Partners

E-Read
International

FHNW
Switzerland

Main goals: Effective reading and writing instruction for all students, support for teachers, effective training for teachers.

Actions or Activities: Study about novices in teaching writing (subject-matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and self-efficacy at the end of their education and after one year of practice), ion the basis of a theoretical sampling observing of writing lessons (can different processes in teaching writing be observed? are there type-specific difficulties and strategies to solve the problems? Intervention study: Is an intervention which combines a process-oriented approach with a training of writing fluency more effective than a process-oriented approach without such a training? (grade 4 and 5) Is there a greater benefit for students with German as a second language?

Genres and languages research group

Main Goals: We investigate academics’ literacy practices in today’s multilingual universities. Using qualitative methods we examine academics’ writing practices and academic literacy (bi-/multiliteracy) development processes. Our research seeks to inform English academic writing instruction and, more broadly, Languages for Academic Purposes instruction in higher education institutions in Europe. At present we are piloting an academic writing course for junior researchers that involves biliteracy learning experiences. Our project keywords are: genres, genre colonies, rhetoric and communication, academic literacies, digital literacies, genres and the internet, academic languages, linguistic diversity, internationalization, language policies, language practices, linguistic imperialism, endangered languages, academic Englishes, ecolinguistics, cross-cultural communication, multilingualism, intercultural competence, communities of practice, situated learning. We want to support multilingual (non-Anglophone) communities of researchers that exchange and disseminate scientific knowledge through the medium of English. We also seek to map the existing ecologies of academic genres and ecologies of academic languages and track how they evolve over time. We also aim at developing an open platform for literacy learning within a virtual community. Early career researchers and PhD students will be our main target groups.

Actions or Activities: These are some of the actions and activities carried out by the research group or in preparation: – One-day seminar on Good multilingual teaching practices in Higher Education. 9th June, University of Zaragoza (Spain). 6th International Conference: Synergies in Communication, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, 16 – 17 November 2017. – Submitted: Special Issue proposal for Language Learning journal. Title of SI: Ethnographic methods for academic writing and literacy research: evidence and interpretation. – Forthcoming 36th International AESLA Conference: «Applied Linguistics and knowledge transfer: employability, internationalization and social challenges». CADIZ (SPAIN) 19-21 APRIL 2018

LitCo Literacies in Contact

Main Goals: The study of language contact phenomena based on written language data has been done only on a small scale, particularly either in the field of historical linguistics or in the field of New Literacy Studies. In this sense the major goal of LitCo is to bring about a change of perspective in current fields of studies and to systematically relate multilingualism with literacies.

Actions or activities: “Literacies in contact. Theoretical, Pedagogical and Political Implications”, conference at Goethe University Frankfurt, November 16-17, 2017

SIG Writing (EARLI special interest group 12 Writing)
International

Main goals: Collaboration between writing researchers from different countries as well as from different disciplines, such as education, psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, computer science, literary studies and rethorics. Examples of topics we deal with are: the cognitive, social and developmental processes involved in writing, the functions of writing in different social and institutional contexts the design of writing instruction in various educational settings Our activities include writing-related publications, conferences and information facilitities. Among the most important acitivities of SIG writing are publications on many topics related to the scientific study of writing. These include the Journal of Writing Research (http://jowr.org/ ), our publication archive and the book series “Studies in Writing”. For more information, see here.

Actions or Activities: SIG Writing bi-annual conference and research school in Liverpool, the UK, 2016 SIG writing invited symposium at EARLI in Tampere, Finland 2017 Upcoming conference and research school in Antwerp/Ghent, Belgium, 2018

University of East Anglia

Main Goals: Teacher education in language and literacy Research in language and literacy education

Actions or Activities: Dr John Gordon’s project Literature’s Lasting Impression, investigating shared reading for pleasure and in schools, and particularly the lifelong impact of reading in schools.

University of St.Gallen, Faculty of Education
Switzerland

Main goals: We conduct research and development related to language learning, with a focus on foreign languages in obligatory schooling, but also the language of schooling. We are involved in quantitative and qualitative research programmes, initial and continuing teacher education, and materials development.

Actions or Activities: We recently concluded a SNSF-funded cooperative research project concerned with pluriliteracies at the transition between primary and secondary school, and an EU-funded international project concerned with reading aloud in different languages in the classroom. Another main focus is research and development on language teachers competences, including their own literacy and skills for teaching literacy.

Working group Communication and Education – SOPCOM

Portugal

Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen, Institut Fachdidaktik Sprachen
Switzerland

Main goals: We conduct research and development related to language learning, with a focus on foreign languages in obligatory schooling, but also the language of schooling. We are involved in quantitative and qualitative research programmes, initial and continuing teacher education, and materials development.

Actions or Activities: We recently concluded a SNSF-funded cooperative research project concerned with pluriliteracies at the transition between primary and secondary school, and an EU-funded international project concerned with reading aloud in different languages in the classroom. Another main focus is research and development on language teachers competences, including their own literacy and skills for teaching literacy.

Research Group – Language and education
Spain

Main Goals: The research group Language and education at the University of Alcalá was founded on the premise that the development of language and cognition are inseparable, and determine each other. Language allows access to knowledge and understanding, and at the same time shapes them and makes them available for communication and scrutiny. Therefore, fostering the development of language and literacy skills is crucial to allow access to knowledge, the development of conceptualization and participation in the academic world. In our context, the fundamental role of language in education becomes visible through two relatively recent phenomena: the rise in immigration and the development of bilingual teaching programs (CLIL). Our research group aims to provide practical answers to these challenges through research, teacher training and consultation.

Actions or activities: We have developed an approach to teaching English in the context of CLIL programs that is based on literacy development. It is currently being tried out in different schools in our area, and we are providing training to teachers in the approach. I was commissioned by the educational authorities in Madrid to write a new syllabus for the teaching of Advanced English in secondary and post-secondary school. The basis of this syllabus design is formed by working on textual genres. In parallel we are conducting research into the understanding of literacy by primary school teachers in the Madrid area, and by the kind of literacy development fostered by textbooks used in the subjects of Spanish and English with children in 3rd and 4th year primary education.

Logical reader (LORE)
United States of America

Escola Superior de Comunicação Social
Portugal