Making Learning Visible: The Role of Communication in Early Childhood

Summary of Insights

Children’s communication skills begin developing from birth and flourish through everyday interactions, relationships, and meaningful experiences with language. This blog explores how early communication supports learning, literacy, and identity, and how educators, families, and leaders can work together to nurture language development.

• Explains why early communication milestones matter for children’s learning and social–emotional development
• Describes how receptive and expressive language support emergent literacy from infancy through preschool and beyond
• Highlights what language-rich environments look and sound like at home and in early learning settings
• Affirms multilingual learners as capable communicators and explains how first languages support development
• Outlines how leaders can support teachers in sharing clear, strengths-based messaging with families

We are born to communicate. From the very beginning, infants are drawn to human faces and voices, watching mouths and expressions as they learn how communication works. Families quickly learn to interpret their children’s cues—each cry, gesture, and facial expression becomes meaningful. Long before children use words, they are already learning how we use language to share thoughts and feelings. We know it takes children many years to speak in complete sentences, but this period of early communication learning constitutes a time of rapid language development that will be crucial to children’s learning throughout their lives.

Teachers and families witness this language development every day. For instance, as babies grow, their babbling often mirrors the rhythms and sounds of their families’ language(s); toddlers may “read” books aloud in familiar cadences, drawing on hours of listening and observing. Simple, everyday activities such as talking, singing, and reading together offer rich examples of children’s language abilities, but these warm interactions also present opportunities for adults to scaffold and encourage children’s communication skills. By supporting children to reach early communication milestones, teachers and families will not only prepare children for success in key areas of learning, such as literacy and social–emotional development, but affirm children’s personal and familial identities through positive, intentional nurturing of their individual voices.

The Importance of Early Communication Skills and Language Development

Language learning begins well before children can speak. Through consistent, loving, everyday back-and-forth interactions, children learn that the sounds they hear carry meaning and how communication builds relationships. Listening and understanding comes before speaking—much like learning a new language as an adult. In programs that use The Creative Curriculum, teachers build on these early communication behaviors by intentionally planning experiences that support language and literacy development in ways families can see at home and in the classroom.

These early exchanges are crucial for both language and social–emotional development. When caregivers respond warmly to a child’s cries or babbles, they learn who they can trust and how to communicate their needs. Will their cries be met with reassurance? Will their babbles be repeated with a smile? This is meaningful data children collect as they learn how to communicate effectively.

Developing children’s language and communication skills is also key to children’s later success in literacy learning. As children listen and begin to speak, their brains are preparing them for the skills needed to read and write. Recognizing and producing the sounds they hear will help them in connecting those sounds with the names of letters. Next, they will be able to recognize these letters and sounds in the words they see, which is how early reading skills begin. Soon enough, they will be able to use these letters and words to write their own ideas!

How Does Early Language Development Support Emergent Literacy?

While it is important to support children’s early communication skills for a variety of reasons, the significant impact of children’s literacy abilities on their school success and future as lifelong learners makes the significant connection between language development and literacy worthy of special attention.

During the early childhood years, children engage in emergent reading and writing behaviors that form the foundation for literacy. These are the early skills children demonstrate that indicate they understand that text has meaning and can be written and read. This can include making scribbles to write their name, listening to stories and describing what is happening, pretending to read, listening for and repeating key words or phrases in books, or using a new vocabulary from a story.

However, before children can understand that text has meaning and how the written word works, they must understand the language that the text represents. This is where language development becomes so important to literacy. Before they can begin exploring reading and writing, children must first understand receptive language and expressive language, the two halves of communication. Receptive language is our ability to receive and understand spoken words, while expressive language is our ability to speak to others. Everyday communication, such as speaking and reading to children, supports their expressive and receptive language by exposing them to rich vocabulary, storytelling conventions, emotional expressions, cultural traditions, and the grammar and rhythm of language.

