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Dear all, You are cordially invited to a public lecture by Professor Ianthi Tsimpli (from University of Cambridge), our 2018 Language@Leeds Distinguished Speaker. Professor Tsimpli will present her latest research on multilingualism and multiliteracy in primary school children in India, based on a large-scale project funded by the ESRC-DFID Raising Learning Outcomes programme. Date: Thursday 14th of June Time: 14:00-15:00 Location: Baines Wing Miall LT (2.34) http://www.leeds.ac.uk/campusmap?location=4960 A starting point of this research is that bilingualism and multilingualism have revealed cognitive advantages and good learning skills in children raised in Western societies. Multilingualism is the norm in India. However, rather than enjoying cognitive and learning advantages, multilingual Indian children show low levels of basic learning skills including critical thinking and problem-solving. This project seeks to disentangle the causes of this paradox. The main aim is to understand how structural and language inequalities affect educational quality. Language inequalities arise because a large number of children in India are deprived of receiving mother-tongue support, being instructed only in the regional language and English, often from teachers with poor teaching qualifications and practices or limited knowledge of the language of instruction. Teaching practices in India are teacher- and textbook-centred with detrimental effects on the development of critical thinking and problem solving abilities. These skills are fundamental in every learning process including numeracy and the understanding of mathematics. Each child's language, literacy and numeracy skills was evaluated at two time points with a one year interval between them, to gauge knowledge and development. Understanding what predicts good performance and development will help inform educational practices to improve learning outcomes in the multilingual education context of India. This talk will report preliminary findings from 9- to 11-year-old children from unprivileged backgrounds. Bilingual and multilingual families in the UK will benefit from insights obtained in this project because they too need information about the best ways to support language and literacy development of their children at home and in school. With best wishes, The L@L team https://www.latl.leeds.ac.uk/events/languageleeds-distinguished-speaker-2017-18-professor-ianthi-tsimpli/ Language@Leeds University of Leeds - Leeds LS2 9JT www.latl.leeds.ac.uk<http://www.latl.leeds.ac.uk> *********************************** 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. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]