Lydiah Kiramba, associate professor of teaching, learning and teacher education, is beginning a project to explore how multilingual students engage with culturally sustaining Science of Reading aligned instruction. The one-year project is funded by the William T. Grant Foundation.
Kiramba’s study seeks to address persistent gaps in effective literacy instruction for multilingual learners by expanding opportunities and improving reading instruction for all learners. The study examines a community-based literacy model that integrates foundational reading instruction with students’ cultural and linguistic resources.
Working with Black multilingual children ages 6-12 in two community-based literacy classrooms in Nebraska, Kiramba aims to understand how learners engage in reading activities that combine structured literacy practices with storytelling, multilingual meaning-making and multimodal expression.
“I believe literacy instruction should not require children to disconnect from their identities in order to succeed,” Kiramba said. “I want to help transform literacy systems that too often rely on narrow, one-size-fits-all definitions of reading, overlooking the linguistic and cultural strengths of Black multilingual learners. This project reflects my belief that equitable literacy education must support foundational reading and literacy skills across early and developing readers while also honoring the full humanity of the learners in our classrooms.”
By studying the afterschool literacy program, Kiramba will examine how culturally sustaining, multilingual and multimodal literacy practices can support stronger and more equitable reading development, including improved engagement in reading, more responsive instruction, and stronger foundational reading and literacy development for multilingual learners.
“I want this project to contribute to a shift in how reading equity is understood and addressed in schools and communities,” Kiramba said. “I hope it provides educators, schools, afterschool programs, and policymakers with practical ways to design literacy instruction that reduces racialized and language-based disparities, expands opportunity and improves reading instruction for all learners.”
The William T. Grant Foundation, which was incorporated in 1936, invests in high-quality research focused on reducing inequality in outcomes for children and youth and improving the use of research evidence in decisions that affect young people in the United States.
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