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Researcher Development Initiative (RDI), 2005 - 2010


Researching Multilingualism, Multilingualism in Research Practice

01/05/10 - 30/04/13

 

This RDI project aims to:

 

  1. Provide, for researchers at different points in their career, advanced training and development activities

          which are related to the study of multilingualism and to multilingualism in research practice;

  1. Encourage the transfer and application of well-established research methods from contemporary

          sociolinguistic studies of multilingualism to other social science disciplines, particularly education;

  1. Develop dedicated research training materials and facilitate dialogue among researchers involved in

          running research methodology courses for postgraduate students conducting research in

          multilingual contexts.

 

Structure and content of the project
Over 3 years, the project will include the following activities:

 

  • A five-day residential course: Researching multilingualism: key concepts, methods and issues (University of Birmingham, July 2010 and April 2011).
  • 5 follow-up support days at Birmingham
  • 1 two-day workshop: Transcribing bilingual discourse at the ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism (Bangor University)
  • 5 one-day regional workshops on specific themes (at the Universities of Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, Leeds, Strathclyde and Trinity College, Carmarthen)
  • 2 master-classes at Birmingham (Professor Monica Heller, University of Toronto and Professor Alastair Pennycook, University of Technology, Sydney)
  • Ongoing development of specialist research training materials
  • A final conference (venue to be negotiated): New times, new multilingualisms, new research methods.

 

To ensure long-term sustainability, project activities will be progressively embedded within those of key research networks and learned societies between 2010 and 2012. (e.g. UK Linguistic Ethnography Forum

www.ling-ethnog.org.uk, special interest group, British Association for Applied Linguistics).

 

Principal Investigator: Dr Deirdre Martin, University of Birmingham
Co-Investigators: Professor Marilyn Martin-Jones, University of Birmingham,

Dr Sheena Gardner, University of Birmingham,

Professor Angela Creese, University of Birmingham,

Professor Adrian Blackledge, University of Birmingham



Contact Details

Dr. Deirdre Martin,
University of Birmingham
Professor Marilyn Martin-Jones
University of Birmingham

Email: d.m.martin@bham.ac.uk and
m.martinjones@bham.ac.uk
Tel: 0121 414 4849
or  0121 414 4862