Researching language needs using ‘insiders’: Mediated trilingualism and other issues of power asymmetries
Author(s) -
Androulakis George
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12037
Subject(s) - multilingualism , presentation (obstetrics) , process (computing) , qualitative research , code (set theory) , power (physics) , immigration , sociology , linguistics , order (exchange) , public relations , political science , knowledge management , business , computer science , pedagogy , social science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , medicine , set (abstract data type) , finance , law , radiology , programming language , operating system
This paper exposes researching multilingually processes and findings from a research project investigating the provision of specialized G reek courses for immigrants from A lbania, P akistan and R omania. Linguistic mediators from the respective communities were appointed in order to facilitate qualitative research for the exploration of immigrants' needs. The research process proved to be more multilingual than what was initially planned. A mediated trilingualism emerged for the research within the communities, with the use of ‘international’ languages ( I talian, E nglish, F rench) between home languages and G reek. Faced with issues of power asymmetries, and of data translation and management, the project leader opted for an approach encouraging multilingualism and code‐switching in all its stages, from collection of data to presentation of outcomes.