Kathleen McCarthy is awarded an ESRC to track early language and literacy development in New to English children

Congratulations Kathleen and colleagues on this grant! Details below:


Developing a language-specific approach to understanding early language acquisition in New to English children (September 2025 - 2028)

Recent research found that by the end of primary school, two thirds of children who start school with limited English do not reach the literacy levels needed to fully access the curriculum. The needs of this group are not captured by the broad characterisation of ‘English as an Additional language’ since progress on school attainments varies substantially for different heritage language groups. The aim of this project is to understand how linguistic, social and cognitive factors interact to predict early language and literacy development in New to English (NE) children. We will take a language-specific approach to model how structural differences between NE children’s heritage language and English impact on foundational language skills: phonetics, phonology and early reading development. The project includes: 1) a large-scale longitudinal study of early language development in NE Somali and Bangladeshi heritage children, tracking the heritage language and English, early reading skills, and school outcomes throughout the Early Years. 2) In partnership with the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership, teachers, and families, we will co-create tailored resources and specialist teacher training to support NE children and their teachers. Once established, our methods and resources will be sufficiently flexible such that they can be readily adapted to new languages (i.e., kept up to date as migration patterns change, or used in other locations). 

See here for more details: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FZ503447%2F1