Gillian is a Lecturer at the Department of Education, teaching on the MSc Education (CDE pathway).
Gillian completed her PhD at UCL, combining an interest in both memory and language to investigate the relationship between procedural and declarative memory processes and language in children.
Her current research focusses on language assessment and intervention in children, including large-scale randomised control trials of school-based language interventions. She is part of the development team for LanguageScreen (www.languagescreen.com), an App used in schools to assess the language skills of children aged 3-8 years, and is a Director of a University of Oxford spin out company, OxEd and Assessment Ltd, created to translate research into children’s language and reading difficulties into practical applications.
Recent projects include evaluations of the Nuffield Early Language intervention (NELI) and the development of an online teacher training and support model for the programme to enable delivery at scale. Watch a video of a NELI intervention session in action on a recent trial here. She led the subsequent rollout of NELI to over 6,500 schools in 2020-21, funded by the DfE as part of its Covid 19-recovery effort. A second year of the rollout is underway.
She is currently working on the development and evaluation via randomised controlled trial of an early language enrichment programme for children in nursery
Publications
West, G, Shanks, DR, Hulme, C (2020) “Sustained Attention, Not Procedural Learning, is a Predictor of Reading, Language and Arithmetic Skills in Children”, Scientific Studies of Reading. 1-17.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2020.1750618
West, G, Clayton, FJ, Hulme, C (2019) “Procedural and declarative learning in dyslexia”, Dyslexia. 25(3) 246-255.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1615
West, G., Vadillo, M. A., Shanks, R., & Hulme, C. (2018).” The procedural learning deficit hypothesis of
language learning disorders: we see some problems.” Developmental science, 21(2), e12552.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12552
Ferrero, M, West, G, Vadillo, MA (2017) “Is crossed laterality associated with academic achievement and intelligence? A systematic review and meta-analysis”, PLOS ONE. 12(8) e0183618-e0183618.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183618
WEST, G, HULME, C “The procedural deficit hypothesis of language learning disorders: We still see some serious problems”, Developmental Science.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12813
Clayton, FJ, West, G, Sears, C, Hulme, C, Lervåg, A “A longitudinal study of early reading development: Letter-sound knowledge, phoneme awareness and RAN, but not letter-sound integration, predict variations in reading development”, Scientific Studies of Reading. 1-17.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2019.1622546
SNOWLING, M, HULME, C, WEST, G “Children’s language skills can be improved: lessons from psychological science for educational policy”, Current Directions in Psychological Science.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420923684
West, G., Snowling, M. J., Lervåg, A., Buchanan‐Worster, E., Duta, M., Hall, A., McLachlan, H., & Hulme, C. (2021). “Early language screening and intervention can be delivered successfully at scale: evidence from a cluster randomized controlled trial.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13415
West, G., Lervåg, A., Snowling, M. J., Buchanan-Worster, E., Duta, M., & Hulme, C. (2022). Early language intervention improves behavioral adjustment in school: Evidence from a cluster randomized trial. Journal of School Psychology, 92, 334-345.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2022.04.006
Snowling, M. J., West, G., Fricke, S., Bowyer‐Crane, C., Dilnot, J., Cripps, D., … & Hulme, C. (2022). Delivering language intervention at scale: promises and pitfalls. Journal of Research in Reading.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12391
West, G., Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2021). Is a procedural learning deficit a causal risk factor for developmental language disorder or dyslexia? A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 57(5), 749.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001172
