Author Archives: Richard Fay

The Durham seminar approaches ….

Posted on 30, June 2010 | Leave a comment

The previously announced exploratory two-day workshop on the theme of “Doing research multilingually” will soon be upon us (7th and 8th).

PhD students (past and present) – i.e. Mariam Attia, Xiaowei Zhou (Viv), Tzu-hsuan Liu (Carol) – as well myself and former colleague and LTE doctoral student Jane Andrews will all be attending.

The previously announced exploratory two-day workshop on the theme of “Doing research multilingually” will soon be upon us (7th and 8th).

Mariam Attia (whose blog page has just appeared here!), Xiaowei Zhou (Viv), Tzu-hsuan Liu (Carol), myself and former colleague and former LTE doctoral student Jane Andrews (I hope her blog page may also appear soon-ish) will all be attending.

Some provisional details for some of the inputs at this event:

 

Researching learning in children’s homes: some benefits and challenges of working with an interpreter (Jane andrews)

In this session I would like to share some experiences of working collaboratively with a community interpreter to engage in educational research in multilingual homes. I would welcome hearing participants’ thoughts on ways in which I have tackled ways of gathering, analysing and presenting multilingual data.

 

Walking the less trodden path: An account of bilingual research experiences (Mariam)

As doctoral researchers, we often think of our work in terms of area of investigation, theoretical framework, methodology, fieldwork, findings, supervisors, and research community. Rarely, do we approach it from the angle of the languages used, and their influence on the progression of the work. In this presentation, I delve deep into my experiences of doing research bilingually. I shed light on the different interactions between the languages used, and examine their impact on the development of the research.

Analyzing native and non-native ethnographic interviews (Chen, Shu-Hsin) 

In this presentation I will share my experiences of doing ethnographic research in two languages. I will also talk about methodological issues that arose from my PhD study.

Communication styles, Intercultural Exchanges and Translation (Alain Wolf)

This workshop is a discussion of some basic aspects of intercultural communication styles and translation from the perspectives of linguistic pragmatics and translation. Please note that this isn’t my own research but is intended to be part of a workshop exploring different examples of where translation has been taken for granted in research.

Conceptual frameworks: what we (perhaps) take for granted when researching across languages (jane Woodin)

This contribution will offer some insights into possible linguistic differences in conceptual frameworks relating to everyday words in languages (in this case English/Spanish). Through the consideration of examples of bilingual conversations between language learners, it will ask how easy it is in real-time communication to ‘decentre’ from the communication focus and consider the communication process itself. Possible implications of this question will be linked to ‘Doing Research Multilingually’, whether through research in multilingual groups, or working with multilingual data.

Implications of undertaking research bi-/multi-lingually: extra resources and responsibilities (Xiaowei Zhou)

I will use my PhD research as a case study to illustrate how bi-/multi-lingual considerations can run through the whole research process and bring extra resources and responsibilities to the researcher

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BAAL IC Sig – website

Posted on 28, June 2010 | Leave a comment

The latest BAAL Special Interest Group – in Intercultural Communication - has now got a web presence ….

… and all the presentations from this SIG’s inaugural event are available here

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Posted in The interculturalist

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MA TESOL pathways from September 2010

Posted on 24, June 2010 | Leave a comment

From September 2010, we are introducing three ‘named pathways’ to the MA TESOL degree so that graduates from it can exit with one of the following certificates:

  • MA TESOL
  • MA TESOL (Intercultural Education)
  • MA TESOL (Teacher Education)
  • MA TESOL (Educational Technology)

These options are for the MA TESOL programme only at the moment - the MA EdTech & TESOL programme continues as before.

For all three of these pathways, MA TESOL participants will take:

  1. the two core course units (i.e. Beyond approaches, methods, techniques + Language learning and technology);
  2. the pathway flagship course unit (i.e. respectively, Language education as intercultural practice, The education of language teachers, or one of the other educational technology course units);
  3. the Developing researcher competence course unit with a study focused in the ICE pathway area; and
  4. the Dissertation with a study focused in the ICE pathway area.

They complete the remainder of the programme (i.e. 3 x 15-credit course units) with electives of their own choice from the menus available (e.g. MA TESOL menu, MA EdTech & TESOL menu, MA AppLing menu, ISS, etc).

This development targets important dimensions of TESOL practitioner development as well as foregrounding the LTE areas of expertise/specialism in: educational technology & TESOL; (language) teacher education; and intercultural education.

Any/all reactions/feedback, most welcome.

