PhD; MSc; LCST

Profile

Qualifying as a speech and language therapist, I spent over two years in a special school in Peru, where I worked, through Spanish, with teachers and children with a range of educational needs. I continued to work as a speech and language therapist in the UK, and obtained masters and doctoral degrees in aspects of speech and language development and difficulty in bilingual children. I entered higher education as a lecturer in clinical phonetics and linguistics before taking up my current post in the School of Education, in the University of Birmingham.

Research and Projects Interests

1. Speech, language and communication needs in education

This research has focused on the interface of language disability and learning in contexts of school inclusion. It has been orientated by theories concerned with the relationship between language and learning developed for bilingual learners in the work of Jim Cummins and more recently by socio-cultural theory in the work of Neil Mercer. Ideas in this vein have been developed in two books written jointly with Dr Carol Miller and a third solo authored work (1996/2003, 1999, 2000). They have also appeared in a contribution to Norwich and Lewis’s (2005) text critically interrogating the notion of specialist pedagogy for learners with identified special educational needs.

Empirical research with specialist provision for children and young people with complex communication needs has examined aspects of planning for the educational and communication management of the students, through research consultancy with a residential school (2002) and through analysis of Ofsted reports and site visits (2000).

More recently, research has focused on developing conceptualisation/concepts about speech and language difficulties and needs using socio-cultural theory through an ESRC research seminar series (2004-6) and a subsequent School of Education funded seminar series.

2. Language and literacy disability in cultural and linguistic diversity

There are three inter-related threads to my research in this area. Theoretically this research has drawn on psycholinguistic approaches to explore early literacy skills in bilingual children, and socio-cultural approaches to explore developing children and young people’s identity in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. I have also developed resources as tools to support research in bilingualism.

Empirical research funded by the ESRC (1996-7) explored the relationship between phonological awareness in both languages of bilingual children who were learning EAL literacy skills. This line of research was continued by researching the changing form of Panjabi in English contexts through codeswitching, using corpus linguistics to demonstrate changes in lexis and surface patterns of Panjabi (Leverhulme fellowship 1998). This work led to a British Council consultancy working in the Czech Republic with TEFL teachers in the development of professional knowledge and teaching skills for dyslexia in inclusive (heterogeneous) TEFL classrooms. Collaborative work with doctoral students has drawn on socio-cultural explored the effects of metacognitive / transactional teaching with TEFL and EAL students on academic achievement (Goldfus 2001, Sheik Abdullah 2005, Nelson 2006).

Another approach I have taken to bilingualism, language and literacy has explored children’s constructions of their identity through bilingualism and literacy practices in school and home. This research has taken place in England (ESRC 1996-7) and South Africa (1997).

The development of the Bilingual Database was funded by an award from BT through the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and is maintained with support from the School of Education, University of Birmingham.

(http://www.education.bham.ac.uk/research/projects1/bilingualism_database.shtml)

3. Policy into practice: Learning in and for multi-agency working

This research is orientated by socio-cultural activity theory to examine aspects of organisational learning in the implementation of government policy about ‘joined up’ thinking and working among professionals working with children at risk (Every Child Matters 2003). This research interest involves me in a variety of research projects. I am a co-director in a major national project, linked with international projects, concerning organisational learning for multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working around young people at risk, “Learning in and for inter-agency working” led by Professsors Harry Daniels and Anne Edwards (ESRC TLRP 2004-7). I am also currently co-organiser of a three-university ESRC funded research seminar series, “Integrating services into schools: policy, discourse and research” (ESRC 2006-7). This research orientation has led to two further projects with a local LA. One project looked at intra-professional learning between therapists and bilingual co-workers in a Speech and Language Therapy service (Martin 2005). A further externally funded project examined the integration of Speech and Language Therapy services into secondary schools (Children’s Fund Dudley LA 2005-6).

Publications [pdf]