SlideShare a Scribd company logo
Researching Multilingually:
Drawing on your Language Resources in the
Research Process
Prue Holmes (Durham University)
with
Mariam Attia (Durham University)
Jane Andrews (University of the West of England)
Richard Fay (The University of Manchester)
Workshop, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
15 July 2016
Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State
http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/
1. Introduction: The research informing the
concept “researching multilingually”
2. What is “researching multilingually”?
3. Implications
Outline
Introduction:
The research informing the concept
“researching multilingually”
www.researching-multilingually-at-borders.com
(AHRC large grant under the “Translating cultures” theme, 2014-17)
http://researchingmultilingually.com/
(AHRC network grant, 2011-12)
To investigate and clarify the epistemological and methodological
processes of researching in more than one language—whether
dialogic, observational, textual, or mediated—and their implications
for research design, instruments, data collection and generation,
translation and interpretation, and reporting.
Possibilities, opportunities, challenges, complexities
• network project (1)
Aim of the AHRC network project
 Concepts of borders and security/insecurity raise important
practical and ethical questions as to how research might be
conducted.
 Focus on Methods:
 comparing across discipline-specific methods,
 interrogating arts and humanities methods where the body
and body politic are under threat,
 developing theoretical and methodological insights as a
result.
 There are some pockets of work in disciplines but no
overarching framework across multiple disciplines.”
Context of the AHRC large-grant project:
Languages under pressure and pain
(at borders)
 How do researchers generate, translate, interpret and write up
data (dialogic, mediated, textual, performance) from one
language to another?
 What ethical issues emerge in the planning and execution of
data collection and representation (textual, visual, performance)
where multiple languages are present?
 What methods and techniques improve processes of researching
multilingually?
 How does multimodality (e.g. visual methods, ‘storying’,
performance) complement and facilitate multilingual research
praxis?
 How can researchers develop clear multilingual research
practices and yet also be open to emergent research design?
(These questions emerged out of the earlier AHRC Network grant
- AH/J005037/1)
RMTC Hub research questions
 In supervisory practice, there is the assumption that English is
the norm
 Whether a research student uses other languages (lit review,
data collection/transcription/analysis) in the research process
is usually undiscussed.
 Theses are expected to be written and presented in English.
There are no policies on inclusion of other languages.
 The preferred language of publication is often English (for
status, promotion)
 Oral examinations take place in English.
 There is no agreement on what constitutes “correct” English in
academic writing.
Yet, many postgraduate students in universities in the English-
speaking world do not have English as their first language.
The “monolingual” university
2. What is “researching multilingually”?
How researchers draw on their own, and others’
multilingual resources in the researching, reporting, and
representation of people where multiple languages are at
play
“The process and practice of using, or accounting for the use of,
more than one language in the research process, e.g. from the
initial design of the project, to engaging with different literatures,
to developing the methodology and considering all possible
ethical issues, to generating and analysing the data, to issues of
representation and reflexivity when writing up and publishing”
(Holmes, Fay, Andrews, Attia, 2016, in press).
“Researching multilingually” – a definition
… from the inception of a research project, to designing
the project, the lit review, research questions, research
framework, choice of methods, ethics, reflexivity,
analysis, modes of (re)presentation
The researching multilingually
process
Researchers
 Trajectories in engaging in multilingual research
 Researcher/participant(s) relationships; power; ethical practices
Data collection methods
 Interviews; focus groups (intersubjectivity)
 Consent forms (multimodality); recording; observing
 Questionnaires (in market research - “quick & dirty”; the limits
of “back translation”)
Language choices
 Possibilities and complexities of not knowing a language
 How to include local, regional, tribal, and colonial languages
 Languages as opportunities and affordances
Aspects of researching multilingually (1)
Literature reviews:
 As a researcher do you consult literatures in a range of
languages? Why? Why not?
 Should we acknowledge it when we reference academic works
which are translations, e.g., the works of Lev Vygotsky, writing
in Russian?
 Should research students feel obliged to read and reference
academic literature in English, even when they share the
language of the original writing?
 Does it feel potentially beneficial to reference only works in
English? If so why?
Aspects of researching multilingually (2)
Interpretation/translation:
 Interpreter = participant’s advocate, cultural mediator for
“monolingual” researcher
 Working with translators—need to share purposes & approaches
of research
