33.3906, Support: English; Psycholinguistics: PhD, Northumbria University, United Kingdom

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3906. Thu Dec 15 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3906, Support: English; Psycholinguistics: PhD, Northumbria University, United Kingdom

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Date: 
From: Glenn Williams [glenn.williams at northumbria.ac.uk]
Subject: English; Psycholinguistics: PhD, Northumbria University, United Kingdom


Institution/Organization: Northumbria University
Department: Psychology
Web Address: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departmen
ts/psychology/

Level: PhD

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Psycholinguistics
Required Language(s): English (eng)

Description:

About the Project:
In recent years, some primary schools across England have implemented
dialect bans (e.g. BBC News, 2020). Common among these bans is the
assumption that regional dialects negatively impact students’
abilities to become literate in Standard British English. Such bans
are often justified under the notion that dialects introduce a
mismatch between print and sound for early readers, making learning to
read more difficult. However, computational and experimental (Williams
et al., 2021) studies suggest that this negative effect is confined to
contrastive words, i.e. words with a dialect variant (e.g. child/bairn
or home/hyem in Geordie).

Further, Williams et al. found that exposure to a dialect has no
negative impact on reading for non-contrastive words or for novel
words. Additionally, dialect exposure had no impact on spelling
performance. In fact, with sufficient exposure and training in both
language varieties, dialect exposure was even associated with superior
reading performance. Consistent with this notion, correlational
research suggests that early dialect exposure is associated with
better preschool literacy-related skills thought to underpin reading
and spelling development (Bühler et al., 2018). Such a benefit is
likely driven by dialect exposure increasing phonological awareness in
learners, pushing them towards the optimal strategy for learning to
read; phonological decoding (Castles et al., 2018).

Having established a robust, negative impact on reading for
contrastive words, but no impact for non-contrastive or novel words in
adult learners, an open question is the extent to which these effects
are manifested in children who are just beginning to acquire the
alphabetic principle. Additionally, while the impact of dialect
exposure on literacy is typically evaluated using single word reading
tasks, such tasks lack ecological validity and fail to assess the
cognitive mechanisms underpinning successful reading strategies. Given
that silent reading is a crucial skill for early readers, evaluating
the impact of dialect exposure on silent reading is necessary to
properly address the impact of dialect exposure on literacy. Finally,
with the potential for dialect exposure to increase metalinguistic
awareness and thus the ability to become literate, a long-term
intervention study is necessary to properly evaluate the impact of
dialect exposure on Standard British English literacy. To address
these open questions, the present study aims to test (1) the effect of
dialect use on silent reading ability in children, and (2) the impact
of dialect literacy interventions (i.e. engagement in reading and
spelling in the local dialect) on increasing metalinguistic awareness
and thus reading development in children.

Funding Information:
Home and International students (inc. EU) are welcome to apply. The
studentship is available to Home and International (including EU)
students and includes a full stipend at UKRI rates (for 2022/23
full-time study this is £17,668 per year) and full tuition fees.
Studentships are also available for applicants who wish to study on a
part-time basis over 5 years (0.6 FTE, stipend £10,600 per year and
full tuition fees) in combination with work or personal
responsibilities).

Please also see further advice below of additional costs that may
apply to international applicants.

Eligibility Requirements:
 - Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent
GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a
Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of
substantial practitioner achievement.
 - Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
 - Applicants cannot apply for this funding if they are already a PhD
holder or if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or
elsewhere.

For applications to be considered for interview, please include a
research proposal of approximately 1,000 words and the advert
reference (i.e. RDF23/HLS/PSY/WILLIAMS).

Application Deadline: 27-Jan-2023

Web Address for Applications: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/th
e-impact-of-dialect-on-reading-development-and-ability-rdf23-hls-psy-w
illiams/?p151749

Contact Information:
Dr Glenn Williams
glenn.williams at northumbria.ac.uk



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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3906
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