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The research of Professor Paul Simpson and Dr Joan Rahilly has informed and enhanced the broader awareness and understanding of English language in the context of secondary level education in Northern Ireland, and has had particular influence on both clinical and developmental assessment of language use. The end users who have benefited from this research include (i) schools, colleges and lifelong learning, (ii) health and well-being agencies, and (iii) voluntary organisations and charities. The main achievements can be summarised as:
As a writer of popular (linguistic) science, and as the subject of a documentary film on his life and work, Professor Dan Everett's research on Amazonian languages like Pirahã has widely influenced popular understanding and debate about the relations between language, mind and culture. The spectacular, and sometimes controversial, conclusions of his fieldwork, theoretical and popular writings challenge the claim that all human beings are endowed with an innate language faculty and challenge the ways in which cultural values are constructed.
This research by Professor Yaron Matras has impacted on the way local services communicate with minority populations by encouraging them to re-assess language needs. It has had its effects in the fields of health and welfare, education, and policy making in relation public services. In particular it has demonstrated the need to base language policy on reliable mechanisms of data collection and the assessment of such data. One of the key outcomes was the establishment of the world's largest online language archive, Multilingual Manchester. The research also highlighted the existence of relatively unknown languages such as Kurdish and Romani in Manchester. It has also helped explain communication patterns among people who speak related dialects, such as immigrants from different Arabic-speaking countries, and has shed new light on the way in which people who are multilingual make use of their languages.
Dr Julia Sallabank's research into Guernsey's little-studied indigenous language, Guernesiais, has greatly informed language planning and policy on the island, particularly with regard to teaching methods and raising awareness of the language among the population. Moreover, her documentation of Guernesiais, specifically the recording of audio samples, constitutes a significant contribution to the preservation of Guernsey's identity and cultural heritage. Sallabank's broader expertise on the revitalisation of endangered languages has also been solicited by language officials elsewhere, notably Jersey, the Isle of Man and New Caledonia, and resulted in her participation in UNESCO's Panel of Experts on language diversity.
The EPP Project identifies criterial features for second language acquisition. It has engaged stakeholders in the teaching and testing of language learners. This is facilitated by the EPP network and website. The project has enabled Cambridge Assessment to define the English language constructs underlying Cambridge examinations at different proficiency levels more explicitly. The work has improved the tests themselves, but also allowed Cambridge Assessment to better communicate the qualities of their tests for accreditation and recognition. Stakeholders are more actively engaged through provision of resources for teachers, testers, ministries of education etc., on the website, and in seminars. The project has led to further research with an international language school, which has led to teachers and parents of the school pupils being more aware of the needs for successful second language acquisition.
By 2008, Welsh language policy was failing to deliver consistent bilingual public services in Wales. Research at Cardiff University's School of Welsh helped UK and Welsh Government policy-makers understand the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the language regime. The research also made policy-makers aware of alternative regimes and legislation in state-wide and devolved governments overseas. Outcomes based on Cardiff recommendations include:
The research focuses on the second language acquisition (SLA) of tense and aspect, which are persistently problematic areas of grammar for language students to master. It has led to the development and delivery of workshops for language teachers which deliver three impacts:
The teachers' improved confidence and skills lead to greater motivation and engagement by their students, delivering the main impacts which are improvements in education and the learning of second languages.
This research by Professor Yaron Matras produced tools to promote awareness of the Romani language through popular websites, online documentation, learning resources and audio-visual educational materials. It also produced policy papers which prompted the launch of a European Language Curriculum Framework for Romani. This led to the consistent monitoring and reporting by governments on policy to promote Romani through the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Professor Matras was responsible for establishing the first-ever online multi-dialectal dictionary in any language. `Romlex currently offers an online lexical database of 25 Romani dialects with search and translation facilities in 14 different target languages.
Research by Macaro and collaborators since 1999 led to the distillation of eight principles regarding foreign language pedagogy, and to the development of video- and paper-based materials to support the application of these principles in teacher pedagogy and in teacher education programmes in England. The application in Schools and Higher Education Institutions was facilitated through an ESRC-funded impact project involving language teachers and teacher educators, and it was extended and sustained through the creation of practitioner clusters based on the research. Teachers report that changes have taken place in their modern languages departments following engagement with the research, with benefit to student learning; these changes have included much greater, and better quality, interaction in the foreign language, and a greater focus on processes and strategies in skills development. Teacher education programme providers have incorporated the research-based principles into their programmes, with impact on their student-teachers' practice.
Working in complementary areas of language policy and planning, the research of Oakes (French) and Pfalzgraf (German) has had three main non-academic beneficiaries. It has been of use to a wide range of policy makers in Canada and Germany, by informing debates on language policy at the official level. It has enhanced understanding of language-policy issues amongst the general public, through media interventions and works aimed at lay audiences. It has also benefited teachers and students in higher education in a range of disciplines and countries, by shaping their grasp of language-policy issues in Canada, Germany and more generally.