Juup Stelma
I work in the Manchester Institute of Education of The University of Manchester. I am a Senior Lecturer in TESOL. My main teaching activity is on the MA TESOL, where I teach units on Psychology of Language Learning and Researcher Education. I also teach on the MA International Education. I supervise a number of doctoral students.
My main interest is the use of Ecological theory, and the concept of Intentionality, to develop understanding of TESOL and Applied Linguistics activity, contexts and outcomes.
I am Dutch by birth, grew up in Norway, but have lived and worked in the US, South Korea, and - since 1998 - in the UK.
If you want to learn more about TESOL at Manchester, or if you want to talk about things ecological, feel free to email me or to post a message here in Academia.edu.
Address: Manchester Institute of Education
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom
My main interest is the use of Ecological theory, and the concept of Intentionality, to develop understanding of TESOL and Applied Linguistics activity, contexts and outcomes.
I am Dutch by birth, grew up in Norway, but have lived and worked in the US, South Korea, and - since 1998 - in the UK.
If you want to learn more about TESOL at Manchester, or if you want to talk about things ecological, feel free to email me or to post a message here in Academia.edu.
Address: Manchester Institute of Education
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom
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The first part of the paper attempts to extrapolate, from the above described experiences, a systematic set of motives for how the multilingual dimension of research may be approached. This includes engagement motivated by: a) multilingual elements present in research aims and/or research questions; b) multilingual categories of analysis and/or frames of interpretation; c) a wish to enhance research quality (reliability/validity/credibility/other); d) practicalities (time, technology, linguistic competence of research team members, dissemination, and more), and e) ‘lingua-political’ (see note) considerations. These motives are provisionally contrasted with engagement or disengagement grounded in: f) conventions related to languages present in academic, professional and/or social environments, and g) what may be the ‘fashion’ of the day. This analysis does not exclude the possibility of motives combining and interacting in researching multilingually.
In order to move beyond a descriptive and perhaps non-comprehensive listing of motives, the above approaches are further theorised using concepts from ecological psychology. The paper offers a theoretical discussion of how each of the identified motives may be realising ‘research-relevant affordances’ (see Stelma 2011). Research-relevant affordances are defined as ‘intentional’ (as in purposeful) and as situated in particular research activity. The ecological perspective also offers a theorised view of the influence of ‘conventions’ (following Norman 1999). Conventions may have originated in previous research activity, but uncritical ‘application’ of conventions to new research activity may not add any value. Hence, approaches to the multilingual dimension of research can range from realising intentional research-relevant affordances in the moment and within particular research projects … to … conforming to ‘generalised’ conventions with little or no sense of underlying intentionalities. To the best of my knowledge, the ecological psychology literature I draw on has not (yet) attempted to explain ‘fashion’.
The paper concludes with an explicit valuing of the ability to consciously, i.e. intentionally, realise research-relevant affordances within a research project. This ability may turn the multilingual dimension of a research project into a source of strength. Conversely, the paper warns against letting convention or fashion shape how the multilingual dimension of research is approached.