Some of the most exciting evidence of children’s emergent literacy appears during moments of meaningful communication between teachers and children, such as when children begin pointing out letters they recognize from their own names and experimenting with writing through scribbles. Teachers can help make this learning visible for families by sharing children’s words, stories, and interests with families through photos, notes, and conversations. When families receive resources featuring the songs, games, or activities that their children enjoy at school, they are better able to support their children’s learning at home and witness this growth for themselves.

How Can Teachers and Families Support Children’s Language Development?

Fortunately, this important area of children’s learning can be supported through warm, nurturing interactions teachers and families have with children every day. In language-rich classroom settings, teachers offer inviting spaces filled with accessible books, labeled materials, dramatic play props, and open-ended materials that spark conversation and creativity. Teachers can intentionally support children’s language development by narrating children’s actions, introducing new vocabulary, singing songs, reading aloud, and engaging in meaningful conversations throughout the day. Teachers can help families introduce elements of a language-rich environment into their homes, too. In programs that use The Creative Curriculum, families will see how teachers weave language learning into everyday moments throughout the day, from intentional routines such as morning greetings and mealtime conversations to hands-on guided activities. These characteristics are true of language-rich environments for children of all ages, whether infant or preschool classrooms!

Language, literacy, and social–emotional development can also be supported simultaneously through meaningful family communication, such as storytelling, pretend play, songs, and shared family stories. Long before printed books, families shared stories legends, myths, fairy tales, tall tales, and family histories. These stories teach children who they are, how to be safe, what it means to be a good friend, and how to make sense of the world, demonstrating just how meaningful communication and language can be to children’s overall learning and sense of self.

Why Is It Important to Honor Multilingual Learners as Strong Communicators?

For many families, English is just one of the languages used at home. It’s natural for families to have questions about multilingual development, but research consistently shows that children benefit from maintaining and developing their first language. A strong foundation in a home language supports learning, identity, and later success in school. It is important that families continue to read, sing, write and play with language in their children’s first languages, even when learning a new language.

Multilingual learners follow the same language-learning process as monolingual children, but because multilingual learners need to know twice as many words, their vocabulary development may initially be less extensive in each language.  A child might use rich, detailed language in their first language and just a few words in English at first. With time and practice, their English vocabulary will grow. Meanwhile, school introduces new words, like cubby or fire drill, that children may learn first in English.

Just like learning their first language, a child’s understanding of language (their receptive language), still comes before speaking (their expressive language), and they may use gestures, their home language, or silence to communicate as they listen and learn. Over time, they will begin to experiment with using new words and sentences.

Maintaining a child’s first language also helps strengthen family connections and cultural identity. Storytelling, singing, playing games, and reading in any language all support literacy development and offer rich cultural and linguistic learning in their first language.

Being multilingual is an asset. When a child can express themselves in multiple languages, worlds of communication and opportunities open up to them. Rather than “confusing” or “delaying” a child’s learning, learning multiple languages only helps to strengthen children’s learning and sense of self. The same techniques teachers and caregivers use in the classroom with monolingual children (songs, labels, gestures, storytelling) can support multilingual learners to acquire or develop a new language!

What Can Leaders Do to Help Build Strong Home–School Connections Around Language?

Leaders play an important role in supporting consistent, strengths-based communication with families. By observing classrooms, providing resources, and creating clear systems for sharing learning, leaders help teachers feel confident when engaging with families.

Program-wide communication tools, family meetings, thoughtful classroom assignments that support each child’s needs, and clear expectations for family engagement can strengthen home–school partnerships. Providing translation and interpretation services and fostering a culture that values strengths also help ensure all families feel welcomed and supported.

Professional development and family education on how to support multilingual learners with language and literacy learning is another way to share what the program considers best practices. For families, this might also include “make-and-take” sessions; demonstrations; or instructions around using communication apps to share photos, videos, and documentation notes with their children’s teacher.

Leaders, teachers, caregivers, and families are all partners in supporting children’s learning. A mutual understanding of the importance of early communication and language development can help all of the adults in children’s lives more intentionally notice, share, promote, and celebrate children’s language development in all its forms.