 Translator = co-researcher
 Mediators—how do they influence interpretation of findings?
What about children speaking for parents/men speaking for their
wives?
 Transcription (coding implications?)
Aspects of researching multilingually (3)
Ethical issues:
 Do ethical approval processes support researching multilingually
practices?
 Are researchers ensuring their research processes allow
research participants to respond in a range of languages (of
their choice)?
 When we gain informed consent from research participants do
we provide information in a range of languages, if appropriate?
 Do ethical approval processes encourage researchers to engage
with participants who may not have their preferred language as
English?
Aspects of researching multilingually (4)
Representation:
 Who is involved? When? At what level?
 Preparing translated data for the supervisor/examiner –
when is enough enough? Faithfulness? The correct way?
 Interlingual (pragmatic/contextual) glossing?
 Publication?
Policy:
 Which languages & where?
 Expertise of supervisors/examiners?
 Institutional policies?
 Editorial/publishing practices?
Aspects of researching multilingually (5)
3. Implications
 Researchers, supervisors, examiners, editors, publishers,
interpreters/translators/transcribers
 Geopolitics of English/ELF?
 Ethical procedures and practices
 Internationalisation/globalisation have brought new
insights into these processes
 We need to avoid being “essentialist” about language and
languages
Implications for the higher education
context
The overarching construct for our thinking about the possibilities for and
complexities of researching multilingually
Researcher purposefulness
The informed and intentional research(er) thinking and decision-making
which results from an awareness and thorough consideration of the
possibilities for and complexities of all aspects of the research process
(including RM-ly).
(Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., & Attia, M. (2016, in press). How to research multilingually:
Possibilities and complexities. In H. Zhu (Ed.) Research methods in intercultural communication.
London: Wiley.
Implications for the researcher
Being purposeful, creative, and resourceful
An emergent RMly conceptualisation
Purposefulness
• Making informed and intentional researcher decisions
• Researcher reflexivity & sensitivity, identity
Relationships
• Researcher, supervisor, participants,
mediators/translators/interpreters/transcribers
• Trust, ethics, power
Researching multilingually spaces
• Researched (topic) - e.g., the teaching of Mathematics through
English in Pakistan
• Research context - e.g., the institutional culture – a PhD from a
UK university; research location in Pakistan
• Researcher resources - e.g., which languages researchers, and
researched, have useful levels of competency in
• Representational possibilities - i.e., dissemination in English
only and/or other languages.
Theoretical implications
Ethical implications
 Ethical research practice may be defined in narrow, mono-cultural
ways which may not serve our research purposes or our
participants
 The contexts for our research may demand that we re-interpret or
develop new approaches to implementing ethical research practice
 Ethical practice and researching multilingually can cover broader
issues of concern to researchers e.g. power, rapport,
representation
 We can engage with and shape institutional practices relating to
good research practice, ethics and researching multilingually
University policies – what guidelines exist for influencing practices of
supervisors? experienced researchers? doctoral researchers? examiners?
ethics committees? language choices in theses?
Research Council policies – are practices sympathetic to “researching
multilingually”? Are evaluators alert to opportunities and possibilities for
researching multilingually? Are practices more “local” to disciplines or
individuals?
Academic & professional association guidelines – how attuned are
they to researching multilingually issues?
(see http://researchingmultilingually.com/?page_id=503
Fay & Holmes presentation, IALIC, University of Durham, 2012)
Policy implications
Issues we are exploring …
 Research methods textbooks need to give attention to
researching multilingually – taking issues beyond
language-related disciplines
 Research training courses for all students
 Supervisor training/guidelines
 Community researcher training/guidelines
Pedagogical implications
 To ensure the trustworthiness of the research, RMly researchers
might consider the following:
 build and nurture relationships among all stakeholders
- Interrogate positions of power and positioning
 recognise the values and motivations of those initiating, undertaking and
evaluating the research
- project funders, supervisors, ethics committees, other researchers,
policy implementers
 negotiate the institutional parameters of the research site or context
- e.g., the institutions involved
 investigate the in-between, and often unexplored, spaces—the silences,
interruptions, apprehensions, unexplored and unarticulated tensions and
decision making—invoked in the minds of researchers, supervisors, and
research participants (and other stakeholders)
Conclusion
For the researcher, “researching multilingually”
involves …
 Multiple languages and linguistic resources
 Purposefulness
 (Critical) approaches (theory/methodology)
 Interculturality
 Relationships
 Research context & spaces
In summary …

