Professor Uta Papen
Professor of Literacy StudiesMy Role
Professor of Literacy Studies, Co-Director of the Literacy Research Centre
County South, C71
Research Interests
My research is interdisciplinary, located at the boundaries between social anthropology, education and applied linguistics. Main areas of work are: literacy in education, developing literacy education (in particular English literacy) in countries of the Global South, adult literacy (policy and teachers' perspectives) and critical literacy.
Since I started working in Lancaster in 2002, my 'research home' has been the Literacy Research Centre. As an active member and Co-Director of the Centre, my research is guided by an understanding of literacy not primarily as a skill, but as a social and cultural practice. This understanding has implication for how literacy is taught and this covers one area of my work. An example is my involvement in an initiative to develop new approaches to teaching English literacy to deaf children and young adults.
Thinking about literacy as a practice also has implications for how we understand the role of reading and writing in different areas of everyday life. In the past, I have researched 'health literacy' as a practice that shapes how health care is dispensed and how patients themselves make sense of their illness, engage with health care providers and seek information. Looking at health literacy from this perspective necessarily foregrounds issues of policy and power, relating to health inqualities and social justice.
I have a longstanding interest in examining policy, specifically current policies to teach reading and writing to children in primary schools and how specific understandings of literacy and of 'evidence' about literacy teaching shape governmental policies.
I have recently begun work on a new study to investigate developments in adult literacy policy in the UK in the past 20 years and how these developments are experienced and 'lived with' by teachers. I'm mostly interested here in the effect of wider policy changes, related to neoliberalism, human resources development, austerity and benefits policies as well as wider transformations in the education and skills landscape on adult literacy provision.
I use primarily ethnographic and collaborative methods which I complement with various other research approaches, including critical discourse analysis and multimodal analysis.
Profile
External role
I am co-editor, with Julia Gillen, of the Routledge series 'Literacies' and 'Routledge Research in Literacy'.
Research Overview
My main research interests are:
literacy and education (the politics and practices of teaching reading and writing, specifically the debates around the use of phonics; adult literacy policy and practice; health literacy; critical literacy and the use of picture books to engage children in critical thinking and analysis; literacy development in countries of the Global South, specifically for deaf children and young people;
collaborative action research; co-creation
Linguistic landscapes and their role in language and literacy teaching
PhD Supervision Interests
Literacy policy, specifically phonics, and how it is implemented in schools The role of written texts in health care contexts (including studies of patients' information searching and learning strategies) Ethnographic studies of literacy practices in various settings (e.g. institutions, workplaces, communities, etc.) Linguistic landscape research: the role of writing and visual in the cultural production of space
Positive mental health literacy: creative strategies for self-care and promotion of good mental health amongst University students – a co-created project
01/04/2022 → 31/07/2022
Research
Peer to Peer Deaf Multiliteracies: research into a sustainable approach to education
of Deaf children and young adults in the Global South
01/07/2017 → 31/12/2020
Research
Using interactive reading circles to develop children’s critical thinking and critical literacy
01/05/2016 → 30/04/2017
Other
Literacy development with deaf communities using sign language, peer tuition, and learner-generated online content: sustainable educational innovation
01/06/2015 → 31/07/2016
Research
Early years literacy in India: towards effective teaching and learning practices
19/01/2015 → …
Other
Literacy in education
01/10/2013 → 01/10/2015
Research
Linguistic landscapes: the cultural production of urban spaces
01/10/2010 → …
Other
Conceptualising information literacy as social practice: a study of pregnant women’s information practices
01/05/2009 → 31/12/2011
Other
Pregnancy starts with a literacy event: pregnancy and ante-natal care as textually-mediated experiences
01/01/2006 → 31/07/2008
Other
Phonological influences on children's spelling mistakes
01/07/2005 → 31/07/2006
Other
I JORNADAS INTERNACIONALES:LA ALFABETIZACIÓN COMO PRÁCTICA SOCIAL
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
I JORNADAS INTERNACIONALES:LA ALFABETIZACIÓN COMO PRÁCTICA SOCIAL
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
- FASS Health Hub
- Lancaster Literacy Research Centre
- LIP - Language, Ideology and Power Group