Project description INCLUDE

INCLUDE is a four-year research project aimed at strengthening lower secondary students’ learning and participation in the classroom, with a particular focus on students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), those with language or literacy challenges for other reasons.

INCLUDE is funded by a Project Grant in Educational Sciences from the Swedish Research Council (2025–2028).

The project involves the development and evaluation of a digital professional development program for lower secondary teachers – LINK-D. Through LINK-D, teachers gain increased knowledge about linguistic challenges and their consequences in the classroom; examples of tools to modify spoken and written language in teaching, assignments and exams; and support for working explicitly with words and concepts. The training includes collaboration with a speech-language pathologist; discussions based on teachers’ own examples; personal goals with individual feedback; and concrete tools for the classroom.

The goal of LINK-D is to make lower secondary education accessible to all students, regardless of whether they face language challenges or not.

LINK-D: enhancing langauge and learning trhough interprofessional coaching
LINK-D: enhancing langauge and learning trhough interprofessional coaching

LINK-D is based on a successful Australian professional development program (LINK-S: Starling et al., 2012), and previous studies have shown positive effects for both students and teachers.

The INCLUDE project will be carried out in two phases:

Phase 1, July 2025-December 2026

LINK-D will be developed in collaboration with Professor Natalie Munro and Dr. Julia Starling, and pilot tested with eight lower secondary teachers in Australia.

Phase 2, January 2027-July 2029

The Swedish version of LINK-D will be developed with feedback from Swedish lower secondary teachers, and then evaluated in twelve lower secondary schools autumn 2027. Teachers in social science and science subjects teaching two year 8 classes per school will be invited to participate.

We will evaluate the effects of LINK-D on both teachers and students and address the following research questions: 

  1. To what extent do secondary students whose teachers have participated in LINK-D demonstrate improvement in  language/literacy skills, learning, and participation, and do the effects differ among student groups?
     
  2. Can effects on student language/literacy, learning and participaion be explained by a) teacher usage of certain language modification techniques and the time allocated to explicit disciplinary vocabulary instruction, and b) how students perceive and respond to teachers’ use of specific techniques?
     
  3. To what extent do students’ outcomes differ between teachers who participate in LINK-D including interdisciplinary coaching, and those who follow the LINK-D digital curriculum without coaching?

We hope that INCLUDE will contribute valuable knowledge about how teachers can create inclusive classrooms where all students have better opportunities to succeed