The IDEAL research project team
Anssi Roiha has a background as an English teacher and special education teacher. Foreign languages have been part of his educational path, as he attended bilingual primary school. His master's thesis and doctoral dissertation also dealt with bilingual education. Anssi previously worked as a university lecturer in foreign language didactics at the University of Turku, where he taught future foreign language teachers. A few years ago, his career continued at the University of Jyväskylä in the field of special education, where Anssi supervises master's theses and doctoral dissertations and teaches content related to learning support and foreign language learning. Anssi has published several practical books, for example on differentiated instruction.
This project is a continuation of Anssi's research work, in which he has been determined to combine foreign language learning and learning support. Foreign language learning difficulties and differentiated teaching are topics that have been little researched internationally, not to mention in Finland. In addition, domestic research on early language learning, which began in Finland a few years ago, is still in its infancy. The support of the Emil Aaltonen Foundation enables internationally groundbreaking longitudinal research on learning and learning support in early language education.
Hanna Pöyliö's career began in Swedish-language primary education in Jyväskylä, where she worked while studying at the university for three years. Hanna is a special education teacher by training and also holds a master's degree in information systems scienceas. Hanna has over 10 years of diverse project experience in the field of learning and education. Many teachers and families may be familiar with the Lukumummi ja -vaari (Reading Grandmas and Grandpas) programme, which Hanna has been involved in developing from the very beginning.
The theme of the IDEAL project is familiar to Hanna, as she worked for two years on flagship projects funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education to promote early language learning ('kielten varhentamisen kärkihankkeet') which preceded the official introduction of A1 language learning in first grade. The projects resulted in the creation of the phonological awareness exercise material called Land Ahoy! – Early English for preschool and early education (material in Finnish). In her upcoming doctoral dissertation, Hanna will focus on learning and teaching English to children with reading difficulties or developmental language disorder.
Otso Ahosola is a brand new English teacher. He has gained experience in research by working as a research assistant for seven years. Working as a research assistant taught him how to handle research data securely, especially when dealing with material containing personal information. Otso has also worked as a Finnish as a second language teacher with upper secondary school students and created visual teaching aids for S2 teaching.
Otso's focus in his upcoming doctoral dissertation is multilingual differentiation. He is interested, for example, in how teachers can support learners from different linguistic backgrounds and utilize the richness of the languages spoken in the classroom. This dissertation continues Otso's interest in the realization of equality in education, as seen in his master's thesis, this time from the perspective of languages. He ended up in this research project through his thesis advisor.
