Researching Multilingually: Possibilities and Complexities

Researching Multilingually at the Borders of
Language, the Body, Law and the State
(AH/L009636/1)
http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/
Researching Multilingually:
Possibilities and Complexities
Mariam Attia (Durham University)
Jane Andrews (University of the West of England)
Prue Holmes (Durham University)
Richard Fay (The University of Manchester)
AHRC Workshop, London, 12 February 2016

Introduction: What is “Researching Multilingually”?
Part I: What are the possibilities for and complexities of
researching multilingually?
Part II: What are the ethical and other considerations which
researching multilingually raises?
Part III: How can we develop our confidence and
competence in researching multilingually?
Outline

Introduction:
What is “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

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?

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?)

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?

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?

 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 (including context)
• Research (topic); researched; researcher; re/presentation
• Interdisciplinary insights
• Institutional culture
Theoretical implications

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 …

Part I
What are the possibilities for and
complexities of researching multilingually?

Part II:
What are the ethical and other
considerations which researching
multilingually raises?
Task 1
Input 1,2,3
Task 2

Task 1:
Look through the headings under which the British Educational
Research Association (BERA) provides guidance on ethics.
Work with a partner or small group to think together about these
two areas:
a) The possible “researching multilingually” issues connected to
each heading.
b) The ways in which these, or other, ethical issues tend to be
explored within your discipline, context for research, paradigm,
institution.
Disciplinary perspectives on ethics ….

 Perry (2011) ethics from the perspective of research governance
 Review of practices of Institutional Review Boards
 Diversity of practices between institutions regarding research
with refugees
 ‘imposition’ of ethical assumptions and practices – anonymity as
a desirable feature of research practice
 Assumption that lack of English language skills puts a research
participant in a category of being “vulnerable”
 Question – are governance practices framing multilingual
participants in inappropriate ways?
Perry, K.H. (2011) Ethics, Vulnerability, and Speakers of Other Languages: How University IRBs (Do Not)
Speak to Research Involving Refugee Participants in Qualitative Inquiry 17/10, 899-912
Institutional positions towards ethical research
practice in multilingual contexts?

When I go into a horrendous camp situation as a white researcher,
the people are so desperate for any form of assistance they would
agree to anything just on the off chance that I might be able to
assist. It makes asking for permission to interview them or take
photographs a farce… What does ‘informed consent’ mean in an
isolated refugee camp with security problems and no proper
interpreters?
 [Personal communication, Linda Bartolomei, 2004] p.234
 Question – do we contextualise our consideration of ethical
research practice sufficiently?
Pittaway, E., Bartolomei, L., Hugman, R. (2010) ‘Stop stealing our stories’:
The ethics of research with vulnerable groups in Journal of Human Rights
Practice 2/2, 229-251
The influence of contexts for research and
ethical practices

 educational sociologists - studies of Asian young people’s
experiences of education in England and Black parents’
experiences of their children’s education
 Concerns with power imbalances between researchers and
participants and research relationships
 Abbas – a “same-ethnicity” researcher
 Crozier – background sharing to develop rapport
 Both researchers – participants had a choice of language with
which to engage in research encounters
Abbas, T. (2006) A question of reflexivity in a qualitative study of South Asians in
education: power, knowledge and shared ethnicity in Ethnography and Education 1/3,
319-332
Crozier, G. (2009) South Asian parents’ aspirations versus teachers’ expectations in
the United Kingdom in Theory into Practice 48: 290-296
Power relations and ethics in relation to RMly

 5.1c Are any participants likely to require special consideration
in the preparation of the Participant Information Sheet/Plain
Language Statement to ensure informed consent (e.g. the use
of child friendly language, English as a second language)
 “plain language” rather than “plain English” allows space for
consideration of linguistic diversity
 Researcher agency – by engaging with institutional processes
researchers can feed into their development
Engaging with and shaping institutional processes for
ethical approval

 How might we evaluate or put to the test the quality of our
researcher processes?
 What resources are available within our disciplines or
professional associations / groups?
 Task 2 – Share possible sources of support and discuss one
example – Squires (2009)
RMly, ethics and research quality

Summary of points
 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

Part III:
How can we develop our confidence and
competence in researching multilingually?

Building a wider RMly researcher knowledge base and
network:
www.researchingmultilingually.com
www.researching-multilingually-at-borders.com
1) What is your experience of doing research in more than one
language?
2) What is your experience of becoming aware of the complexities
in this area?
Send 300 – 500 words (same text can be offered in different languages) and photo
(JPEG) to mariam.attia@durham.ac.uk
Mailing list: lauren.roberts@glasgow.ac.uk
An invitation to participate

Thank you
Tak
ً‫شكرا‬
Merci
Grazie
Danke schön
Xie xie 谢谢
mariam.attia@durham.ac.uk
Jane.AndrewsEDU@uwe.ac.uk
p.m.holmes@durham.ac.uk
richard.fay@manchester.ac.uk
Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., Attia,
M. (2013). Researching multilingually:
New theoretical and methodological
directions. International Journal of
Applied Linguistics, 23(3), 285–299.
Holmes, P. Fay, R., Andrews, J., Attia, M.
(2016, in press). The possibility of
researching multilingually. In H. Zhu
(Ed.), Research methods in intercultural
communication: A practical guide.
London: Wiley.

Researching Multilingually: Possibilities and Complexities

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