As a teacher it is possible to access a huge array of research online and to find out about literacy researchers and research teams who are working on a wide range of topics and using a variety of methods. In 2023 we worked with a group of teachers to develop ways of navigating and evaluating these sources of research and consider how best to use them to speak to literacy teaching and learning. We include a small sample of available resources below.
Research Conversations
This website features a range of resources that help connect research to teaching. These resources were devised by a collective of teachers and researchers as a part of the Research Mobilities in Primary Literacy Education project. It provides a guide to navigate the maze of research sources and encourages conversations with and around research.
Animation
How do teachers encounter research in the wild? This video was produced by Jon Harrison for the Research Mobilities in Primary Literacy Education project. It animates some examples of teachers’ experiences of research, the kinds of literacy research that they encounter, and how literacy research moves to, among and around teachers.
We have also produced a series of shorts of this video for use in diverse contexts.
- How do teachers encounter research in the wild?
- Teachers encounter research in many different ways
- Teachers may have no time to discuss research
- Teachers have different interests, priorities and concerns
- There is a vast range of research out there
You can watch them here.
Collections
These links take you to sites which present a range of literacy research and literacy research-related activities associated with multiple projects and/or multiple researchers.
United Kingdom Literacy Association – Viewpoints
These short documents provide a research-informed overview of a wide range of literacy topics with examples of classroom practice. They include: teachers as writers, talk for learning, spelling, multilingualism, drama, literacy and film, digital literacies, grammar, reading comprehension.
The Open University Reading for Pleasure
Contains a wealth of links to research and practice linked to reading for pleasure, including opportunities to join OU/UKLA Teachers Reading Groups.
Education Endowment Foundation
This link takes you to summaries of research related to literacy, drawing particularly form large scale research including randomised controlled trials.
Research Projects
These literacy-related research projects provide insights into aspects of literacy learning and inspiration for literacy education.
Project exploring how developing a teacher-writer identity may enhance approaches to writing in the classroom.
Research exploring the teaching of grammar in the context of writing along with, objectives, text examples and associated lesson plans
Children’s Literature in Critical Contexts of Displacement
Project exploring use of stories, picturebooks and arts-based practices to support communities in contexts of flux,
This pan-European project explored ways of encouraging children to be tolerant, empathetic and inclusive through talking together
This page was last updated in March 2024
This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/W000571/1]