More Related Content

PPTX
Researching Multilingually: Possibilities and Complexities
PPTX
Researching Multilingually in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges
PPTX
Research trends in language linguistics and literature
PPTX
Research in language and literature, karpagam university, conference ppt
PPT
Mariam Attia & Richard Fay
PPT
RM-ly work in progress: some current whats and hows from our interdisciplinar...
PPT
Researching multilingually at the borders of language, the body, law and the ...
PPT
Researching language/languaging in contexts of pain and pressure: perspective...
Researching Multilingually: Possibilities and Complexities
Researching Multilingually in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges
Research trends in language linguistics and literature
Research in language and literature, karpagam university, conference ppt
Mariam Attia & Richard Fay
RM-ly work in progress: some current whats and hows from our interdisciplinar...
Researching multilingually at the borders of language, the body, law and the ...
Researching language/languaging in contexts of pain and pressure: perspective...

What's hot (14)

PPTX
Out of my orthographic depth
PPT
Designing impactful research in social sciences
PDF
Crossing Cultures in Research on International Students
PPTX
Using focused ethnography to understand brokering practices among internation...
PDF
Brokering: A sensitising concept for understanding learning
PPT
Pedagogical applications of corpus data for English for General and Specific ...
PDF
The promise of diasporic academics: Potential partnerships between the local ...
PDF
A Chinese researching other Chinese: Problematizing the bilingual researcher
PPTX
Ethnography presentation
PDF
Seeking academic help: A case study of peer brokering interactions
PDF
Brokering practices among EAL international students
PDF
Assessing EFL Learner,s Authorial Stance in Academic Writing: A Case of Out T...
PDF
Embarking The Six Thinking Hats in EFL Students’ Dissertation Writing at Said...
PDF
Methodological Terms
Out of my orthographic depth
Designing impactful research in social sciences
Crossing Cultures in Research on International Students
Using focused ethnography to understand brokering practices among internation...
Brokering: A sensitising concept for understanding learning
Pedagogical applications of corpus data for English for General and Specific ...
The promise of diasporic academics: Potential partnerships between the local ...
A Chinese researching other Chinese: Problematizing the bilingual researcher
Ethnography presentation
Seeking academic help: A case study of peer brokering interactions
Brokering practices among EAL international students
Assessing EFL Learner,s Authorial Stance in Academic Writing: A Case of Out T...
Embarking The Six Thinking Hats in EFL Students’ Dissertation Writing at Said...
Methodological Terms
Ad

Viewers also liked (13)

DOC
JOEL IKUSHIME OSAKWE - UPDATED
PDF
Resurrection of isdn
PPTX
Coach Jason Drees - 3 ways to grow a business
PDF
Enade Sinaes - prof. dr. rui otavio bernardes de andrade
DOC
Andrew Nkosana Nhlapo CV..UPdateddoc
ODP
Humennyi_2016_06_29
PDF
Engancharse a los velfies
PDF
Fernunterrichtsstatistik 2014 samt Pressemitteilung
PPT
Fashion design mulheres maduras
PDF
Branding 2014
PPTX
Build a Social Media Command Centre
PPTX
Building a Multi-Country Social Media Program (AdTech Singapore)
PPTX
Introducing Salesforce Marketing Cloud Pt 2 - Publish & Measure
JOEL IKUSHIME OSAKWE - UPDATED
Resurrection of isdn
Coach Jason Drees - 3 ways to grow a business
Enade Sinaes - prof. dr. rui otavio bernardes de andrade
Andrew Nkosana Nhlapo CV..UPdateddoc
Humennyi_2016_06_29
Engancharse a los velfies
Fernunterrichtsstatistik 2014 samt Pressemitteilung
Fashion design mulheres maduras
Branding 2014
Build a Social Media Command Centre
Building a Multi-Country Social Media Program (AdTech Singapore)
Introducing Salesforce Marketing Cloud Pt 2 - Publish & Measure
Ad

