Integral to teaching is how practitioners assess what children know. This is vital so we can understand children’s interests and what they already know and can do, and then shape teaching and learning experiences for each child, reflecting that knowledge (Department for Education UK, 2025).
However, assessing young learners may not always be as straightforward as with older learners. Formal assessments, such as English language proficiency tests, are not appropriate for our young learners, and it would likely result in distress and/or a disappointing outcome. The child’s understanding or idea of a ‘test’ may not match an older learner (Dubiel, 2023) and, due to the nature of formal assessments, they may require long breaks from interactions with other children, which is not supported by the DfE UK (2025).
When assessing whether an individual child is at the expected level of development, practitioners should instead draw on their knowledge of the child and their own judgement (DfE UK, 2025). Dubiel (2023) notes that assessment is an ongoing process and ‘knowing our children’ builds over time. Every activity, every observation, and every interaction enables us to refine and add to our understanding of the child.
So how can we best assess our young EAL learners?
A mixture of task-based activities, child-led activities, and conversations/observations at ‘opportune times’ was the solution I used as an Early Years Educator. Most importantly, the child must be comfortable, relaxed, and willing to partake in the interaction with you. In this article I will outline how you can plan activities and encourage conversation in everyday interactions. Prior to any assessment, make sure you have had a conversation with parents, alongside the child, if possible, to understand more about them and to ascertain if there are any other needs beyond language. You can use the New Arrival EAL template to help you.
Planned activities
For exceptionally quiet children or very new children, you may need to plan an activity that they enjoy, with you or in a small group, to develop an understanding of their spoken English. Examples include:
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Photo/object share: After modelling a description of your own object or photo, encourage the child to share theirs with you. The child may feel more comfortable sitting with a peer and discussing it, or with you. If they struggle, model a sentence or two about your object/picture and try not to overload them with questions, especially closed questions such as ‘Who is this?’. Instead, aim for open-ended questions such as ‘Tell me about your photo’.
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When sharing a book, preferably one which they have looked at several times, you can model talking about the pictures and ‘taking turns’ with the learner to have a go themselves. Again, focus on open-ended questions, such as ‘What do you see here?’.
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Plan an activity: Art, sport, construction, etc., depending on the child’s interest. As you play together, discuss what you are doing. You can ask them what they are doing and in some cases, such as construction, develop a story together with characters. You could use playdough together and you can explain what you are making and what you will do with it, and encourage the same from the child. Another example of a speaking activity is a self- or family- portrait.
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Games: You can play guessing games (objects in a bag) or board games, such as ‘Hedbanz’, to elicit the language from the child after you model.
Unplanned activities
For young children, the most natural conversation will come from a natural interaction. One of the best times to access this is when they are involved in self-chosen activities. Other examples include:
- Observe interactions with peers, such as during outside play (rules) or talking with friends during snack time. Occasionally it is worth sitting with them and joining in to see if you can expand the conversation.
- Are they able to understand instructions and follow class routines? It is worth observing their ability to follow these directions, but be mindful that young children often don’t need language to understand routines quickly, if they are consistent.
- When conversing (peer-to-peer or child-to-adult) during free choice play, you can find the true extent of language capability. Sustained Shared Thinking (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002) allows the teacher and learner to be involved in a back-and-forth conversation, providing an opportunity to extend their learning and assess what they know.
- During self-chosen craft activities, learners may be especially motivated to share with you what they are making.
Summary
When discussing assessment for Reception-aged children (Junior children in Australia and New Zealand), the focus should be to improve students' learning, and not to drive it. When assessment is used to expand on a learner’s current knowledge and understanding, such as through Sustained Shared Thinking, we see the most benefit to the learner (Grenier, 2021). The document ‘progression of language structures', developed by the Tower Hamlets EMA Team, can help a teacher understand the ‘next steps’ for a child’s speech.
Such formative assessments and observations have always been at the core of Early Years practice (Junior classes in Australia and New Zealand). When looking at summative assessment, we need to find out how confidently and accurately the child uses the knowledge, skills, and behaviours they have learnt. We cannot find this through simple tick lists, we need to view learning developmentally. Practitioner-led observational assessment enables us to make a more refined and meaningful judgement (Dubiel, 2023).
References
Department for Education UK (2025). Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework for Group and School-based Providers. Available here (Accessed: 18 September 2025).
Dubiel, J. (2023). Understanding Assessment and Curriculum. In Grenier, J., & Vollans, C. (2023). Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice. Sage Publications Ltd.
Grenier, J. Assessment Beyond Levels in the Early Years. Impact Magazine Issue 12, May 12 2021. Available here (Accessed: 18 September 2025).
Siraj-Blatchford, I., Muttock, S., Sylva, K., Gilden, R. and Bell, D. (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years. Available here (Accessed: 18 September 2025).
