Researching multilingually (RMTC) project Glasgow Symposium 26 May 2014 Prue Holmes (Durham University) Richard Fay (The University of Manchester) Jane Andrews (The University of the West of England) Mariam Attia (Durham University)

Overview 1.Background to AHRC-funded “Researching Multilingually” network project 2.The role of the RMTC hub in the RM-at-borders project 3.Methodology 4.Getting started (Phase 1, Literature Review, June to October, 2014) 5.How we plan to engage with the Case Study researchers/sites and CATC hub

1.Background to the AHRC- funded Researching Multilingually network project

Our research network objectives 1.Examine the experiences of researchers in translating, interpreting, and writing up collected and generated data (dialogic, mediated, virtual, textual) from one language to another; 2.Explore ethical issues in the representation of data across more than one language; 3.Identify methods and techniques that improve processes of researching multilingually; 4.Develop a conceptual framework of researching multilingually processes; and 5.Explore recommendations and guidelines for researching multilingually that can be implemented by all researchers, and research training programmes.

Definition Researching multilingually – “the use of more than one language in the research process and its dissemination” Cf. researching multilingualism, researching ML contexts Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., Attia, M. (2013). Researching multilingually: New theoretical and methodological directions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(3),

Methodology -Initially… -Seminars (35) -Researcher network (more than 50) -Profiles of researchers (narratives) -And later… -Policy document analysis -RM workshops for doctoral researchers

Researcher Network  Focus on researcher thinking in relation to RM-ly  Corpus  RM-ly website [  The profiles as outward-facing performances of reflection- on-action (Boud & walker, 1998; Schön, 1983, 1987)  What the profiles suggest in terms of Developing Researcher Competence, and in terms of evidence for researcher intentionality [as ‘purposefulness’] (Stelma & Fay, 2012)

Two Prompts The profiles were produced in response to two prompts: 1) What is your experience of doing research multilingually? 2) What is your experience of becoming aware of the complexities in this area?

Two Prompts.. In other words: 1)RM-ly in practice 2)Trajectories into awareness Researchers who become aware  How does awareness happen?  What intentionality is behind?  What are they aware of?

Data Analysis  Thematic analysis of each profile separately  Looking across the profiles  Identifying particularities and commonalities

Data Analysis

Findings  Experiences of RM-ly develop across varying research areas and settings  Researchers who are aware, may do so through different trajectories  They are aware of various complexities  We have a better idea about how they become aware, how their awareness manifests itself, and what complexities they are aware of

The New Profiles

Project outcomes Researcher profiles (a conceptualisation of them as performances of developing researcher competence) Seminar papers (and analysis of them) An analysis of research policy documents (with suggestions for enrichment to better accommodate RM-ly) Pedagogic materials (for doctoral researchers) A developing conceptualisation of the possibilities for and complexities of RM-ly.

Emergent conceptualisation 1) Intentionality (a 3-step process) triggering realisation developing awareness informed thinking and practice 2) Relationality Researcher, supervisor, participants, translators/interpreters/transcribers Trust, ethics, power 3) Spatiality Research; researched; researcher; re/presentation Interdisciplinary insights

2. The role of the RMTC hub

Roles -Co-I Prue Holmes (RMTC hub leader) -Co-Is Jane Andrews, Richard Fay -PDRA Mariam Attia -2 PhDs Melissa Chapman, Omar Kemperman

RMTC hub objectives 1.How do researchers generate, translate, interpret and write up data (dialogic, mediated, textual, performance) from one language to another? 2. What ethical issues emerge in the planning and execution of data collection and representation (textual, visual, performance) where multiple languages are present? 3.What methods and techniques improve processes of researching multilingually? 4.How does multimodality (e.g. visual methods, ‘storying’, performance) complement and facilitate multilingual researcher praxis? 5.How can researchers develop clear multilingual researcher practices and yet also be open to emergent research design?

3. Methodology

Methodology – data sources (i)the five case studies (data generated by the methods outlined in each case and other emergent methods) (ii)reflections and narratives gathered from researchers’ journals, virtual communication tools, and multilingual researcher practice (iii)data generated within interactive social media and other virtual sites (e.g., the project blog) (iv)performative data (generated by the CATC hub) (v)RMTC hub members’ dialogues, reflections, observations, and where necessary, their own data collection with researchers and participants, and with documents (vi)RMTC hub researchers’ synthesis and insights drawn from researching multilingually practices and representation across the project

Methodology – data generation (i)narrative inquiry – meaning-making as ‘the narrative construction of reality’ (Bruner 1991): participants narrate their lives; narratives are embodied in the context of the research sites; researchers reflect on and narrate their researching processes; narratives of dissemination (dialogic, textual, visual, performance) are spaces for meaning making (ii)multimodal methods of data generation, developed in collaboration with the CATC hub to establish sensitive and site responsive researching multilingually practices (iii)ethnographic fieldwork and dialogic encounters in case study sites with researchers (iv)dialogic and multimodal workshops (where the RMTC and CATC hubs and researchers come together to share and make sense of multilingual research practice)

Methodology – data analysis methods (i)The software MAXQDA, which is sensitive to non-Romanised scripts such as Arabic and Ge’ez, to collate and analyse these data (ii)Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006) (iii)Critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2010; Gee 2011) for textual and dialogic data (iv)multimodal methods of analysis (Jewitt 2011) for visual and performance data analysis

4.Getting started (Phase 1, Literature Review, June to October, 2014)

Getting started Phase 1 – Literature Review (i)Our own lit review, drawing on earlier RM-ly thematic analysis of lit lit in other languages (ii)Monitoring lit reviews in CS sites (shadowing, drawing on researcher reflections via narratives) (iii) Collaborating with CATC hub who will ‘translate’ research data into performative data => Close links and communication with researchers in CATC and CSs

5.How we will engage with the project partners

Engaging with project partners Case study sites? Ongoing dialogue Content (CS) vs. process (RMTC hub) Process – we observe to develop – Methodology – Pedagogy – Theory generation – Ethics – Policy CS expectations about engaging with us? CATC hub? Ongoing dialogue CATC hub seeing us doing our work (how we develop, analyse, present data) RMTC hub seeing CATC hub doing their work CATC hub expectations about engaging with us? … and Alison?

Thank you! From the RMTC hub