Key points

• University of Oxford literacy experts are working with University of Canterbury (UC) researchers on a programme designed to improve spoken language skills for NZ children.
• The pair are being hosted by UC as Erskine Fellows, part of a programme that brings leading international academics to Christchurch to teach and share their expertise.

International experts are working with University of Canterbury researchers on a programme to boost children’s spoken language skills.

Charles Hulme and Maggie Snowling, both Emeritus Professors at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, have worked on reading interventions and dyslexia for many years. In 2020, they founded OxEd, a spinout company launched to take their research through to practical application in schools.

The pair are being hosted as Erskine Fellows at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC), through a programme that brings leading international academics to Christchurch to teach and share their expertise. UC researchers have been carrying out a New Zealand trial of one of their leading programmes.

The Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) is designed to detect early language difficulties in children aged four to five years and aims to improve their oral language as a foundation for literacy.

Professor Hulme (a part-time Professor of Psychology at Oxford Brookes University) and Professor Snowling (a part-time Professor of Psychology at York St John University) have run four trials of NELI in England, one in Paraguay (in Spanish) and partnered with a not-for-profit in the Netherlands to trial a Dutch version. NELI has also been adapted for New Zealand and Australia. 

“Interventions to improve oral language skills in preschool and early school years can be expected to improve later language, word reading, and reading-comprehension skills,” Professor Snowling says.

The NELI trial in New Zealand was carried out late last year and UC Child Well-being Research Institute (CWRI) researchers are now analysing the data and writing results up for publication.

The trial involved 356 students (all aged five years old) with low language skills from 48 schools across the country. Half of the children were randomly assigned to receive the NELI intervention and half received teaching as usual.

CWRI Senior Lecturer Dr Megan Gath says her team is assessing how the children's language and reading skills progressed from pre- to post-intervention.

“Our preliminary results indicate that students who received the NELI programme showed more improvement in their oral language skills and their reading skills than children who did not.

“NELI is so successful because it has a strong evidence-base of research behind it that ensures the intervention is consistently implemented through online training for educators as well as detailed lesson plans.”

Dr Gath says Professor Snowling and Professor Hulme’s visit provides opportunities for local researchers and educators to engage directly with globally recognised experts in literacy and child development.

Professor Snowling says interventions such as NELI are crucial because children with unidentified language problems have a poor prognosis.

“They lead directly to problems learning to read, and to do maths, and more broadly to access the curriculum, and socio-emotional difficulties including anxiety, issues with peers and behavioural problems. 

“If left undetected, the impact of language difficulties can last well into adulthood, affecting well-being, limiting career options, and low levels of literacy have even been linked to offending. Undoubtedly, if not treated, they lead to intergenerational disadvantage,” she says.

UC’s CWRI developed the Better Start Literacy Approach programme to support children’s reading, spelling, writing and oral language development. The approach, which is based on structured literacy teaching and has shown positive results, has been introduced in more than 1,000 schools across New Zealand.

The Erskine Programme, the largest academic mobility fund in Australasia, brings leading academics to UC each year to share their expertise, strengthen global partnerships, and enhance teaching and research for students and staff.

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