PhD Studentship: AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) PhD Studentship for `Multilingual Teaching, Learning and Assessment of English in India's Primary Schools'

Applications are invited for an AHRC CDA doctoral studentship offered by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership, to start in October 2024.

The studentship will be based in the Theoretical and Applied Linguistics Section, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Language and Linguistics. The successful applicant will work on a collaborative project co-led by Professor Ianthi Tsimpli (imt20@cam.ac.uk), University of Cambridge and Ms Amy Lightfoot, co-supervisor, British Council UK and Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti, British Council, India.

The PhD student will carry out original research addressing an important gap in recognizing and destigmatizing the use of multiple languages in the classrooms of linguistically diverse societies of the Global South. While multilingualism is the norm in these contexts, there is a need to develop and test the effectiveness of multilingual educational materials for language learning, use and assessment. Possible objectives of the project would be to:

• develop a set of materials that complement the textbooks for English and a content subject (e.g. Environmental Science), following a structured and planned approach to the use of multiple languages in the classroom;
• use and evaluate the materials working with groups of learners and their teachers as part of a short-term intervention study and compare with a control groups of learners who would continue using the resources already available;
• consider the implications and replicability of the approach in other, similar contexts in India.

Further details of the project and its aims can be found on the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP website:

www.oocdtp.ac.uk/multilingual-teaching-learning-and-assessment-english-indias-primary-schools

Funding:

The DTP studentships will provide an annual maintenance grant to cover living costs (£18,622 stipend + £550 CDA allowance pa at current rates) and university tuition fees at home fee level. This CDA also provides dedicated funding to support a period of fieldwork research based at the British Council, India. The fee gap between the home and overseas fee rates will be covered by the University through internal co-funding for international candidates.

For more details, see: www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/funding.

Application process:

All applications will need to be made through the University Graduate Application Portal:

www.2024.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/mmalpdlng

Whilst making your online application please make clear that you are applying for the project 'Multilingual teaching, learning and assessment of English in India's primary schools '' and indicate the supervisor leading the project (Professor Ianthi Tsimpli). When applying for study through the Postgraduate Applicant Portal, you must indicate that you would like to be considered for funding, complete the AHRC section under "Funding" and upload the OOC DTP Application Form as an additional document when completing the application through the portal.

We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for this studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Informal enquiries about the project should be directed to the University supervisor (imt20@cam.ac.uk).

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please visit www.oocdtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply#tab-2276201.

Please quote reference GA38671 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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