Literacies and Language research cluster
The Literacies and Language Research Cluster is an interdisciplinary cluster with an overarching focus on literacies and language in everyday life and specific learning contexts, both online and offline.
Our members are internationally renowned for their research on digital literacy practices, multilingualism, family heritage language practices, children’s film and media, spoken language development, language and religion, academic literacies and creative arts.
Our research projects are diverse, working with a wide range of external collaborators, including museums and galleries, schools and colleges, libraries and the digital games developers. Cluster members undertake cutting-edge research around areas including children’s digital play, young people’s experiences and perceptions of multilingualism, multilingual libraries and makerspaces.
Our research has been funded by a range of organisations including UKRI (AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC), British Academy, European Commission, The LEGO Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Leeds Hospital Trust Foundation.
Cluster members have expertise in cutting-edge research methodologies, including ethnographic approaches, action research, critical discourse analysis, co-production, arts-based research and creative inquiry. Across our projects we engage with different methods including case studies, observations, interviews, creative methods, large-scale surveys and experimental methods.
Colleagues within the cluster also convene international research networks, including the Multilingualism and Literacy Special Interest Group (UKLA), EERA Network on Language and Education, the Sociology of Language and Religion network and the AILA Creative Inquiry and Applied Linguistics Research Network.