Multilingual researcher identities: Interpreting linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms

Citation

Creese A, Bhatt A & Martin P (2009) Multilingual researcher identities: Interpreting linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. In: Miller J, Kostogriz A & Gearon M (eds.) Culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms: new dilemmas for teachers. Bristol: Channel View Publications, pp. 215-233.

Abstract
First paragraph: This chapter addresses one of five research aims of an Economic Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded project that looked at multilingualism in complementary schools in four communities. The research aim was to 'develop innovative ethnographic team methodologies using interlocking case studies across diverse social, cultural, religious and linguistic contexts'. In this chapter, our aim is to give an account of working in a multilingual team. We focus, in particular, on the Gujarati case study and the two researchers most involved in this. The larger project consisted of four case studies and nine researchers in total. Each case study was made up of a pairing of researchers who also worked in the larger team of nine. Here, we focus on the Gujarati case study for a number of reasons. First, the two researchers have worked closely together over several research projects on complementary schools (Martin et al., 2004), offering reflections that go back to 2002. The two researchers' vignettes describe their close collaboration over six years. Second, although each of the four case study pairings offers interesting insights and could be used in a chapter such as this, chapter length necessitated a choice of only one. A fuller account of all nine vignettes can be found in Blackledge and Creese (in press).

Journal
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: New Dilemmas for Teachers