1. Jane Andrews
University of the West of England
Researching Multilingually network event
April 25-26 2012

2.  Background to the study
 Some possible approaches to researching
multilingually
 The approach taken
 Data indicating areas of researcher –
interpreter collaboration
 Concluding thoughts

3.  Steinar Kvale – InterView
 Vygotsky – intersubjectivity
 Bakhtin – dialogue
 Shah – interviewer as an ‘intercultural
intruder’
 Whose views are being exchanged and how?
 Research participants
 Researcher
 Interpreter

4.  Large Economic and Social Research Council
funded project, part of the Teaching &
Learning Research Programme
 Focus on learning in and out of school
 Children’s, parents’, teachers’ knowledge
and practices explored
 Strict sampling frame – 2 cities, 3 research
strands, 12 primary schools selected
according to FSM as a measure of affluence/
poverty

5.  Unit of study was the school, the class, then
case study families
 Welsh medium schools in Cardiff, Wales
 Children learning through the medium of
English in Bristol schools
 Children and families in the project used
Welsh, Gujurati, Somali, Hindi, Urdu,
Panjabi
 ‘changing’ sample – children moved house,
schools were deemed by OfSTED to be
‘failing’ and parents chose to move their
children to new schools

6.  GillCrozier – study of specific groups e.g.
Bangladeshi parents, employment of
researchers with specified language skills
 Temple & Ros Edwards – use of interpreters
as co-researchers
 Opportunistic use of who is available –
neighbours/friends/relatives

7.  Employment of a Bristol City Council
interpreter with specific language skills
 Briefing before visit to family home
 Negotiation of roles in the home
 JA to operate tape, interpreter to pose
questions and engage with family then relay
to me the interaction in English
 Emphasis on interpreter developing rapport
with family
 Consecutive translation used

8.  Interpreterconveyed linguistic & cultural
information to me:
 About her processes – “we’re going to speak
in Hindi”
 About approaches to cookery – “we use
handfuls”
 Referred to her shared knowledge with
father – “We Indians”

9. Father to interpreter (in Hindi)
“and I also ask him what he has learnt
today, what has happened at school today,
how was school I ask him everything”
Interpreter to JA (in English)
“The communication between er like father
and son is good because he asks him
everyday what he studied”

10. JA Can I just go back to number seven, has the
school been communicating to you about what
… what they’re teaching in maths this year?
Is there any communication in that way?
Int (to JA) Between the school and the dad?
JA Yes, yes.
Int (to father) um… when I asked you the
question before about do you talk to him about what
you’ve done at school in maths. Do they ever write
to the school about what they’re doing at school or
anything?

11. Int to father how long did you study?
Father (********) years
Int Till 10th class?
Father Yes
Int to JA Up till primary education in
maths and number two …
Int to father and do you feel like you’ve
missed out on something, as you
didn’t study for a long time

12. Int to JA It’s a very difficult question isn’t
it?
JA It is.
……
Int to JA So how do you, when you … how
do you think people learn, is
generally educational learning or …
JA Well for instance thinking of learning
in the broad sense, not just as a
school subject but…

13. Areas to consider in research collaborations:
 Shared understanding of terms/purposes of
the research
 Shared understanding of the function of each
question/task
 Shared awareness of ethical approach taken
in the study – use of probing questions or not
 Shared awareness of stance to take in
relation to content of interview – non-
judgemental

14. Crozier, G (2009) South Asian Parents’ Aspirations &
Teachers’ Expectations in the UK in Theory into
Practice 48/4, 290-296
Kvale, S (1996) InterViews – An introduction to
qualitative research interviewing London: Sage
Shah, S. (2004) The researcher/interviewer in
intercultural context: a social intruder! In British
Educational Research Journal Vol.30, No.4,
pp.549-575
Temple, B., & Edwards, R. (2002)
Interpreters/translators and cross-language
research: Reflexivity and border crossings In
International Journal of Qualitative Methods 1
(2)