Similar to Researching Multilingually: Drawing on your Language Resources in the Research Process (20)

PPTX
Revisiting linguistic preparation: Some new directions arising from researchi...
PPTX
Researching multilingually and interculturally
PPTX
What does it mean to be (en)languaged in a world of vulnerability, discrimina...
PPT
Ways of "researching multilingually" at the borders of language, the body, la...
PPT
Revisiting a framework for Researching Multilingually: Contributions from cri...
PPT
Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the ...
PPT
RMTC Hub Presentation (P. Holmes)
PPT
Cross-cultural research at the borders of language, the body, law and the sta...
PPTX
Researchers as mediators: languaging and culturing when researching multiling...
PDF
Applied Linguistics session 111 0_07_12_2021 Applied linguistics challenges.pdf
PDF
Researching Multilingually (RMTC) Hub
PDF
RMTC Handout for Symposium 260514
PPTX
The role of the arts in researching multilingually at the borders of language...
DOCX
DirectionsLength ~3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (approx. 750-1.docx
PPT
Open Educational Resources for less used languages in an increasingly digital...
PPTX
UKSG 2017 Conference Breakout - Take control of your PhD journey: a librarian...
PDF
Teaching English Pronunciation to Spanish Speakers
PPTX
Cross-Language Qualitative Research
PPTX
Applied Linguistics.pptx
DOCX
Lubaina assignment
Revisiting linguistic preparation: Some new directions arising from researchi...
Researching multilingually and interculturally
What does it mean to be (en)languaged in a world of vulnerability, discrimina...
Ways of "researching multilingually" at the borders of language, the body, la...
Revisiting a framework for Researching Multilingually: Contributions from cri...
Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the ...
RMTC Hub Presentation (P. Holmes)
Cross-cultural research at the borders of language, the body, law and the sta...
Researchers as mediators: languaging and culturing when researching multiling...
Applied Linguistics session 111 0_07_12_2021 Applied linguistics challenges.pdf
Researching Multilingually (RMTC) Hub
RMTC Handout for Symposium 260514
The role of the arts in researching multilingually at the borders of language...
DirectionsLength ~3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (approx. 750-1.docx
Open Educational Resources for less used languages in an increasingly digital...
UKSG 2017 Conference Breakout - Take control of your PhD journey: a librarian...
Teaching English Pronunciation to Spanish Speakers
Cross-Language Qualitative Research
Applied Linguistics.pptx
Lubaina assignment

More from RMBorders (20)

PPTX
Establishing connections: online teacher training in the Gaza Strip
PPTX
From fluency to linguistic incompetence: Humble reflections on multilingual r...
PPTX
‘We Refugees’: Hardening and Softening of Borders of Everyday Life
PPTX
Recent Refugee Flows in Europe: Challenge and Responses
PPT
At Home and Exiled in Language Studies: Interdisciplinarity, intersectionalit...
PPTX
“Coming clean” about researching multilingually – learning from different dis...
PPT
Cultures of practitioner research: extending Exploratory Practice from langua...
PPTX
“They thought they heard somebody who had risen from their grave”: stories of...
PPTX
Researching multilingually exploring emerging linguistic practices in migrant...
PDF
Teacher education as intercultural practice: narratives of Spanish-medium pra...
PPTX
Living intercultural lives: Identity performance and zones of interculturality.
PPTX
Living intercultural lives: identity performance and zones of interculturality.
PPTX
Global Mental Health: the importance of contextual sensitivity and appropriat...
PPTX
The Knowledge Landscape of 念(niàn)/mindfulness: Intercultural Ethics for Tran...
PPTX
Paradigm humility and appropriate methodology in Global Mental Health
PPTX
Interthinking creatively, or what happens when creative artists and language ...
PPTX
Among the IALIC-ists: the transcreation of intercultural knowledge landscapes
PPTX
Hospitality as advocacy: Towards the concept of community hospitality
PPTX
On Voice and Interruptions
PPTX
Masking Languages, Skinning Languages: Tourism, Researching Multilingually an...
Establishing connections: online teacher training in the Gaza Strip
From fluency to linguistic incompetence: Humble reflections on multilingual r...
‘We Refugees’: Hardening and Softening of Borders of Everyday Life
Recent Refugee Flows in Europe: Challenge and Responses
At Home and Exiled in Language Studies: Interdisciplinarity, intersectionalit...
“Coming clean” about researching multilingually – learning from different dis...
Cultures of practitioner research: extending Exploratory Practice from langua...
“They thought they heard somebody who had risen from their grave”: stories of...
Researching multilingually exploring emerging linguistic practices in migrant...
Teacher education as intercultural practice: narratives of Spanish-medium pra...
Living intercultural lives: Identity performance and zones of interculturality.
Living intercultural lives: identity performance and zones of interculturality.
Global Mental Health: the importance of contextual sensitivity and appropriat...
The Knowledge Landscape of 念(niàn)/mindfulness: Intercultural Ethics for Tran...
Paradigm humility and appropriate methodology in Global Mental Health
Interthinking creatively, or what happens when creative artists and language ...
Among the IALIC-ists: the transcreation of intercultural knowledge landscapes
Hospitality as advocacy: Towards the concept of community hospitality
On Voice and Interruptions
Masking Languages, Skinning Languages: Tourism, Researching Multilingually an...

