TES: It’s only words? How the language pupils hear changes at transition

A new article in the TES magazine describes how research from Professor Alice Deignan and Marcus Jones seeks to explore the language shift between primary and secondary schools

New research from Professor of Applied Linguistics Alice Deignan at the School of Education’s and consultant Marcus Jones sets out to explore how the language used by both primary and secondary school students changes during the transition for pupils, and provides insights into how the use of language can be used as a powerful tool to help support students by offering them coherent academic support.

The research demonstrates how drastic the change in the language used becomes during the transition between primary school and secondary school, as well as how the language becomes more disparate from everyday language. This offers a glimpse into how language can be used as an effective tool when carefully considered and used appropriately, and an opportunity for schools to rethink how the transition is approached.

Read the full article here. 

Read more about the research project here.