“Supporting the development of Indian primary school children's reading comprehension skills: A scaffolding-based intervention”. January 2021-December 2022 (extended to December 2023 due to the pandemic). British Academy Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges Programme 2020. (Current)
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)
COLLABORATORS
Prof. Lina Mukhopadhyay (EFL University, Hyderabad) and Prof. Victoria Murphy (Applied Linguistics/Education, Oxford)
DURATION
4 years
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT(S)
The aim of the project is to raise learning outcomes in primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hyderabad by providing structured intervention in government and low-cost private schools to promote verbal reasoning, critical thinking and language comprehension strategies in the multilingual classroom. Fostering an equitable research partnership with the co-applicants from English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad and the partner charity organization Central Square Foundation, we seek to enhance our understanding and responses to the global challenge of improving education in young school-aged children.
CONNECTED PROJECT(S)
PRINCIPAL RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS
Tsimpli, I. M., Mukhopadhyay, L., Treffers–Daller, J., Alladi, S., Marinis, T., Panda, M., Balasubramanian, A., & Sinha, P. (2019). Multilingualism and multiliteracy in primary education in India: A discussion of some methodological challenges of an interdisciplinary research project. Research in Comparative and International Education, 14(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745499919828908
Lightfoot, A, R. Mathew, L. Mukhopadhyay & I.M. Tsimpli (2022). Multilingual practices in Indian classrooms: Exploring and supporting teacher awareness and classroom strategies. Multilingual Education in South Asia: At the Intersection of Policy and Practice. Routledge.
WHY/HOW DOES YOUR PROJECT ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE ON BILINGUALISM/MULTILINGUALISM/CONTACT?
The project reveals psycholinguistic, linguistic and societal differences between multilingualism in the Global South and the Global North - The findings demonstrate that multilingualism offers resilience to disadvantaged children in their cognitive skills and their literacy development in English
The project shows that while low socioeconomic status aggravates (English) language input deprivation in the school context, multilingualism in the learners helps develop language skills to a certain extent.
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF YOUR PROJECT?
The project promotes destigmatizes the use of multiple languages in multilingual classrooms where a unilingual medium of instruction is officially expected
The project's findings demonstrate the beneficial role of multilingualism in young learners' cognitive and language learning skills
LOCATION AND/OR IMPACT OF YOUR PROJECT
India