Recently uploaded (20)

PDF
STATICS OF THE RIGID BODIES Hibbelers.pdf
PPTX
IMMUNITY IMMUNITY refers to protection against infection, and the immune syst...
PDF
Abdominal Access Techniques with Prof. Dr. R K Mishra
PDF
The Lost Whites of Pakistan by Jahanzaib Mughal.pdf
PPTX
1st Inaugural Professorial Lecture held on 19th February 2020 (Governance and...
PDF
RMMM.pdf make it easy to upload and study
PPTX
Final Presentation General Medicine 03-08-2024.pptx
PDF
Computing-Curriculum for Schools in Ghana
PDF
VCE English Exam - Section C Student Revision Booklet
PDF
A GUIDE TO GENETICS FOR UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS
PDF
Chinmaya Tiranga quiz Grand Finale.pdf
PDF
GENETICS IN BIOLOGY IN SECONDARY LEVEL FORM 3
PPTX
Cell Structure & Organelles in detailed.
PDF
01-Introduction-to-Information-Management.pdf
PDF
Black Hat USA 2025 - Micro ICS Summit - ICS/OT Threat Landscape
PDF
3rd Neelam Sanjeevareddy Memorial Lecture.pdf
PDF
grade 11-chemistry_fetena_net_5883.pdf teacher guide for all student
PPTX
Tissue processing ( HISTOPATHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUE
PPTX
PPT- ENG7_QUARTER1_LESSON1_WEEK1. IMAGERY -DESCRIPTIONS pptx.pptx
PDF
OBE - B.A.(HON'S) IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE -Ar.MOHIUDDIN.pdf
STATICS OF THE RIGID BODIES Hibbelers.pdf
IMMUNITY IMMUNITY refers to protection against infection, and the immune syst...
Abdominal Access Techniques with Prof. Dr. R K Mishra
The Lost Whites of Pakistan by Jahanzaib Mughal.pdf
1st Inaugural Professorial Lecture held on 19th February 2020 (Governance and...
RMMM.pdf make it easy to upload and study
Final Presentation General Medicine 03-08-2024.pptx
Computing-Curriculum for Schools in Ghana
VCE English Exam - Section C Student Revision Booklet
A GUIDE TO GENETICS FOR UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS
Chinmaya Tiranga quiz Grand Finale.pdf
GENETICS IN BIOLOGY IN SECONDARY LEVEL FORM 3
Cell Structure & Organelles in detailed.
01-Introduction-to-Information-Management.pdf
Black Hat USA 2025 - Micro ICS Summit - ICS/OT Threat Landscape
3rd Neelam Sanjeevareddy Memorial Lecture.pdf
grade 11-chemistry_fetena_net_5883.pdf teacher guide for all student
Tissue processing ( HISTOPATHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUE
PPT- ENG7_QUARTER1_LESSON1_WEEK1. IMAGERY -DESCRIPTIONS pptx.pptx
OBE - B.A.(HON'S) IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE -Ar.MOHIUDDIN.pdf

Researching Multilingually: Drawing on your Language Resources in the Research Process

