Early childhood education research gets boost

The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network (CLLRNet) has awarded funding for 46 multi-disciplinary projects focused on various aspects of early-stage literacy and learning. Funding of $2.2 million has been distributed among projects at 26 institutions.

Although small in size, the research projects are critical in gaining an understanding of the many barriers to developing full literacy and language skills. It’s estimated that 25% of Canadians have difficulty with simple documents.

Typical of the funded projects are:

Speech Recognition in Classrooms — A team led by Dr John Bradley, Univ of Ottawa and Dr Michel Picard, Univ of Montreal, will examine the ability to understand in a classroom setting, with recommendations aimed at optimum acoustic conditions;

Kindergarten Reading Difficulties — A team led by Dr Linda Siegel, Univ of British Columbia, will test a model for enabling teachers to detect children with problems that may impede learning how to read; and,

Assessment Tests for French-speaking Children — Natacha Trudeau, Univ of Montreal, and Alain Desrochers, Univ of Ottawa, are developing oral assessment tools to assess specific skills of French speakers and identify specific disabilities and oral language disorders.

More information on the remaining funded projects can be found at: www.cllrnet.ca.

CLLRNet is one of the newest Networks of Centres of Excellence, created in 2001 with $14.2 million in funding over four years.

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