(Image credit: © Gert Albrecht für DIE ZEIT, Stiftung Lesen, Deutsche Bahn Stiftung)

Editor’s note: Shared reading – the practice where adults read to children – has many benefits: it improves children’s language and literacy development, as well as their interactive and communicative skills. Additionally, shared reading can be a lot of fun and, like any joint enjoyable activity, strengthens emotional bonds.

In Germany, shared reading is promoted through a dedicated annual “Vorlesetag” (“Shared Reading Day”). In this post, Larissa Cosyns explains more about the event and shares a reading recommendation.

This post was first published on the Literacy in Diversity Settings (LiDS) Research Center website.

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This year’s “Vorlesetag” (“Shared Reading Day”) will take place today (November 21) under the motto “Shared Reading Speaks Your Language.” The initiative aims to highlight the unifying power of shared reading and show that every language and every voice counts. Let’s use our voices and read together!

If you’re still looking for a suitable book, you’ll find it in the Global Digital Library. As part of the Global Book Alliance, the digital library wants to provide more reading material in underserved languages. Whether it’s video books in Kenyan sign language or first reader books in Bahasa Indonesian, the digital library offers numerous stories.

I would like to recommend this children’s book from the Global Digital Library: “Making Tormo for the Festival“ by Buddha Yonjan Lama.

Have fun reading together!

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The president of University of Hamburg, Prof Dr Hauke Heekeren, welcomes the new members of Ingrid Piller’s Humboldt Professorship Team

Attentive readers will remember that in May this year we advertised six doctoral and postdoctoral positions to conduct research related to “Linguistic Diversity and Social Participation across the Lifespan” in the Literacy in Diversity Settings (LiDS) Research Center at University of Hamburg, as part of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship awarded to Ingrid Piller.

In response, we received 270 applications. While it was exciting to see that there is so much interest in our work, it was also heart-breaking to have to make so many tough decisions from an amazing pool of highly qualified candidates.

After conducting Zoom and on-campus interviews in July and August, I am now pleased to report that the Dream Team has started their work at the beginning of November. We have six extremely talented and accomplished early career researchers joining the Language-on-the-Move community, and in this post, they are introducing themselves in their own words.

Jenia Yudytska

I’m Jenia Yudytska, a Ukrainian-Austrian postdoc. I did my PhD in computational sociolinguistics at the University of Hamburg, investigating the influence of technological affordances on language in online communication. My current research interest focuses on how migrants use language technologies, particularly machine translation, as a resource in their everyday life. Since 2022, I have also been heavily involved in the organisation of grassroots mutual aid online communities for Ukrainian forced migrants in Austria.

I’m particularly excited for this chance to jump into applied linguistics, and the chance to combine both my love for research and my desire to make a social impact!

Juan Sánchez

¡Hola!

I’m Juan Felipe Sánchez Guzmán, a Colombian student and researcher based in Hamburg. In my home country, I conducted research on gender diversity and language teaching, as well as on the implementation of the Colombian Ministry of Education’s bilingualism programs involving foreign tutors in public institutions within a predominantly monolingual context. Building on my passion for languages, my own migration experience, and those of fellow immigrants, my Master’s research explored the integration of Latinx nurses into the German healthcare system.

I look forward to showcasing through research the values and strengths that multilingual communities bring to education, healthcare, and society as a whole.

Mara Kyrou

My name is Mara Kyrou and I hold an MA degree in Linguistics and Communication from the University of Amsterdam. My Masters research explored language policies, practices and ideologies as perceived by teaching professionals in multilingual non-formal education settings in Greece and the Netherlands. My research interests also include professional and intercultural communication in transnational work contexts, gender theory and theater education. I have also contributed to the design and implementation of language learning programs for students with a (post-)migrant background with international NGOs.

In this research group we are working with (auto-)ethnographies and focusing on globally emerging topics hence we don’t just study things as they are but as we humans are.

Martin Derince

Roj baş!

I am Martin Serif Derince. I carried out my PhD research on Kurdish heritage language education in Germany at the University of Potsdam. I have conducted research and have publications on bilingualism and multilingualism in education, language policy, heritage language education, statelessness, and family multilingualism. After long years of professional work in municipality, non-governmental organizations and community associations dedicated to promoting multilingualism in various contexts, I am excited to explore new terrains in academia, grow together intellectually, and contribute to efforts for social transformation and justice.

Nicole Marinaro

My name is Nicole Marinaro, and I did my PhD at Belfast’s Ulster University’s School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, focusing on addressing communication difficulties between patients and healthcare professionals. My research interests include language policy, sociolinguistics and linguistic justice, with a focus on the inclusion of linguistically diverse speakers. I am also passionate about language teaching and dissemination of academic knowledge.