  • 1. Researching Multilingually: Drawing on your Language Resources in the Research Process Prue Holmes (Durham University) with Mariam Attia (Durham University) Jane Andrews (University of the West of England) Richard Fay (The University of Manchester) Workshop, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne 15 July 2016 Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/
  • 2. 1. Introduction: The research informing the concept “researching multilingually” 2. What is “researching multilingually”? 3. Implications Outline
  • 3. Introduction: The research informing the concept “researching multilingually”
  • 4. www.researching-multilingually-at-borders.com (AHRC large grant under the “Translating cultures” theme, 2014-17) http://researchingmultilingually.com/ (AHRC network grant, 2011-12)
  • 5. To investigate and clarify the epistemological and methodological processes of researching in more than one language—whether dialogic, observational, textual, or mediated—and their implications for research design, instruments, data collection and generation, translation and interpretation, and reporting. Possibilities, opportunities, challenges, complexities • network project (1) Aim of the AHRC network project
  • 6.  Concepts of borders and security/insecurity raise important practical and ethical questions as to how research might be conducted.  Focus on Methods:  comparing across discipline-specific methods,  interrogating arts and humanities methods where the body and body politic are under threat,  developing theoretical and methodological insights as a result.  There are some pockets of work in disciplines but no overarching framework across multiple disciplines.” Context of the AHRC large-grant project: Languages under pressure and pain (at borders)
  • 7.  How do researchers generate, translate, interpret and write up data (dialogic, mediated, textual, performance) from one language to another?  What ethical issues emerge in the planning and execution of data collection and representation (textual, visual, performance) where multiple languages are present?  What methods and techniques improve processes of researching multilingually?  How does multimodality (e.g. visual methods, ‘storying’, performance) complement and facilitate multilingual research praxis?  How can researchers develop clear multilingual research practices and yet also be open to emergent research design? (These questions emerged out of the earlier AHRC Network grant - AH/J005037/1) RMTC Hub research questions
  • 8.  In supervisory practice, there is the assumption that English is the norm  Whether a research student uses other languages (lit review, data collection/transcription/analysis) in the research process is usually undiscussed.  Theses are expected to be written and presented in English. There are no policies on inclusion of other languages.  The preferred language of publication is often English (for status, promotion)  Oral examinations take place in English.  There is no agreement on what constitutes “correct” English in academic writing. Yet, many postgraduate students in universities in the English- speaking world do not have English as their first language. The “monolingual” university
  • 9. 2. What is “researching multilingually”?
  • 10. How researchers draw on their own, and others’ multilingual resources in the researching, reporting, and representation of people where multiple languages are at play “The process and practice of using, or accounting for the use of, more than one language in the research process, e.g. from the initial design of the project, to engaging with different literatures, to developing the methodology and considering all possible ethical issues, to generating and analysing the data, to issues of representation and reflexivity when writing up and publishing” (Holmes, Fay, Andrews, Attia, 2016, in press). “Researching multilingually” – a definition
  • 11. … from the inception of a research project, to designing the project, the lit review, research questions, research framework, choice of methods, ethics, reflexivity, analysis, modes of (re)presentation The researching multilingually process
  • 12. Researchers  Trajectories in engaging in multilingual research  Researcher/participant(s) relationships; power; ethical practices Data collection methods  Interviews; focus groups (intersubjectivity)  Consent forms (multimodality); recording; observing  Questionnaires (in market research - “quick & dirty”; the limits of “back translation”) Language choices  Possibilities and complexities of not knowing a language  How to include local, regional, tribal, and colonial languages  Languages as opportunities and affordances Aspects of researching multilingually (1)
  • 13. Literature reviews:  As a researcher do you consult literatures in a range of languages? Why? Why not?  Should we acknowledge it when we reference academic works which are translations, e.g., the works of Lev Vygotsky, writing in Russian?  Should research students feel obliged to read and reference academic literature in English, even when they share the language of the original writing?  Does it feel potentially beneficial to reference only works in English? If so why? Aspects of researching multilingually (2)
  • 14. Interpretation/translation:  Interpreter = participant’s advocate, cultural mediator for “monolingual” researcher  Working with translators—need to share purposes & approaches of research  Translator = co-researcher  Mediators—how do they influence interpretation of findings? What about children speaking for parents/men speaking for their wives?  Transcription (coding implications?) Aspects of researching multilingually (3)
