{"id":6,"date":"2016-09-15T11:09:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T11:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/literacy-research-centre\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:38:12","slug":"lancaster-literacy-research-centre","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/literacy-research-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster Literacy Research Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LLRCThe Literacy Research Centre at Lancaster University works to better understand the role of literacy in all areas of social life.\u00a0 Some of our core members are in Linguistics and English Language which is situated in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University.\u00a0 Literacy Studies often reaches into humanities and other areas.\u00a0 We welcome others in the School, Faculty, elsewhere in the Universit,y and externally.\u00a0 We have always benefited from our external membership.<\/p>\n

We have relaunched the Centre, having gained Faculty support as a recognised Research Centre for 2025-2028.\u00a0 We will be creating more meetings during the year, some hybrid, some online and a residential workshop on linguistic ethnography.\u00a0 Our PhD and ECR network, currently convened by Junaity Sine and Jamie Duncan, have organised a programme of talks. The first theme was Academic Writing as Social Practice so please see their page here<\/a> for further details.<\/p>\n

Please contact Co-Directors, Julia Gillen j.gillen@lancaster.ac.uk or Uta Papen u.papen@lancaster.ac.uk with any enquiries or to be added to our mailing list.<\/p>\n

Lancaster Literacy Research Centre events 2025-2026 (academic year)<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
20th May 2026, 2pm, online talk<\/a><\/td>\nCoCo Massengale<\/p>\n

Utah State University<\/td>\n

\n

Literacy, Racialization, and Black Life: Toward a Broader Theory of Literacy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This talk examines how literacy has been historically constructed through racialized assumptions about Blackness, often positioning Black learners as deficient or outside its bounds. Beginning from this broader context, I draw on archival and ethnographic research to explore how Black communities have long engaged in rich, expansive literacy practices that challenge dominant definitions. I argue for a broader theory of literacy that accounts for its racialized history while recognizing its role in practices of survival, relation, and freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

6th May 2026, 12pm<\/p>\n

County South D72 and online on Teams<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Hua YU, Shanghai International Studies University<\/td>\n\n

Unpacking fluid linguistic landscape in a community coffeehouse in Hangzhou, East China: an everyday life perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joint meeting with Language, Ideology and Power research group<\/span>
\nThis research enquires into the emergence of linguistic landscapes as cycles\u00a0from fluid to frozen and fluid again. It is based on my ethnographic\u00a0narratives of the appearance and disappearance of linguistic landscapes in a\u00a0community coffeehouse in Hangzhou, East China. By moment analysis of the\u00a0entanglements in everyday life that owners and customers share, we find that the\u00a0meanings of the coffeehouse space are dynamically shaped by the intersections of\u00a0their life trajectories and constant communication with others in ongoing everyday\u00a0life. It is argued that linguistic landscapes emerge as a continuous flux, with language\u00a0users\u2019 care for others, willingness to correspond, and improvisation of linguistic and\u00a0semiotic practices affected by their life trajectories. This paper will contribute to\u00a0current research on language use in everyday space and fluid linguistic landscapes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

23rd-24th March residential workshop<\/td>\nOrganisers: Karin Tusting and Diane Potts<\/td>\n\n

In a world of uncertainty, which questions do we ask? Framing research questions in linguistic ethnography<\/b><\/p>\n

*Joint meeting with Language, Ideology and Power research group*<\/p>\n

We are living in an unpredictable time in which prior certainties and comfortable assumptions about the workings of our social world have been challenged and overturned. Current realities like the rise of populism and strong-man leaders, armed conflict and its potential escalation in Europe, ongoing economic challenges, the unknown consequences of artificial intelligence, increasing disruption from the effects of the climate emergency, and others, can leave us wondering about the role of research in linguistic ethnography which focuses on the fine detail of language use located in a broader social context.<\/p>\n

The changes taking place around us merit pausing and thinking about what we are doing.\u00a0 In this small participatory two-day workshop, we explore how we frame our research questions and the implications of this for our research. We will talk about where to look, what to ask, and how this shapes our methods and data.\u00a0 We will bring together a group of PhD students, early career researchers and established scholars in linguistic ethnography to explore what we need to consider when developing research questions in current global and political circumstances. How might our questions need to change to reflect the world as it is now and make a meaningful contribution?<\/p>\n

