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

Prue Holmes (Durham University)

withMariam Attia (Durham University)

Jane Andrews (University of the West of England)Richard Fay (The University of Manchester)

Workshop, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne15 July 2016

Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the Statehttp://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 …