  • 15. Ethical issues:  Do ethical approval processes support researching multilingually practices?  Are researchers ensuring their research processes allow research participants to respond in a range of languages (of their choice)?  When we gain informed consent from research participants do we provide information in a range of languages, if appropriate?  Do ethical approval processes encourage researchers to engage with participants who may not have their preferred language as English? Aspects of researching multilingually (4)
  • 16. Representation:  Who is involved? When? At what level?  Preparing translated data for the supervisor/examiner – when is enough enough? Faithfulness? The correct way?  Interlingual (pragmatic/contextual) glossing?  Publication? Policy:  Which languages & where?  Expertise of supervisors/examiners?  Institutional policies?  Editorial/publishing practices? Aspects of researching multilingually (5)
  • 18.  Researchers, supervisors, examiners, editors, publishers, interpreters/translators/transcribers  Geopolitics of English/ELF?  Ethical procedures and practices  Internationalisation/globalisation have brought new insights into these processes  We need to avoid being “essentialist” about language and languages Implications for the higher education context
  • 19. The overarching construct for our thinking about the possibilities for and complexities of researching multilingually Researcher purposefulness The informed and intentional research(er) thinking and decision-making which results from an awareness and thorough consideration of the possibilities for and complexities of all aspects of the research process (including RM-ly). (Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., & Attia, M. (2016, in press). How to research multilingually: Possibilities and complexities. In H. Zhu (Ed.) Research methods in intercultural communication. London: Wiley. Implications for the researcher Being purposeful, creative, and resourceful
  • 20. An emergent RMly conceptualisation Purposefulness • Making informed and intentional researcher decisions • Researcher reflexivity & sensitivity, identity Relationships • Researcher, supervisor, participants, mediators/translators/interpreters/transcribers • Trust, ethics, power Researching multilingually spaces • Researched (topic) - e.g., the teaching of Mathematics through English in Pakistan • Research context - e.g., the institutional culture – a PhD from a UK university; research location in Pakistan • Researcher resources - e.g., which languages researchers, and researched, have useful levels of competency in • Representational possibilities - i.e., dissemination in English only and/or other languages. Theoretical implications
  • 21. Ethical implications  Ethical research practice may be defined in narrow, mono-cultural ways which may not serve our research purposes or our participants  The contexts for our research may demand that we re-interpret or develop new approaches to implementing ethical research practice  Ethical practice and researching multilingually can cover broader issues of concern to researchers e.g. power, rapport, representation  We can engage with and shape institutional practices relating to good research practice, ethics and researching multilingually
  • 22. University policies – what guidelines exist for influencing practices of supervisors? experienced researchers? doctoral researchers? examiners? ethics committees? language choices in theses? Research Council policies – are practices sympathetic to “researching multilingually”? Are evaluators alert to opportunities and possibilities for researching multilingually? Are practices more “local” to disciplines or individuals? Academic & professional association guidelines – how attuned are they to researching multilingually issues? (see http://researchingmultilingually.com/?page_id=503 Fay & Holmes presentation, IALIC, University of Durham, 2012) Policy implications
  • 23. Issues we are exploring …  Research methods textbooks need to give attention to researching multilingually – taking issues beyond language-related disciplines  Research training courses for all students  Supervisor training/guidelines  Community researcher training/guidelines Pedagogical implications
  • 24.  To ensure the trustworthiness of the research, RMly researchers might consider the following:  build and nurture relationships among all stakeholders - Interrogate positions of power and positioning  recognise the values and motivations of those initiating, undertaking and evaluating the research - project funders, supervisors, ethics committees, other researchers, policy implementers  negotiate the institutional parameters of the research site or context - e.g., the institutions involved  investigate the in-between, and often unexplored, spaces—the silences, interruptions, apprehensions, unexplored and unarticulated tensions and decision making—invoked in the minds of researchers, supervisors, and research participants (and other stakeholders) Conclusion
  • 25. For the researcher, “researching multilingually” involves …  Multiple languages and linguistic resources  Purposefulness  (Critical) approaches (theory/methodology)  Interculturality  Relationships  Research context & spaces In summary …