Linguistic Challenges of the Transition from Primary to Secondary School
- Dates: 2018–2021
- Funding body: Economic and Social Research Council
- Primary investigator: Prof Alice Deignan (Leeds, Education)
- Co-investigators: Prof Gary Chambers (University of Leeds, Education) Dr Michael Inglis (University of Leeds, Education) Prof Elena Semino (Lancaster University, Linguistics and English Language) Dr Vaclav Brezina (Lancaster University, Linguistics and English Language)
- L@L satellite: Pedagogical Linguistics
- L@L themes: Language and Society
There is lots of evidence that students in England sometimes struggle with the transition from primary to secondary school, and as a result their attainment can ‘dip’ at the start of secondary school. We believe that one of the potential causes of this ‘dip’ is language. At the start of secondary school, students may encounter vocabulary, or turns of phrase, or ways of explaining ideas which are very different to the academic language they were used to at primary school.
To explore this problem, we aim to produce the first comprehensive and systematic description of the range of academic language encountered by students at secondary school, with focus on how this differs to academic language at primary school and language outside of school. Our focus is on the academic language that students encounter at school – teacher talk, textbooks, revision guides, etc. – and not the language that students themselves produce.
By identifying and understanding the language differences between primary and secondary school, we will be able to design language development interventions to help facilitate the transition and make things easier for students. We believe that there is an opportunity to reduce the barriers to learning that can arise when students make the important transition from primary to secondary school.