Funded Research Projects
Becoming literate through faith: Language and literacy learning in the lives of new Londoners 2009-2012 (ESRC) E. Gregory, C. Kenner, J. Jessel, M. Ruby and V. Lytra £620,000
This major project will study how children learn language and literacy in faith settings, in four communities that are relatively new to London (Polish Catholic, West African Pentecostalist, Tamil Hindu and Bangladeshi Muslim). The aims are to extend theoretical insights on literacy learning to the unique multilingual environments offered by different faith settings; to investigate and analyse the scope and nature of faith literacy activities in which children participate at home and in faith settings; to examine the impact of faith literacies on the shaping of participants' identities across different generations; to develop collaborative intergenerational ethnography; and to provide guidelines informing practitioners and policy-makers on children's literacies in different faith settings.
Promoting bilingual learning through partnerships between primary and community teachers 2008-2009 (Paul Hamlyn Foundation) C. Kenner and E. Gregory, £73,158
This ongoing research aims to produce a model for partnership between community language schools and primary schools through which teachers can jointly develop bilingual pedagogies appropriate to each setting, thus benefiting children's learning and giving supplementary school teachers access to training and resources from the mainstream sector. Two primary schools in East London are each linking with two local community language schools. Community and primary teachers visit each other's classes and jointly plan a programme of topic-based lessons using bilingual strategies adapted to each context. Parents and grandparents support bilingual activities through intergenerational learning. Within each community/primary partnership, long-term links will be embedded through joint in-service training.