New research to transform refugee and migrant language education

Open University (OU) researchers are leading a new project exploring how language education for refugees and migrants can become more multilingual and inclusive across the UK’s devolved nations.

The Multilingual, Decolonial Approach to Adult Refugee and Migrant Language Education (MDLE) Project has been awarded £737,745.70 by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for two and a half years.

Dr Sarah Cox, Research Fellow at the OU in Scotland in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, leads the project alongside OU co-lead, Dr Sylvia Warnecke, Professor Mike Chick of the University of South Wales, Dr Gwennan Higham of Swansea University and Dr Mel Engman of Queen’s University Belfast. Dr Memory Malibha-Stratton, a Research and Innovation Associate at the OU, is also part of the core team. The project will work with 13 partner organisations across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to develop a new approach incorporating indigenous minority languages, refugees’ and migrants’ home languages, and English.

Developing a new approach to language education

The research builds on the team's experience of language education for refugees and migrants and indigenous language education across the three nations.

Previous research by Dr Sarah Cox with newly arrived refugee families and the British Red Cross found that including refugees' home languages in language education could increase participants' confidence and empowerment and support their learning. The new project will combine this approach with opportunities to learn indigenous languages such as Welsh, Gaelic, Scots and Irish alongside English.

The research will also build on Dr Gwennan Higham's research on the impact of Welsh classes for migrants, Dr Sylvia Warnecke's work developing Scots Continuing Professional Development courses for teachers in Scotland. Dr Mel Engman's work with bilingual learners of Irish and young people with migrant backgrounds in Northern Ireland and Professor Mike Chick's work to improve language education for migrants in Wales.

The project also builds on consultation events held in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh in 2024 with stakeholders including third-sector organisations, local authorities, further education colleges and people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

Working across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The research will take place in three phases. Researchers will begin by interviewing key stakeholders in each nation before using their findings to co-design workshops and teaching resources with partner organisations.

These activities will inform an open-access online professional development course for language teachers, which will remain available through OpenLearn Create after the project ends. The final phase will bring stakeholders from the three nations together through knowledge exchange events to share findings and build relationships.

Dr Sarah Cox, Project Lead, said: “We are delighted to have secured an ESRC grant for our MDLE Project and are excited about the difference this research could make for language education for refugees and migrants in the UK.

“By increasing learning between the devolved UK nations, we hope to shift attitudes and practices in language education, increase teachers’ skills, knowledge and confidence in multilingual, decolonial approaches, and strengthen networks between English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), teachers, indigenous language experts, and refugee and migrant communities.”

The project will work with organisations involved in ESOL and indigenous languages across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the aim of influencing policy and practice and improving the experiences and wellbeing of refugees and migrants.