Being ‘proficient’ and ‘competent when using second language in ethnographic fieldwork’.pdf (original) (raw)
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Learning and Using Languages in Ethnographic Research (2019) Chapter 1
Learning & Using Languages for Ethnographic Research, 2019
Summary Learning and Using Languages in Ethnographic Research breaks the silence that still surrounds learning a language for ethnographic research and in the process demystifies some of the multilingual aspects of contemporary ethnographic work. It does this by offering a set of engaging and accessible accounts of language learning and use written by ethnographers who are at different stages of their academic career. A key theme is how researchers’ experiences of learning and using other languages in fieldwork contexts relate to wider structures of power, hierarchy and inequality. The volume aims to promote a wider debate among researchers about how they themselves learn and use different languages in their work, and to help future fieldworkers make more informed choices when carrying out ethnographic research using other languages. Review: Power, privilege, hierarchy, and dependence shape and often complicate ethnographers’ forays into unfamiliar languages. These thoughtful, reflexive essays, addressing an impressive range of field experiences, incisively reveal and explore the shifting ground of the authors’ linguistic interactions in relation to dynamics that are often invisible, usually risky, and always unpredictable. - Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University, USA This refreshing collection of articles reflects on issues of language in ethnographic research that anthropologists have tended to sweep under the carpet: The delicate issue of the ethnographer’s language competence; challenges of language learning; complications of multilingual fieldwork settings; and the ethnographer’s anxieties related to their own incomplete language mastery. Highly valuable for anyone doing ethnography in a language that is not one’s own! - Axel Borchgrevink, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway What does learning a language well enough to conduct research really require? This treasure trove of fifteen rich case studies takes readers on a global tour of anthropologists’ searching inquiries into their sophisticated linguistic travels and travails. The joys and confounding challenges of mastering a foreign language will never again appear either opaque or generic. - Alma Gottlieb, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
In The Graduate Journal of Social Science (GJSS), special issue Lost (and found) in Translation, December, pp.63-85. The original can be viewed on GJSS website: http://www.gjss.org/images/stories/volumes/6/3/0906.3a05Tremlett.pdf, 2009
The experience of researching in a second language is central to the types of ‘claims’ that can be made in ethnographic fieldwork, yet the process of language acquisition is barely explored in anthropological texts. This article contributes to addressing the gap through presenting a personal reflection on language learning during the research process. Learning Hungarian was central to the fieldwork experience referred to in this article, which included 15 months in a primary school in central Hungary researching discourses surrounding Roma (Gypsy) minorities. The article focuses on a personal account of learning Hungarian, acknowledging the importance of reflecting on language acquisition in order to illuminate the context in which research claims are made. This awareness of language learning in the field led to further insight into the problematic dimensions of claims-making in fieldwork and the role of anti-essentialist theorisation in empirical research. The focus is on how the personal experience of being a second language learner in research led to a greater understanding of the importance of accountability in ethnography, and how an anti-essentialist approach can help this process.
Learning and Using Languages in Ethnographic Research
2019
In this chapter I discuss several ways in which language learning was a valuable process in itself for my research in Morocco. Pre-research language learning cannot be expected to completely mitigate the risks and limitations of being an outsider in a foreign research context. However, I found that cultural learning was an inherent and invaluable element of my language preparation in both French and Moroccan Arabic. Unpicking the illusionary goal of becoming fluent in the language(s) and culture(s) of research contexts, I illustrate how some of the costs of learning a language may not be as insurmountable as many assume. I show how my stay at a language school provided a forgiving and powerful environment for research preparation, acting as a variety of rehearsal space. Finally, exploring the value of untranslatable and in-between linguistic terms, I consider how they helped build an understanding of the social phenomena of my research.
Teaching ethnography as Modern Languages method: legacies and future practices for global citizens
Language Culture and Curriculum, 2019
Most modern languages degrees in the UK include a Residence Abroad component, the key aims of which are to help students acquire a greater understanding of a new language and culture and to develop research skills. While the acquisition of linguistic competences has been well documented, cultural learning on the year abroad is less well researched. This article is based on an innovative pedagogic project carried out at the University of Southampton, in which students were provided with training in ethnographic methods and digital skills prior to their year abroad. This training was designed to foreground the process of cultural encounter and learning that students go through in order to carry out their individual Year Abroad Research Projects (YARPs). The paper will present results based on our analysis of the 'raw data' collected by students for their individual ethnographic YARPs, as well as individual interviews, focus group discussions, and the students' reflective blog posts. It also draws on evidence from a semester long module entitled 'Learning about Culture: Introduction to Ethnography'. We will highlight the main areas of successful cultural learning, and the places in which students come up against obstacles in their ethnographic encounters.
Ethical principles in linguistic fieldwork methodologies-According to whom
LD&C, 2021
This article seeks to establish a dialogue between the methodological proposals that have been put forward for linguistic fieldwork and the growing experiences of Indigenous linguists. It is well known that the theorizing of the methodologies that dictate linguists' interactions in their communities of study is carried out from a perspective foreign to both the language and the community. These methodologies are designed for and guided by non-Indigenous academics, predominantly academics from different countries than those of the language and its speakers. This paper argues that the challenges faced by insider and insider-outsider linguists are not the same challenges as those faced by outsider linguists. Thus, this article contributes to a reevaluation of the universality of ethical methodological principles of fieldwork behavior in contemporary linguistics and promotes a local, Indigenous perspective that implies the decolonization of fieldwork methodologies designed by and for foreigners and uncritically adopted by insider and insider-outsider linguists.
In this short working paper, I present how for cross-cultural fieldworkers, in particular native English speakers, issues of language use and linguaculture learning affect their experiences. My aim is to provoke some discussion on the value of using another’s language (or at least on the consequences of not doing so), in an age where English is widely spoken, and projects of social change always occur against the backdrop of globalization.
Ethnography for Language Learners
Foreign Language Annals, 1980
ABSTRACT If language is part of culture, there is also a sense in which culture is a component of language. When going abroad to learn or practice a foreign language, students should have some awareness of the target society's ethnography. If they adopt the role of ‘foreign tourist,’ they may be treated as outsiders, whereas a basic acquaintance with proxemics, kinesics, and sociology will help them play a more profitable role. The move from one society to another may not simply be horizontal, but may also involve diagonal change from one class or status to another, without the subject's realizing it. Some familiarity with elicitation techniques, especially in distinguishing implicit background information from the surface messages in which it is embedded, can help in learning how a language is used.
Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: INTRODUCTION
Eighth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence (University of Arizona, CERCLL), 2022
Note: After viewing this Introduction, see the video "Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: PRESENTATION" available on Academia.edu or at http://boylan.it/icc/talk/index.htm _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ENGLISH_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Results of an experimental module in English for Intercultural Communication (at Sapienza University of Rome, 2020) based on the online and classroom materials created for the EU project Picture and featuring real/virtual encounters with native speakers. Links to materials used and student results. ITALIAN________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I risultati di un modulo sperimentale di inglese per la comunicazione interculturale (presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, 2020) usando i materiali cartacei e online sviluppati per il progetto UE “Picture” e bastato su incontri reali/virtuali con nativi parlanti. Sono forniti link ai materiali e ai risultati degli studenti.