During the workshop, we will invite participants to share their research projects, reflecting particularly on their research questions and how these questions shape data and methods. We will discuss the broader context and think about how the close analysis of linguistic data characteristic of linguistic ethnography can contribute to our understanding of social questions and issues. We will locate contemporary linguistic ethnographic research within the critical project of the ethnography of communication (Blommaert 2009), and discuss how we bring together praxis, poetics, and knowledge construction in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n

We plan three main sets of activities: a sharing session where we discuss the ongoing research projects participants bring to the workshop; a broader discussion of research questions and framing, locating this within the historical and political project of linguistic ethnography; and a mapping session to capture the themes and directions which have emerged from what has been discussed.<\/p>\n

This workshop will be particularly useful for PhD students and early career researchers, but also for anyone thinking through the direction of their research programme in response to contemporary social conditions. The specific content of the discussions will depend on the problems and questions that participants bring to discuss. Please do share this announcement with anyone who might be interested.<\/p>\n

We are trying to keep costs as low as possible. There will be a small fee of \u00a364 for the workshop to cover costs and refreshments during the day. Lunch and tea \/ coffee will be provided, and there will be the opportunity to join us for a dinner on the Monday evening (subsidised cost tbc). Some accommodation will be available to book on campus, please indicate on the registration form if you would like details of this.<\/p>\n

Recommended pre-reading:<\/p>\n

Blommaert, J. (2009). Ethnography and democracy: Hymes’s political theory of language.\u00a0Text & Talk<\/i>,\u00a029<\/i>(3), 257-276.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

24-25 February<\/p>\n

\"Uta<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Uta Papen<\/p>\n

external keynote<\/td>\n

6th International Conference: “Literacies and Contemporary Society: From Skills to Practices”<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Uta gave a keynote presentation in Cyprus, where she critically examined recent and current policies for adult literacy education in England, Scotland and Australia. The Conference<\/a> has been included in the official activities of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union (first half of 2026).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

21st January 1pm<\/p>\n

hybrid County South D72 and Teams<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Book<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Kristof Savski<\/p>\n

Prince of Songkla University, Thailand<\/p>\n

LLRC meeting<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Investigating the discourse of \u2018policy failure\u2019 in Thailand\u2019s English language education<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As many\u00a0<\/span>Southeast Asian<\/span>\u00a0nations, Thailand has recently placed significant focus on English, a language policy orientation reflecting processes of regional integration as well as narratives of national development and global competitiveness.\u00a0<\/span>However<\/span>, the discourse around language\u00a0<\/span>policy\u00a0<\/span>in Thailand is\u00a0<\/span>also\u00a0<\/span>dominated by narratives of \u2018failure\u2019<\/span>\u00a0in which speakers are consistently positioned as deficient due to their perceived lack of English. In this talk, I will discuss a project focusing on\u00a0<\/span>the voices of the English (non-)speakers at the heart of this discursive struggle, namely learners who, having completed twelve years of compulsory English in basic education, have not reached the learning outcomes prescribed by policy. Our participants were 25 students who, upon acceptance to a major university, were assigned to take a remedial English course\u00a0<\/span>as a result of<\/span>\u00a0their poor scores on a placement test (<\/span>approximately CEFR<\/span>\u00a0level A1).<\/span>\u00a0The students\u00a0<\/span>participated<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>drawing of language portraits and focus group discussions,\u00a0<\/span>two activities intended to highlight their voices in relation to recent policy.\u00a0<\/span>Data obtained through both activities showed that the participants\u2019 identities were\u00a0<\/span>largely disconnected<\/span>\u00a0from that imposed by policies. While top-down measures have\u00a0<\/span>largely promoted<\/span>\u00a0a vision of (<\/span>English-Thai<\/span>) bilingualism, participants articulated a range of plurilingual identities. In these, English played a role, but as part of a broader network of languages of local,\u00a0<\/span>regional<\/span>\u00a0and global communication.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>\u00a0conclude by reflecting on\u00a0<\/span>alternative visions of language policy\u00a0<\/span>for Thailand\u00a0<\/span>that could be developed\u00a0<\/span>on the basis of<\/span>\u00a0our participants\u2019 voices.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a joint meeting with the Language, Ideology and Power group.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2025-2026<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/td>\n

