Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics
Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics
Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics
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The Impact <strong>of</strong> <strong>Applied</strong> <strong>Linguistics</strong>: <strong>Proceedings</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 44th Annual Meeting <strong>of</strong> BAAL<br />
University <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> West <strong>of</strong> England<br />
and o<strong>the</strong>rs are raised in <strong>the</strong> four studies outlined below and contribute to<br />
our call <strong>for</strong> recognising <strong>the</strong> choices available to, and challenges facing,<br />
researchers in multilingual contexts.<br />
Case Study 1: Research processes: a multilingual research student<br />
in a monolingual supervisory team (Zhou, 2011)<br />
Xiaowei Zhou’s doctoral study , which involved significant English and<br />
Mandarin Chinese elements, illustrated <strong>the</strong> complexities involved in <strong>the</strong><br />
management <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bilingual elements which ran throughout <strong>the</strong> whole<br />
research process, from <strong>the</strong> literature explored, <strong>the</strong> contexts considered, <strong>the</strong><br />
participants involved, <strong>the</strong> data generated, processed and analysed, to <strong>the</strong><br />
(re)presentation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study in <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>sis. Xiaowei's bilingual research<br />
experience was fur<strong>the</strong>r enriched by <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> study was supervised<br />
and examined monolingually in English. The complexities <strong>of</strong> such a<br />
bilingual process are not well discussed in <strong>the</strong> research methods literature.<br />
When <strong>the</strong>y are referred to, <strong>the</strong> tenor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> discussion is <strong>of</strong>ten that <strong>of</strong> a<br />
problem to be overcome ra<strong>the</strong>r than that <strong>of</strong> a richness to be reflexively<br />
managed. In this case study, Xiaowei and her supervisor Richard explored<br />
in detail <strong>the</strong> linguistic dynamics involved in <strong>the</strong> study by using examples,<br />
including questions, reflections, strategies adopted and methods<br />
employed/created.<br />
Case Study 2: The role <strong>of</strong> doing research multilingually in<br />
fostering researcher autonomy (Attia, 2011)<br />
This paper addressed <strong>the</strong> complexities <strong>of</strong> doing research multilingually and<br />
fostering researcher autonomy when examining Arabic language teachers’<br />
beliefs about using technology as part <strong>of</strong> an English medium PhD study. As<br />
issues <strong>of</strong> language use were marked at <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study, <strong>the</strong>re was<br />
an expectation on <strong>the</strong> part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> researcher as to possible avenues she had<br />
to travel on her own. Reflecting on <strong>the</strong> multilingual nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> work, she<br />
analysed <strong>the</strong> different stages <strong>of</strong> her journey in light <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> various<br />
opportunities and challenges <strong>of</strong> handling more than one language.<br />
Implications were drawn <strong>for</strong> developing researcher competence, supervisor<br />
training, and research methodology text books.<br />
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