I am particularly excited to become part of a diverse and interdisciplinary team, to learn from each other over the next years and to make a real contribution to a more linguistically just society.

Olga Vlasova

My name is Olga Vlasova. My research journey started in Prague at the Charles University where I obtained my BA degree in sociology. Later, I completed my Master’s degree in social policy at the University of Bremen and University of Amsterdam. During these years I have been contributing to research in the fields of migration and labour studies, with a particular focus on solidarity practices with migrant workers in the European labour markets. Apart from that, I’m a passionate volunteer and help newcomers with their integration into Hamburg society.

One thing my life journey has taught me is: “Be brave and follow your ideas and passions!”

What’s next?

Over the next 4 years, our work will be in the following five areas:

• We will conduct a set of interlinked ethnographies to better understand linguistic diversity and social participation across the lifespan
• We will make a novel methodological and epistemological contribution related to qualitative multilingual data sharing
• We will build capacity in international networked education research (see also WERA IRN Literacy in Multilingual Contexts)
• We will work with community stakeholders to help improve language policies and practices and make institutional communication more accessible
• We will share knowledge and contribute to a greater valorization of linguistic diversity

Along the way, we will keep you all posted, of course. Watch this space!

Early next year, we will also advertise another researcher position on our team so that’s another reason to follow our work

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The international research network “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” builds on the “Next Generation Literacies” network

The World Education Research Association (WERA) recently announced the launch of seven new International Research Networks (IRNs) and we are pleased to share that “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” is one of them.

What is a WERA IRN?

The WERA IRN initiative brings together global teams of researchers through virtual communication and other channels to collaborate in specific areas of international importance. “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” joins a growing list of IRNs, contributing to the vision of WERA. The purpose of IRNs is to synthesize knowledge, examine the state of research, and stimulate collaborations or otherwise identify promising directions in research areas of worldwide significance. IRNs are expected to produce substantive reports that integrate the state of the knowledge worldwide and set forth promising research directions.

What does the IRN “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” do?

The IRN “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” aims to initiate and extend international collaborative research on literacy in the context of language diversity and migration. The joint focus is on literacy development and practice in multiple languages. Drawing on varied and complementary expertise from Europe, Australasia, Africa and North America, the objectives are:

1. to enhance knowledge on literacy and student diversity
2. to trace tendencies that go beyond one national, regional or local context
3. to examine literacy development across the life-course
4. to critically discuss the implications of research findings for policy and practice

Literacy is a foundation for participation in complex societies. The proposed research therefore also contributes to pathways to equity. The network’s activities will reach fundamental theoretical insights, which may be transferred to concepts of teaching/learning in educational institutions. This intervention research will attempt to generalise characteristics of successful multilingual literacy development to be adapted to specific contexts. The proposed IRN comprises senior, experienced and early career scholars (incl. PhD students), aimed towards international and intergenerational knowledge generation.

Literacy as a resource

At the heart of our network is the idea that multilingual literacy is a resource to be celebrated. Literacies across languages and scripts empower learners to create knowledge, to navigate education systems, and to participate fully in social and cultural life.

Members of the network bring expertise from early childhood to higher education, from family and community contexts to digital and AI-mediated literacies. Our shared vision is to develop research that responds to the multilingual realities of migration, mobility, and global diversity.

Building on the “Next Generation Literacies” network

The “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” network has grown out of the Next Generation Literacies initiative, an international network of researchers working at the intersection of social participation and linguistic diversity.

Based on the trilateral partnership of Fudan University (China), Hamburg University (Germany) and Macquarie University (Australia), Next Generation Literacies brought together an interdisciplinary group of established and emerging researchers to build a truly global network.

After funding for the Next Generation Literacies network ended in 2024, the IRN “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” keeps that spirit of collaboration alive, while also widening the circle: we are now connected with colleagues from the Network on Language and Education (LeD) in the European Educational Research Association (EERA) and with other WERA initiatives. Under this new umbrella, we will scale up our efforts and make a stronger impact together.

Network Conveners

The network is convened by

• Irina Usanova (University of Hamburg; Lead Convenor)
• Francis M. Hult (UMBC)
• Ingrid Piller (University of Hamburg & Macquarie University)
• Yongyan Zheng (Fudan University)
• Harkaitz Zubiri-Esnaola (University of the Basque Country)

Together with network members, we bring expertise spanning literacy research across continents and research traditions.

Kick-off meeting

On September 24, 2025, we came together on Zoom across many different time zones and continents to virtually celebrate the official launch of the Literacy in Multilingual Contexts IRN.

