ESOL Research Group at Leeds: Language, literacy and multimodality in ESOL
The next meeting of the ESOL Research Group will take place on
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Time: 5.30-7.30 pm
Place: Room 7.83 EC Stoner Building, University of Leeds
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Language, literacy and multimodality in ESOL
The two presentations at this meeting report on current PhD research into adult migrants' language and literacy learning and use. In each case the multiple modes of communication are foregrounded, carrying implications for the teaching of ESOL, for the study of adult literacy and for language education generally.
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"Without words you can read the picture" - Digital literacies and the communicative landscape of ESOL learners
Stephen Woulds, Leeds Thomas Danby College and University of Leeds
This presentation reports part of a study which seeks to understand the design process of how ESOL learners tell stories about themselves when using a computer. The central research questions ask: "How do ESOL learners synthesise multimodal information in real time when designing digital narratives? What are the constraints and affordances of the different modes?" The presentation will discuss the rationale for the study with some initial findings and examples of students' digital narratives. This presentation will be of interest to anyone involved with ESOL who is seeking to understand 'new literacies' in a digital context and wanting to broaden the communicative landscape of their learners.
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The forty-two-second car sale: Is language enough?
John Callaghan, University of Leeds
How can ESOL lessons be made more relevant to learners' needs? This presentation draws on recordings made for a project which sets out to address this question by attempting to identify the range of communicative events in which migrants find themselves in their everyday lives and by recording samples of speech and other forms of communication associated with these events. Focusing on a forty-two second video clip in which the sale of a second-hand car is negotiated, the role of language in securing successful outcomes is assessed, not only in the context of the dense and complex multimodal activity taking place at the 'site of engagement', but also in relation to a second-hand car lot down the road, a dispute between two donkey owners ending in the imprisonment of a journalist, and the secretive practices of a feudal African autocrat dead for thirty-four years-among other things. As Jan Blommaert puts it: dialogue does not presuppose a symmetry of power. "Like second hand cars, a chunk of discourse is worth precisely as much as other people are willing to give for it." What price then the ESOL speaker? And what the implications for teaching?
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As with all ESOL Research Group meetings, time will be set aside for more informal discussion of current ESOL issues.
All are welcome. If you plan to come, just send an email to James Simpson: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. And please feel free to forward this message to others. A flier is attached.

Details of this meeting can be found on the ESOL Research website: http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~edujsi/
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The ESOL Research Group is open to anyone with an interest in research into Adult ESOL in the UK, and who is within striking distance of the University of Leeds. This includes - but is not limited to - current students, ESOL researchers, practitioners currently carrying out research, practitioners who are planning to carry out research, and those who have been involved in previous ESOL research.
How to get to the university: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/visitors/getting_here.htm
How to get to EC Stoner Building: EC Stoner is quite close to the Parkinson Building (with the white clock tower). Directions from the Parkinson steps: With the clock tower behind you, turn right, and go straight down the hill to the EC Stoner building (straight ahead). Room 7.83 is on Level 7. From the Visitors Entrance on Level 7, turn left and follow the corridor to the end of the building.
Have a look at the map at: http://webprod2.leeds.ac.uk/campusmap/index.asp








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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
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