Reframing Multilingualism: Examining the Multilingual Experiences and Repertoires of DHH Children Growing up in Migrant Contexts of Germany and the UK

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Nicole Marx
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566399757

This project investigates the language learning of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children growing up in multilingual migrant contexts and examines ways of capturing individual multilingual repertoires and repertoire development that are sensitive to the influences of these contexts. To date, multilingualism research has prioritised non-immigrant hearing households and families with high language choice and agency. The resulting knowledge base, which neglects marginalized populations, has led to a potentially skewed understanding of multiple language use, choice and development, with consequences both for the understanding of the experience of multilingualism and for practical decisions for support and education. We address these gaps by focusing on the multilingual experience of one such marginalized population: DHH children growing up in multilingual migrant contexts of the UK and Germany. We examine children’s multilingual language experience and development through an interdisciplinary lens combining sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and linguistic ethnography to allow for a comprehensive understanding of multilingual development in these populations over a timeframe of one year. Our research agenda poses the central question: How do young deaf and hard-of-hearing migrant children experience language as a social practice, and how do contextual factors in different geographical and social spaces of migration influence their language use and repertoire? We will collect rich contextual data and then test and evaluate methodologies to analyze linguistic repertoires and communication of DHH children in migrant contexts. Information on how individual and contextual factors shape language development and use in the early stages of formal education will inform the development of a research framework that is sufficiently nuanced to capture linguistic repertoires in this and other underrepresented groups. The transnational focus, leveraging Britain’s established institutional support for multilingual children and Germany’s recent high migration, will result in (1) an analysis and explanation of the contexts of language development for DHH migrant children, (2) the expansion of scientific knowledge on multilingual linguistic repertoires in diverse contexts, (3) the development of informed guidelines for researching, assessing and explaining language use and development in marginalized communities, and (4) the development of practical guidelines for sustainable linguistic support for DHH migrant children across Europe, contributing to informed policy development. The sustainability of these outcomes will be facilitated by a participatory approach involving children, families, support networks, and educational institutions, as well as the inclusion of DHH and hearing researchers and educators in project design, data analysis and dissemination.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Partner Organisation: Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Mann
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Kate Rowley; Professorin Ruth A. Swanwick, Ph.D.