Lancaster Literacy Research Centre

Description

The Literacy Research Centre at Lancaster University works to better understand the role of literacy in all areas of social life. Its aims are to:

• Conduct leading research on authentic literacy practices, whether by children, young people or adults, and in a range of settings such as homes, communities, in education and in the workplace.
• Investigate the uses of digital technologies perceived as part of everyday literacies for many people, rather than a realm apart.
• Support access to high quality, multimodal literacy practices by marginalised communities, in a variety of international settings;
• Extend the Literacy Studies approach to multidisciplinary work, for example working with Cultural Psychology, History and Sociology.
• Stimulate communication and collaboration between researchers, educational practitioners, and policy makers who have a keen interest in literacy and language education
• Engage in conversations which influence the study of literacy in multilingual contexts, digital environments, and spanning different geographical areas.

The Centre's research encompasses a range of themes, including; literacy and education; everyday learning and literacies. academic literacies; multimodality; literacy and the media; literacy and multilingualism, digital technologies; literacy and the workplace; literacy and development; historical studies of literacy; literacy and inclusion (literacies and prison life/education; homelessness, refugees and migration) and methods for researching literacy – especially through a range of qualitative approaches, often ethnographic.

Members publish a huge range of publications, including academic monographs, edited books, journal articles, chapters in edited books, policy briefs and much, much more. Some of these are available through the publications links above but most are visible through the Centre's members’ pages.

They welcome visitors to their Literacy Research Discussion Group and also longer term academic visitors, via the visitors’ scheme in the Department of Linguistics and English Language.

The Centre is closely linked with a variety of professional and academic organisations concerned with literacy. It was set up in May 2002, with significant funding from the then Department for Education and Science and the European Social Fund as part of a national research and development centre.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2002

Contact details

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University affiliation(s)

Lancaster University
Lancaster