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Posted in Teacher education, TESOL, The interculturalist

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Introducing Applied Linguistics … (Juup’s chapter)

Posted on 17, June 2010 | Leave a comment

Have you seen Juup’s new book chapter:

Chapter 5: What is communicative language teaching

“There are two reasons for why I wrote this chapter called ‘what is communicative language teaching’. As a tutor on an MA TESOL course I meet English language teachers from around the world, and a common question I get is: What is communicative language teaching? Trying to respond to this question again and again I have come to understand that there is no straightforward answer. This is especially true if you imagine how communicative language teaching (CLT) may change as it is interpreted by teachers in very different parts of the world. This brings me to the second reason for why I wrote this chapter. There is currently a ‘movement’ within TESOL that says it is inappropriate to use a standard teaching method across different teaching contexts and with different learners. CLT is often a ‘casualty’ of this argument.

This is no surprise as there have been frequent attempts to impose a standard version of CLT in teaching contexts around the world. I wrote the chapter because I think it is a mistake to reject CLT on this basis, and I believe it is a mistake to think that there is such a think as a standard version of CLT. Instead, I think that because communication can be understood in many different ways, communicative language teaching can be, and probably should be, understood differently by teachers working in different contexts around the world. You may say, then, that I wrote the chapter to encourage English language teachers to formulate their own understanding of what communicative language teaching is, thereby saving me the effort of trying to answer a question that they can answer so much better themselves.”

This chapter appears in the following edited volume:

  • Introducing Applied Linguistics: Concepts and Skills
  • edited by Susan Hunston and David Oakey
  • Published by Routledge (2010)

Read more about the authors here including LTE’s Juup Stelma.

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Narrative journals

Posted on 27, May 2010 | Leave a comment

Having just been to the Narrative Matters 2010 conference, I am reminded of the following journals which may be useful for those narratively-inclined:

Narrative Inquiry

Narrative Works — a new journal coming out of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research  on narrative (CIRN) at St Thomas University, New Brunswick, Canada. the first issue is scheduled for January 2010. This is how the journal was announced at the NM2010 conference:

At the conference, the Centre will announce the establishment of Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations, & Interventions, an online, open-access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal committed to exploring the complex role of narrative in countless aspects of human life. The inaugural issue is tentatively scheduled for January 2011.

Storytelling, Self, Society: An interdiciplinary journal of storytelling studies

Storyworlds: A journal of narrative studies

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How multilingual are LTE’s student researchers?

Posted on 5, May 2010 | Leave a comment

Here is an email message I sent to all LTE’s doctoral students recently to find out more about the multilingual possibilities and actualities of their research. It would also be interesting to know more about our MA students in the same regard ….

Introduction

Some of you will have heard – e.g. via the main LTE blog and/or the Doctoral Community blogs about my interest in our Doctoral students undertaking their research bi-/multilingually. For example, arising from this interest, there will be a seminar on this theme at the University of Durham in early July.

Prior to that, with Xiaowei Zhou and Tzu-hsuan Liu, I will be presenting a paper on this theme at the Narrative Matters conference in late May. It would help us greatly if we could be more certain what the situation is regarding this theme in relation to your Doctoral studies.

 

The Deal

I would therefore be grateful if you could answer the following questions for me (some tense changes may be necessary for you to interpret them depending on whether you are a former, current or likely doctoral student with us).

I will, in return, a) circulate what I learn from this process, b) circulate the paper and c) continue to raise this issue in our blogs and elsewhere.

I hope the Qs below are clear. Many thanks in advance. R.

 

Your linguistic resources

Q1. In what languages are you fluent (or have some fluency)?

(please list in order beginning with your most fluent languages, i.e. your first language(s))

 

Linguistics possibilities in your research

Q2. Which of the languages you list for Q1 could you conceivably use* in your research activities, e.g. to read the literature, to generate and analyse data, to write research texts / reports, etc?

* Or, for former students, “could you have conceivably used” / or, for likely students, “might you conceivably use”, etc

Your actual research design vis-a-vis your language resources

Q3, Which of the languages you list for Q1 above are you actually using+ in your doctoral research?

+ or, for former students, “did you actually use” / or, for likely students, “do you plan to use”, etc

 Would you be willing for me to follow up on your above responses (e.g. with a further email asking questions about how you are using each of these languages in your research)? Many thanks once more.

Richard

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Posted in Researching multilingually

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TIRF funding for Dissertations

Posted on 22, April 2010 | Leave a comment

Subject: [TESOL] TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant

April 21, 2010

 The deadline is May 15, 2010 for the TIRF 2010 Doctoral Dissertation Grant (DDG) competition. For more details about the grants and how to apply for the 2010 awards, visit TIRF’s website www.tirfonline.org

TIRF, The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to generate new knowledge about English language teaching and learning.

