The University of Reading as a whole has a strong reputation for its research, ranked as it is as one of the UK's most research-intensive universities. Furthermore, the 2021 Research Excellence Framework recognised the national and international importance of the research conducted by the University's Institute of Education and its beneficial impact on language teaching and learning.

Working with regional, national and international partners it has attracted research funding from the Department for Education, Local Authorities, charities, research councils and the European Commission.  The work of several of its academics has influenced key aspects of government policy.

In particular, the Institute of Education is a leader in research in foreign language education in schools, across primary and secondary education. It is renowned for its research in language pedagogy in listening, reading and vocabulary development, and in motivation for language learning. Important funded projects are those that have explored the development of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge in young learners, alongside the development of their motivation, and the teaching approaches that underpin such motivation.

Such research was the impetus for the Erasmus+ funded The Language Magician project, led by the Goethe Institute, in which the Institute of Education not only contributed to the game design but also to the evaluation of the positive impact the game had on learners’ motivation and understanding of their progress.