Research themes
Language, Education and Inclusive Society
CLER research examines how language practices, policies and educational structures shape equitable participation, belonging and community relations. We use our research to develop inclusive pedagogies and resources, strengthen practitioner networks, and design educational and arts-based interventions to challenge deficit views of people and their language to help communities thrive.
In our recent projects we have asked, for example:
- How do we understand deaf migrant children’s multilingual lives and language experience and how do we use this knowledge to develop contextually sensitive ways of supporting early development, care and education?
- How do people of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds encounter each other ethically rather than reductively and how do we use this knowledge to develop our practice as educators, arts practitioners and community facilitators?
- How can language education in places of marginalisation become a meeting ground for engaging in deep listening, co-creating knowledge, and learning from each other’s lived experience?
- How can English language education move beyond native-speaker norms to better support and value the diverse identities and real-world language use of global English speakers?
- How can feedback, assessment, and digital technologies enable equitable participation in academic literacy development?
- How can culturally responsive pedagogies help teachers address the needs of diverse learners while driving meaningful and inclusive educational change?
Language, Education and Academic Success
Our research explores how access to language shapes students’ learning trajectories, academic engagement, academic performance, and access to educational opportunities. Our work spans vocabulary development in the first and additional language(s), English medium instruction, literacies, and motivational dynamics.
In our recent projects we have asked, for example:
- What are the linguistic challenges faced by students at the transition to secondary school and how do we use this knowledge to support academic success for all students, particularly those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds?
- How does the provision and distribution of School Library Services in England impact on children’s academic success, as well as their enjoyment of reading?
- How do young people understand and use figurative language and how can this knowledge be used to support the teaching of critical thinking and critical literacy in schools?
Language, Education and Professional Development
Our collaborative work has a global reach. We have worked with stakeholders in the educational, arts and public sectors not only in the UK, but worldwide, including Armenia, China, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and many others. This strand of our work asks how we can support practitioners to harness the research insights to support their local communities. Our contributions include teacher-led regional networks, e.g. in Chile, materials development projects to sensitise learners to gender equality through English language tasks, ethical dimension of educating in multilingual environments in Slovakia or supporting English language teachers to develop culturally sustaining approaches to educating learners from minoritised backgrounds in Vietnam.