It aims:

To promote the application of research to practical language problems

To collect, organize, and disseminate information and research on the teaching and learning of language

To influence the formation and implementation of appropriate language education policies, taking cognizance of the complementarity of English as an international language and indigenous languages and cultures worldwide

TIRF is committed to the development of a research agenda that is flexible and dynamic, both addressing perennial issues and evolving as critical questions present themselves. The foundation’s current focus is on promoting research and best practices that will improve the use of English in the emerging global knowledge economy of the 21st century.

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The Durham Seminar

Posted on 22, April 2010 | Leave a comment

Here is the text of the promotional flyer we are crafting for this event:

Doing research multilingually

An exploratory seminar

 

Durham University School of Education

7th – 8th July, 2010

 

Many researchers, both doctoral and post-doc, collect and/or generate data in one or more languages and present them in another. Such multilingual possibilities create both affordances and complexities but often the issues involved remain hidden and unspoken. This is partly a matter of translation: sometimes researchers analyse and then translate, sometimes they translate and analyse, and sometimes a combination of the two. The multilingual complexities also occur when, for example, researchers work with interpreters or other research facilitators, when they decide on the analytical procedures, and when drawing on literature in a variety of languages.

 

In this small meeting – based on work at Durham and Manchester Schools of Education – we shall hear of researchers’ experience and data – and what decisions they made vis-à-vis the multilingual dimension of their work. The seminar context means that the initial focus is on supervised research in English-medium universities but the meeting is exploratory with a view to a more substantial seminar at a later date.

 

We invite anyone interested in joining the meeting to write to us to explain their interest and how they might contribute at this stage.

 

Richard Fay (Manchester) and Mike Byram (Durham)

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PhD Scholarship – World Englishes

Posted on 16, February 2010 | Leave a comment

Please find below details of the following PhD studentship at Northumbria University (deadline for applications is 18th March 2010). Please forward to potential applicants:

 

English Language and Linguistics, The Department of Humanities at Northumbria University invites applications for a PhD studentship in Language Attitudes and World Englishes/English as an International Language.

Applications are welcomed in relation to the investigation of outer/expanding circle Englishes and especially in the following areas: attitudes towards varieties of English; language and identity; spread of English; language policy and planning; second language acquisition.

The successful applicant will receive:

A full fee waiver (home and EU students only);

£5k per annum bursary for 3 years (all students, including international);

A 30-hour teaching preparation course involving teaching practice and shadowing of experienced staff;

Guaranteed teaching hours in years 2 and 3 of the programme;

A dedicated work station within a good quality working environment;

Access to funds to support research expenses (conferences or library visits).

Eligibility

Applicants are normally expected to hold a MA degree in Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics or a closely related field.

Further information about the PhD studentship is available here:

English Language and Linguistics at Northumbria University is a diverse subject that covers a wide range of topics from language evolution and change to language spread and metaphor, with particular strengths in language learning and teaching, sociolinguistics and the psychology of language. While most of our research focuses on English (including historical varieties and world Englishes), our staff members have also worked on or have an active interest in a number of other languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, French, German and Polish.

For further information about the Department of Humanities and the English Language and Linguistics group at Northumbria University please visit us and more specifically here:

For additional information about the PhD studentship and an application form, interested applicants should contact:

Gill Drinkald, Senior Research Administrator,

Email: gill.drinkald@northumbria.ac.uk Tel: 0191 227 3880

 

Dr Robert M. McKenzie

Senior Lecturer

English Language and Linguistics

School of Arts & Social Sciences

Northumbria University

Lipman Building

Sandyford Road

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 8ST

Tel: +44 (0) 191 227 3122

email: robert.mckenzie@northumbria.ac.uk

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Posted in TESOL, The interculturalist

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Linguistics for IC education in language learning and teaching

Posted on 8, February 2010 | Leave a comment

Call for chapters:

(deadline for abstracts: 1st March 2010)

Linguistics for intercultural education in language learning and teaching

Editors:

Fred Dervin & Anthony J. Liddicoat

available at:

http://users.utu.fi/freder/CFClinguisticsinterculturaleducation.pdf

Dr Fred Dervin,

Adjunct Professor (Sociology, University of Joensuu, Finland)

Adjunct Professor (Language and intercultural education, University of

Turku, Finland)

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Posted in The interculturalist

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