CRiCLE-Net: Research Projects and Programmes

Members of CRiCLE-Net have been involved in a range of projects within five research programmes, each with a distinctive theme. These projects are sponsored by funding bodies such as European Union, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Department for Education, Bell Foundation, Cambridge Assessment, Cambridge University Press, Newton Fund, Commonwealth Trust, Unicef, Cambridge Humanities Research Grants.

• English as an additional language
• Multilingualism and foreign language learning in schools
• Community/heritage/indigenous language education
• Bilingual/trilingual/multilingual education
• Learning and Medium of Instruction (MoI) in development and emergencies contexts

Research projects

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Didactics in Multilingual Primary School Settings (British Council)

Teach Your Subjects in English (Cambridge Assessment)

Monitoring the Use of EAL Assessment Framework for Schools: Teacher Assessment Literacy and Practice (Bell Foundation)

Language, Integration and Media (Norwegian Research Council)

Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (£4m AHRC large grant as part of the Open World Research Initiative, Education Strand)

EAL Assessment Framework for Schools (Bell Foundation) free download

Using language corpora to understand representation of immigration in UK/Spanish administrations (European Commission)

Creative Multilingualism (£4m AHRC large grant as part of the Open World Research Initiative, Education Strand)

The Principles, Frameworks, Scales and Descriptors for Assessing Learners with English as an Additional Language for Primary and Secondary Schools in England (Bell Foundation)

The Common Wealth of Community and Heritage Languages (Centre for Commonwealth Education and Commonwealth Education Trust)

Language Education and Social Disadvantage of Children with an Immigrant Background in the East of England (Bell Foundation)

The Education of Socially Disadvantaged EAL Students in UK Schools: Effective Matching of Needs to Provision (Bell Foundation)

Community Languages and Sense of Belonging, research apprenticeship funded by CEELBAS (Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies) AHRC Consortium (AHRC)

Cambridge Research in Community Language Education: the CRiCLE-Net (Newton Trust)

Parental Involvement in Modern and Community Language Education (Newton Trust)

The Impact of Curriculum Changes on Provision and Practice of MFL in Schools at KS3 (DCSF)

Student projects

PhD projects

Mobility, identity and transnational communities of practice for heritage language learning: an ethnographic case study (Lini Xiao, Chinese Scholarship Council CSC Scholarship)

The complex construction of multilingual identity: exploring the dynamics between self and context in the process of L3 acquisition (Harper Staples, AHRC Scholarship)

Contesting space for transformation: a critical ethnography of the politics, practice, and lived experience of second language learning in the adult migrant context in London (Silke Zschomler, AHRC Scholarship)

An ethnographic case study of Macedonian immigrant-background children's learning of English and home languages in their social networks in England (Biljana Savikj, Cambridge Trust Scholarship)

The influence of language on how Korean-English heritage bilingual learners experience and express shame (Mee Kyoung Kim)

Interactions between language learning and identity in the study abroad context: a case study of heritage learners and non-heritage learners of Chinese at university level in the Chinese-as-a-second-language setting (Ting Ding, China Scholarship Council Scholarship)

Learning mandarin tones in an English secondary school: a case study (Rob Neal, ESRC Scholarship)

School-based writing in bidialectal settings and the challenges facing immigrant pupils (Filio Constantino, Cambridge Trust Scholarship)

Metalinguistic mediation in learning German as a third language within a Dutch-English bilingual education setting (Dieuwerke Rutgers, ESRC Scholarship)

Constructing identities in culturally diverse classrooms: a cross-national study of the experience of immigrant background children in French and English primary schools (Oakleigh Welply, ESRC Scholarship)

Children's identities as users of languages: a case study of nine Key Stage 2 pupils with a range of home language profiles (Ruth Levine)

Comparing proficiency levels in an assessment context (Asset Languages): the construct of reading for secondary school learners of German, Japanese and Urdu in England (Karen Ashton, Cambridge Assessment Scholarship)

MPhil/MEd projects

Contesting the essentialised Chineseness: the life-histories of three British Chinese adult heritage speakers (Yue Zhou)

Does Chinese bilingualism count? The effect of Mandarin-Cantonese bilingualism on executive control (Kunyao Zhu)

Bilingual children and vocabulary acquisition mediated through a self-made, visual learning tool (Tazreen Kassim-Lowe)

Motivational dynamics in heritage language learning: an Italian-Chinese perspective (Yuxi Feng)

Snap, Like, Comment, Tweet: the affordances of different social media features for building an informal online learning community for heritage language learners (Simon Posner)

The motivations of South African students with L1 English for learning isiXhosa as an additional language: a mixed methods study (Michael James)

“I Cannot Speak”: a case study of five Syrian refugees' language learning and social integration experiences in England (Katherine Bussiere)

An analysis of the scaffolding strategies used by bilingual EAL and monolingual pupils in collaborative reading tasks (Natilly Macartney)

The languages of maths and science: code switching practices between Ga and English in Ghanaian classrooms (Courtney Roy MPhil)

Social class, identity, and second language learning: a critical hermeneutic phenomenology of adult migrant experiences in London (Silke Zschomler MPhil)

Literacy development of young learners of Japanese as a heritage language in Cambridge (Hiroko Roberts-Taira MPhil)

Arabs who can’t speak Arab: the impact of the English-medium education system on the modern standard Arabic language abilities and the social integration of students into the Arab-speaking workforce in Qatar (Yara Fakhroo MPhil)

Getting closer? Constructing the self by learning and using Chinese as a second language in study abroad context: multiple case studies on Chinese heritage and non-heritage learners’ (Yun Zhang MPhil)

How does being an EAL learner of modern foreign languages shape one’s ideal self? (Nancy Williams MEd)

Teachers' perceptions about the role of minority language education in the conflict-ridden society of Macedonia (Petar Apostolov MPhil, Open Society Foundation Scholarship)

Motivation in heritage language learning: a multi-case study of Chinese heritage language learners studying on an L2 Chinese programme in mainland China (Shanshan Yan MPhil, Cambridge Overseas Trust Scholarship)

Proficiency in a heritage language and the sense of belonging: a case study of learners at a Greek community school in the UK (Kseniya Tyshkevych MPhil, Cambridge Overseas Trust Scholarship)

Language use among students in Chinese complementary schools in the UK: a mixed methods inquiry (Lin Zhang MPhil)