Dr Ester Ehiyazaryan-White PhD, PGCert HE, FHEA, BA
Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Early Childhood
Summary
I am a Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Early Childhood and an active researcher in the area of early childhood literacies. My research and scholarly interests focus on exploring early literacy practices in home, school and community contexts, with a particular focus on the experiences of multilingual children and families. My latest work explores the intersection of translanguaging and multimodality in children and families’ early literacy practices. I am also interested in language development in early childhood and how this is supported through dialogic teaching and oracy in primary classrooms.
About
My recent research has focussed on multilingual families’ experiences of introducing languages and literacies to their children and the role of translanguaging and multimodality in understanding these experiences. Building on this work I am commencing an internally funded Early Careers and Innovation Scholarship project with primary schools. The project will explore opportunities to value multilingualism and multimodal expression in primary classrooms and through a social semiotic lens to inform a broader and more inclusive understanding of oracy in early childhood contexts.
I have recently acted as a Co-Investigator on an Education Endowment Foundation funded project evaluating the efficacy of a tiered language support programme for Y1 pupils through a clustered randomised controlled trial. This project relates to the oracy agenda and will provide valuable insights into the organisation of classroom talk at targeted and universal levels of support.
I am the Taught Programmes Research Ethics Representative for SIOE, responsible for overseeing ethical conduct of research across the department as well as informing Course Leaders of changes in ethics regulations and contributing to the work of the SSA College Taught Programme Research Ethics Committee.
I volunteer as a co-opted Governor at a primary school in Sheffield and act as the link governor for literacy at the school. As part of this role, I maintain my knowledge and training on current policies, practices and curriculum guidance relevant to the primary context.
I am an active member of BERA, UKLA and NALDIC and take an active part in relevant SIGs within these networks. Internally at Sheffield Hallam University I am an active member of the Language and Literacies Research Group and the Multilingualism Network.
Senior Lecturer
Teaching
Sheffield Institute of Education
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Subject area
Childhood and Early Childhood
Courses
BA Children and Childhoods
MA Education
Doctorate in Education
Modules
Children as Communicators and Thinkers
Evidence and Evaluation
Research Project
Research
Supporting children’s use of their full communicative repertoire: inviting translanguaging and multimodal communication in the classroom- Early Careers Research and Innovation Fellowship
Exploring multilingual families' early literacy practices with their children: Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). Creating translanguaging affirmative space through artifactual literacies: towards addressing power imbalance with multilingual parents. Qualitative Research
Infant Language Link, randomised controlled trial
- Education Endowment Foundation page
Publications
Journal articles
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). Creating translanguaging affirmative space through artifactual literacies: towards addressing power imbalance with multilingual parents. Qualitative Research. http://doi.org/10.1177/14687941241297304
Daniels, K., Burnett, C., Bower, K., Escott, H., Ehiyazaryan-White, E., Hatton, A., & Monkhouse, J. (2019). Early years teachers and digital literacies: Navigatinga kaleidoscope of discourses. Education and Information Technologies, 25 (4), 2415-2426. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-10047-9
Book chapters
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). Working with multilingual children and families in the early years. In Fitzgerald, D., & Maconochie, H. (Eds.) Early Childhood Studies: A Student's Guide. Second Edition. (pp. 237-248). London: Sage: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/early-childhood-studies/book276166
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2019). Children, Families and English as an Additional Language. In Fitzgerald, D., & Maconochie, H. (Eds.) Early Childhood Studies: A Student's Guide. (1). SAGE
Internet Publications
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). Reflections on oracy, dialogic teaching and the UKLA conference 2024. [Blog post]. https://research.shu.ac.uk/esterehiyazaryan/2024/07/17/reflections-on-oracy-dialogic-teaching-and-the-ukla-conference-2024/
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2023). Minimising harm in research with multilingual parents – protecting participants through creating translanguaging space. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/sioe/2023/12/12/minimising-harm-in-research-with-multilingual-parents-protecting-participants-through-creating-translanguaging-space/
Presentations
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). How can we value the translanguaging practices of multilingual parents with their children and what is the ethical/anti-deficit relevance of these practices? Presented at: UKLA International Conference 2024, University of Sussex, Brighton, 2024
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2024). Multilingual parents’ perspectives on their children’s early literacies – the value of creating translanguaging space. Presented at: MoMM Conference 2024: Multilingualism in Individuals, Education, and Society, University of Bergen, Norway (online conference)
Other activities
Reviewer for: Literacy, UKLA; International Journal of Multilingualism
Postgraduate supervision
I am supervising doctoral students completing projects on multilingual trainee teachers' identities; supporting children with speech, language and communication in the early years; inclusive environments for neurodiverse students in initial teacher training.