The kick-off meeting felt like both a reunion and a new beginning: familiar faces from the Next Generation Literacies network reconnecting, and new colleagues from around the world joining the conversation. Together, we are building a vibrant global community of researchers committed to understanding how literacy develops and thrives in multilingual settings. For all of us, it was a reminder of how much we can achieve when we put our multilingual realities at the center of literacy research.

What’s next?

Over the next three years (2025–2028), we will:

• review the state of research on multilingual literacies
• analyze existing datasets across different contexts
• share our work in joint events and publications
• build a sustainable international community dedicated to literacy in diversity

To make this vision concrete, members are invited to join thematic working groups. Topics include multilingual literacy in early childhood, in higher education, in Indigenous contexts, CLIL, multilingual writing and AI, and multilingual policy. Sounds interesting?

An open invitation

The energy of our first meeting showed just how much can be achieved when we bring our different perspectives together. The IRN “Literacy in Multilingual Contexts” is open to any researcher working in these areas. If you are interested in joining, please send your inquiry to Dr Irina Usanova.

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Attending the Humboldt Professorships 2025 Awards Ceremony in Berlin with members of the LiDS-Team (Image credit: Loy Lising)

Editor’s note: The Language-on-the-Move Research Team at Macquarie University and the Literacy-in-Diversity-Settings (LiDS) Research Center at the University of Hamburg have enjoyed deep collaborative ties over many years, marked by joint research, joint PhD supervision, and joint events. At the heart of this collaboration are people-to-people relationships. In this blog post, which was first published on the LiDS news page, Dr Loy Lising (Macquarie University) reflects on her recent sabbatical at the University of Hamburg in an interview conducted by LiDS Coordinator Larissa Cosyns.

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Dr. Loy Lising, sociolinguist from Macquarie University (Australia), has been an esteemed guest at our research centre LiDS for the past three months. Her research focuses on multilingualism in diasporic and homeland contexts. Inter alia, it sheds light on heritage language maintenance, language barriers, and solutions that enable full social participation for migrants from language backgrounds other than English. In the following interview, she offers insights into her daily life as a visiting scholar, discusses her research interests, and shares details about her exciting new projects.

Larissa: Dear Loy, thank you for taking the time for this interview today. The Faculty Research Centre LiDS is delighted to have you as our guest. Could you please tell us a little bit about your current research?

Loy: Thank you for having me. I am very grateful to Professor Ingrid Gogolin and Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller for hosting me here for the three months of my six-month study leave. It has been wonderful meeting and engaging with everyone, especially those from the LiDS Research Centre.

Co-teaching a LiDS doctoral workshop (Image credit: Ingrid Piller)

I am a sociolinguist who is interested in multilingualism and social participation. I investigate this intersection with a focus on two strands: language features (micro sociolinguistics) and language use (macro sociolinguistics) of multilinguals in both diasporic and homeland contexts particularly in the domains of family, education, health, and law. Employing both corpus and ethnographic approaches, the three overarching research questions I ask in my research aim to (1) illuminate our understanding of the sociolinguistic factors that encourage/discourage the maintenance of heritage languages; (2) identify the language barriers faced by migrants with languages other than English (LOTE) backgrounds and the solutions to these for their full social participation; and (3) map out the linguistic influences of migrant/minority languages on the dominant language and vice versa.

That second research aim, in particular, has been extensively addressed in our recent book Life in a New Language (Piller et.al., 2024). We have also prominently featured the book in Language on the Move where each of the authors share their experiences about this novel collaborative work. In my podcast interview with Brynn Quick, I unpack how language barriers migrants face continue to be underpinned by a monolingual mindset.

Visiting Leibniz University Hannover for a guest lecture, here with Prof Sandra Issel-Dombert (Image credit: Loy Lising)

At the moment, to further pursue my research aims, I am working on two projects. The first one is a double Special Issue for a Q1 journal focused on multilingualism in the Philippines. Despite the fact that the Philippines is often known for its multilingual ecology, there has not really been a consistent examination into what this multingualism looks like on the ground across different domains as I pointed out in my 2022, 2023, and 2025 papers (all open access). So, I have invited colleagues to do precisely this: empirically investigate what multilingualism looks like across different domains of education, law, politics, online communication, linguistic landscapes, in a rural area, in a major city, in cemeteries, in our attitudes, and in our education practices. To do this, we are employing the concept “multilingual mindset” (Lising, 2024), which I introduced at last year’s AILA conference, as our framework in discussing our empirical data.

The other is my involvement with Professor Peter Siemund’s Convergence on Dominant Language Constellations (CODILAC) global project, based here in Hamburg University, which investigates English in a multilingual ecology. I am the International Partner for the Philippines, one of the seven countries involved in this project, and we start collecting data this year, which is exciting.

