“Join, support and benefit from our community around a new research project
Reframing Multilingualism: Examining the multilingual experiences and repertoires of DHH children growing up in migrant contexts of Germany and the UK
In a joint research project, researchers at the University of Leeds, University College London and the University of Cologne are investigating the multilingual experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing children at primary school age (5-11 years) who grow up in migrant families.
The project broadly focuses on two questions:
- How do young deaf and hard-of-hearing migrant children experience and use language to make meaning in their everyday lives?
- How do contextual factors in different geographical and social spaces influence their language use and practices?
To answer these questions, the research team will examine ways of capturing individual multilingual repertoires and communication practices that are sensitive to the influences of the observed social contexts. Methods will include observation of classroom and parent-child interactions as well as conversations with participating children and families. The conversations will be supported by a variety of visual resources that provide different opportunities for the conversational partners to share their lived experiences, for example, through language portraits, narratives, walking interviews or go-alongs.
By gaining a greater understanding of children’s language and communication profiles and the daily experiences that shape their language development, the project aims to develop support for multilingual migrant families and their deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Tailored support is especially important for these families since they often form a minority group that faces additional obstacles when it comes to receiving accessible early intervention.
Do you work with deaf and hard-of-hearing children and multilingual migrant families? Are you interested in learning more about the research and methodologies? Do you have experiences and knowledge to share? Are you looking for support with your own work? And do you want to be part of a bigger interdisciplinary community? Then please feel free to sign up to our mailing list, Multi-DHH, for regular updates about the project and opportunities to get involved. To subscribe, simply scan the QR code or visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/MULTI-DHH
For any questions or to get in touch, please contact the UK research team, consisting of Prof Ruth Swanwick, Dr Nathalie Czeke (both at the University of Leeds), and Dr Kate Rowley (University College London). Feel free to email: [email protected]
Funding for this project is provided through the UK-German Funding Initiative in the Humanities (project number 566399757). The research ethics project ID reference is BESS+FREC 3814. Ethical approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee for Business, Environment and Social Sciences at the University of Leeds.”
