Oral language at school entry: dimensionality of speaking and listening skills

There has been a resurgence in concern about the levels of pupils’ oral language skills at school entry. To support and develop these effectively an understanding key components is required. We examined monolingual children Reception (MAge = 57.9 months; n 126) Year 1 69.07; 124) classes England. Children were recruited from schools that representative London primary assessed on measures designed to tap phonology, core (vocabulary grammar) discourse skills, both receptive expressive modalities. Using confirmatory factor analyses, we associations between by component modality for each age group. Oral was best represented four dimensions (receptive discourse, discourse). By contrast 1, three identified, irrespective modality: discourse. Our data speak importance capturing assessments teaching monitoring their development The results also highlighted foundational role start school.