Uta Papen<\/td>\nThe Morecambe Bay Curriculum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Together with Bethan Garrett, Carys Nelkon and Irene Wise (all Lancaster University), Uta Papen has worked with seven schools in and around Lancaster and the Morecambe Bay to support children in developing stories based on local themes, landmarks, buildings or events. The aim was to create place-based oracy and literacy activities, leading to children writing and performing their own stories. The participating children had fun exploring local places, researching their community\u2019s past, learning how to be a story-teller, writing and illustrating their own story. \u2018Local Legends\u2019, the booklet of the seven stories, is now used by the schools and by others to inspire further story-telling and writing activities. We have been working on a curriculum resource with tips and tricks for how to engage in similar story projects, to be published early in 2026. Together with a student researcher, Uta has been researching the impact of the project on children\u2019s motivation to write.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

December 2025<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n

Julia Gillen<\/td>\n\u00a0Literacy Research Association<\/strong><\/p>\n

Julia Gillen had the great privilege of going to the 75<\/span><\/span>TH<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Literacy Research Association Conference in Las Vegas<\/span>!\u00a0 F<\/span>unded through her editorship of the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy<\/a>, she presented two papers, one from her recent \u201cToddlers, Tech and Talk\u201d project, focussing on <\/span>very young<\/span>\u00a0children\u2019s interactions with AI via\u00a0<\/span>smartspeakers<\/span>\u00a0in the home. That was written with Dr Sabina Savadova, who used to be here at Lancaster and is now at Edinburgh<\/span>. She<\/span>I also presented on my new project with Dr Samuel DeJulio, University of Texas, San Antonio, \u201cAn exploratory proposal for a posthuman perspective to transform the study of \u201cWriting Systems.\u201d\u00a0 As Chair of the Brian Street Memorial Award she presented the Brian Street Memorial Award to Dr Jennifer Frean of the University of Melbourne.<\/span><\/span> Julia continues to serve as Area Chair 12, International Research and Scholarship.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thursday 30 October evening<\/td>\n

Julia Gillen<\/p>\n

External talk<\/td>\n

The Edwardian Postcard Project: Lancaster and the Region. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Lancaster Archaeological and Historical Society<\/strong><\/p>\n

Julia Gillen gave a talk to 75 members and guests of the society in St Paul’s Parish Church, Scotforth. This included an introduction to the project’s open access main collection now hosted by Lancaster Digital Collections<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday 22 October 12.00-13.00<\/p>\n

FHASS Meeting Room 1 (A008)<\/p>\n

online: \u00a0teams link<\/a><\/b><\/td>\n

Oksana Torubara<\/p>\n

LLRC meeting<\/td>\n

Writing Through Exile: A Researcher\u2019s Journey into the Literacy Needs of Displaced Ukrainian Scholars<\/strong><\/p>\n

This presentation traces the personal and professional journey that led me to explore the academic literacies of displaced Ukrainian researchers. As an English lecturer from Ukraine, I found myself struggling to publish in English after arriving in the UK on a Researchers-at-Risk fellowship. This experience prompted me to question how other scholars like me were coping with the demands of academic writing in exile.<\/p>\n

What began as a study of English language proficiency and national language policy evolved into a broader inquiry into scholarly identity, voice, and agency. Drawing on data collected from 125 displaced Ukrainian scholars, I explore how war, displacement, and institutional inequality shape research literacy practices. I also reflect on emerging themes such as the use of AI as a self-directed tool for academic empowerment.<\/p>\n

This biographical talk offers insights into how literacy research can emerge from lived experience, shift alongside the researcher, and contribute to more equitable academic spaces for marginalised scholars. It invites reflection on how we understand and support scholarly writing in contexts of crisis, transition, and transformation.<\/p>\n

Short Bio <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Dr Oksana Torubara<\/strong> is a Visiting Researcher in Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University and an Associate Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University \u201cChernihiv Collegium\u201d in Ukraine. With over 20 years\u2019 experience teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, she is currently conducting the SURE project (Supporting Ukrainian researchers in Exile), which investigates the language needs, writing trajectories, and identity shifts of displaced Ukrainian scholars. Her work draws on survey, interviews, and case study data to explore how academic literacies are shaped by conflict, policy, and global publishing norms.<\/p>\n

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<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Working with Rosie Flewitt, MMU the project PI, and fellow co-investigators Lorna Arnott, Strathclyde, Janet Goodall, Swansea and Karen Winter, Queens University Belfast, Julia Gillen has been working on the Toddlers Tech and Talk project, funded by the ESRC.\u00a0 Besides an ever-growing range of academic outputs, the team are also producing infographics.\u00a0 Here is the latest.<\/p>\n

\"The

Infographic from the Toddlers Tech and Talk project<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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