Larissa: Can you give us a little insight into your academic work and describe what a typical day looks like for you here in Hamburg?

Loy: There are three kinds of routine that typify what my working day is like here in Hamburg: a LiDS-focused day, a knowledge-sharing day, and a research-writing day.

The LiDS-focused day involves four tasks. First, is usually a meeting with Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller and Dr Sarah McMonagle to work on our International Research Training Group (IRTG) application. This application is aimed at bringing together colleagues from both Macquarie University and Hamburg University to co-supervise PhD students investigating research problems under the overarching theme of „literacy in diverse settings“. This is usually followed by an online supervision meeting with current postgraduate students who are based at Macquarie University. Third is attending LiDS-organised public talks on multilingualism in society. And this is capped with a social catch-up with LiDS colleagues for dinner, which is a really informal and pleasant way of getting to know colleagues more.

Catching up with colleagues, here with Profs Ingrid Piller and Peter Siemund (Image credit: Loy Lising)

A knowledge-sharing day entails guest-lecturing, sometimes at a nearby university for an invited lecture on my current work. This has mostly been on my recent paper on „multingual mindset“ (mentioned above), and how this can be applied in our research on the intersection of language and migration.

Finally, a research-writing day means working from home and finishing writing tasks I have promised to fulfil during my study leave.

Larissa: How and why did you choose to come to the University of Hamburg?

Loy: I choose the University of Hamburg because of the support and my ongoing research relationship with Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller who has recently moved here after having been awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. At the same time, my involvement with the Next Generation Literacies Network and my working relationship with Professor Ingrid Gogolin  whose life’s work is focused on finding solutions to systemic educational disadvantages for multilinguals and findings ways to use the advantages of multilingualism for successful learning – have also motivated my reason for being here.

Macquarie in Hamburg: Ingrid Piller, Victoria Benz, Hanna Torsh, Loy Lising (ltr; Image credit: Larissa Cosyns)

An equally important motivation, of course, is the fact that the University of Hamburg is Macquarie University’s strategic partner and spending my study leave here, I hope, contributes to the strengthening of this relationship..

Larissa: Through your work with the Next Generation Literacies Network, you already had close ties to our research centre LiDS. How would you describe your experiences with the research centre LiDS and its work?

Loy: It has been really wonderful being part of the LiDS Research Centre and its many activities while being here. The fact that my own research interests align with the research centre’s research goal has truly been inspirational and encouraging. To be able to spend three of the six months of my study leave in a research centre dedicated to topics close to my heart has really been such a privilege.

Larissa: Having been in Hamburg since April, how do you reflect on these past two months in the city?

Loy: I arrived in the middle of Spring, which really set the tone for my stay here rather pleasantly: the flowers were starting to bloom; the birds were singing their happy tunes; and the sun was out and happily giving warmth. I often tell my friends I have tropical bones, so you can appreciate how much I appreciated arriving in Hamburg in this season. And because this is only my second time in Germany, and the first time that I can stay at length, it has given me a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the architecture, the culture, and the people in addition to all the research work I can accomplish.

Enjoying the hospitality of the Hamburg University Guesthouse with its amazing multilingual carpet (Image credit: Brynn Quick)

So, overall, my stay here has definitely achieved what a study leave/outside studies program (OSP) is intended to do. It provided me space to focus on my research. It gave me a platform to interact with like-minded scholars, not only for knowledge sharing but also to pursue further research collaboration. It inspired and extended my own thinking through the many (in)formal interactions with colleagues at the LiDS Research Centre and other universities that I have had the privilege to visit. I can only hope, of course, that in these interactions I have represented Macquarie University well.

References

Lising, Loy (2025). Global English in multilingual Philippines. In P. Siemund, G. Stein, and M. Vida-Mannl (Eds.), World Englishes in their local multilingual environments, pp 91-115. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://benjamins.com/catalog/hsld.9.05lis
Lising, Loy (2024). Multilingual Mindset: A necessary concept for fostering inclusive multilingualism in Migrant societies. AILA Review 37(1), pp. 35-53. https://benjamins.com/catalog/aila.23023.lis
Lising, Loy (2023). Multilingualism. In A. Borlongan (Ed.), Philippine English: Development, Structure and Sociology of English in the Philippines, pp 242-256. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429427824
Lising, Loy and Bautista, Maria Lourdes (2022). A tale of language ownership and identity in a multilingual  society: Revisiting functional nativeness. Journal of English and Applied Linguistics 1(1), pp.1-14. https://doi.org/10.59588/2961-3094.1000
Piller, Ingrid, Butorac, Donna, Farrell, Emily,Lising, Loy, Motaghi-Tabari, Shiva, Tetteh, Vera Williams (2024). Life in a new language. New York: Oxford University Press.