private, voluntary, independent settings and maintained nurseries: a) Responsive or Child-led Approach: Educators ask children to select the book for the daily group reading session or actively involve them in the book selection process. While reading, the questions and discussion points occur spontaneously. b) Planned Storybook and Discussion Points Approach: Educators not only select the storybook ahead of time, but they also plan the specific discussion points they will use while engaging children in conversations about the story. | The report will be published in Summer 2026. |
Cancelled trials
| Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efficacy | Achieving Early | Achievement for All | Ages 3 – 5 | Whole school | Achieving Early was a two-year, coaching-based improvement programme for early years practitioners, which in this trial was due to be delivered to nursery and Reception classes in schools. It used specialist early years coaches to conduct monthly visits to train practitioners and improve pupil outcomes. | The EEF cancelled this trial before delivery began in settings due to findings from the September 2021 evaluation report of Achievement for All. |
| Efficacy | Early Talk Boost | Speech and Language UK | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | Early Talk Boost is a targeted early language intervention aimed at three- to four-year-old children. Speech, language and communication skills are key skills for young children, enabling them to access all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. Early Talk Boost is designed to help support children who need a targeted approach to catch up with their peers. | This trial was cancelled due to challenges with baseline data collection. A lessons learned report was published which informed a second trial. |
| Efficacy | Making it REAL | National Children’s Bureau | Ages 3 – 4 | Targeted | The Making it REAL programme is a professional development programme that trains early years practitioners to deliver home visits and literacy events to disadvantaged families. The Making it REAL programme is targeted at 3- and 4‑years olds in the academic year before starting Reception, with a potential need for additional support in early literacy. It aims to improve children’s early literacy development. | This trial was cancelled due to challenges with setting recruitment. |