Researching Multilingually: Perspectives, Perceptions, and Possibilities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Research with and about culturally and linguistically diverse communities demand that academic researchers understand the complexities of doing research multilingually. Moreover, the questioning of the centrality of English in doctoral research and publishing has emboldened more researchers to recognize additional languages in the design, data collection, and representation of their work. However, the preparation of academic researchers frequently overlooks the processes and practices of doing research with more than one language. Consequently, emerging and experienced scholars must explore options to address the issues that arise in their research with diverse con/texts. This symposium will consider the opportunities and challenges in multilingual research as the presenters illustrate their research practices through multimodal first-person, translingual, multilingual, and autoethnographic accounts.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Qualitative Research

Chairs

• Maria José Botelho, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Michele Back, University of Connecticut - Storrs

Papers

• Conducting Research Multilingually in an English-Medium University: Narratives of a Student and a Supervisor - Bridget Goodman, Nazarbayev University; Ainur Almukhambetova, Nazarbayev University

• When Multilingualism Fails: Working Through Distress and Negative Perceptions of Language in Multilingual Research - Michele Back, University of Connecticut - Storrs

• Researching Across Languages and Con/texts: Autoethnographic Snapshots of Possibilities(tensions) - Maria José Botelho, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Margaret Felis, University of Massachusetts - Amherst; Simone Gugliotta, Smith College; Marsha Jing-Ji Liaw, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion School; Mukkarin Wirojchoochut, University of Massachusetts - Amherst