The Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL) trial is a study to investigate the impact of teacher led oral language promotion on child language, literacy and mental health.

CPOL is built on 3 areas of policy-relevant research; (1) the importance of the early years of school (2) the importance of teacher quality (3) the intrinsic relationship between oral language skills and future literacy, numeracy and social development.

Language competence (including spoken communication and literacy) is a major influence on children’s developmental pathways and life success. The ability to communicate and use language effectively impacts upon the capacity of children to learn, on their mental health and behaviour, on their future educational and employment achievements, and on their social and community participation opportunities. As a teacher’s effectiveness has a powerful impact on students, this study will determine whether a teacher professional learning program can lead to improved teacher knowledge and practice leading to improved student outcomes in oral language, literacy and mental health for early years’ primary school children.

This project builds on a successful pilot (Snow et al., 2014) and stands to significantly influence student learning in early years classrooms, by translating empirical evidence into changed teacher practices.

Aims

The aims of the project are to:

1. Determine the effectiveness (and cost effectiveness) of a teacher-led whole-of-class approach to promoting oral language (delivered in the first two years of school) on the oral language, literacy development and mental health of children by Grade 3  
2. Determine whether a specifically designed teacher professional development program focussed on a whole-of-class approach to promoting oral language can lead to sustained change in teacher practice 
3. Gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that promote and inhibit the success of a whole-of-class approach to promoting oral language.

The project will be led by the University of Melbourne (Professor Sharon Goldfeld) together with an experienced team from the health and education disciplines through a unique collaboration between the institutions listed below.

Evidence Bites 

Watch this YouTube video of Associate Professor Patricia Eadie talking about the findings of CPOL.  

Publications

Research snapshot

Helping teachers to improve children's oral language and literacy skills (PDF)

Journal articles 

1.Goldfeld, S., Snow, P., Eadie, P., Munro, J., Gold, L., Orsini, F., Connell, J., Stark, H, Watts, A., & Shingles, B. (2020). Teacher knowledge of oral language and literacy constructs: results of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of a professional learning intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading. doi:10.1080/10888438.2020.1714629.

2.Stark, H.L., Eadie, P.C., Snow, P.A., & Goldfeld, S.R. (2019). The impact of a sustained oral language professional learning program on Australian early years’ teachers’ knowledge, practice and beliefs: a mixed-methods exploration. Professional Development in Education.  doi: 10.1080/19415257.2019.1603170.

3. Goldfeld, S., Snow, P., Eadie, P., Munro, J., Gold, L., Le, H.N.D., Orsini, F., Shingles, B., Lee, K., Connell, J. & Watts, A. (2017).  Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at grade 3, oral language and mental health. BMJ Open.

4. Stark, H.L., Snow, P.C., Eadie, P.A., Goldfeld, S.R. (2016). Language and reading instruction in early years’ classrooms: the knowledge and self-rated ability of Australian teachers. Annals of Dyslexia, 66(1), 228-254. doi:10.1007/s11881-015-0112-0.

5. Snow, P. C., Eadie, P. A., Connell, J., Dalheim, B., McCusker, H. J., & Munro, J. K. (2014). Oral language supports early literacy: A pilot cluster randomized trial in disadvantaged schools. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(5), 495-506. doi:10.3109/17549507.2013.845691. 

Journal articles in process

1. Goldfeld, S., Snow, P., Eadie, P., Munro, J., Gold, L., Le, H.N.D., Orsini, F., Shingles, B., Lee, K., Connell, J., Watts, A., & Barnett, T. Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): Outcomes from a cluster randomized controlled trial of a teacher-led whole-of-classroom intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at grade 3 (in preparation).

2. Eadie, P., Stark, H., Snow, P., Gold, L., Watts, A., Shingles, B., Orsini, F., Connell, J., Goldfeld, S. Teacher talk in classrooms following professional learning targeting oral language and literacy instruction: analysis from a randomised controlled trial (in preparation).

Conference presentations

1. Snow, P. Goldfeld, S., Eadie, P., Munro, J., Gold, L., Le, H.N.D., Orsini, F., Shingles, B., Lee, K., Connell, J. & Watts, A. (October, 2018). Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at Grade 3, oral language and mental health. Platform presentation at researchEd, Philadelphia, US.

2. Eadie^, P., Goldfeld^, S., Snow, P., Gold, L., & Munro^, J. (2018, June). Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at Grade 3, oral language and mental health. Paper presented at the Child Language Symposium, Reading, United Kingdom.

3. Eadie^, P., Goldfeld^, S., Snow, P., Munro^, J., Gold, L., Le, H.N.D., Orsini, F., Shingles, B., Lee, K., Connell, J. & Watts, A. (2018, May). Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at Grade 3, oral language and mental health. Paper presented at the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, Adelaide, Australia.

4. Stark, H.L, Snow, P.A., Eadie, P.A., & Goldfeld, S.R. (2017). Literacy instruction in the early years: Australian teachers’ knowledge and practice. Dyslexia SPELD Foundation Language, Literacy and Learning Conference. Perth, Western Australia.

5. Stark, H.L., Eadie, P.A., Snow, P.C., & Goldfeld, S.R. (2015). The knowledge, practice and beliefs of teachers in a large scale universal oral language intervention. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference. Canberra, Australia Capital Territory. 

Project investigators

Contact

For more information please contact Amy Watts, CPOL Project Manager.