Critical Reflections on Research Methods: Power and Equity in Complex Multilingual Contexts

This book explores the challenges and opportunities involved in conducting research with members of immigrant, refugee and other minoritized communities. Through first-hand reflective accounts, contributors explore community-based collaborative work, and suggest important implications for applied linguistics, educational research and anthropological investigations of language, literacy and culture. By critically reflecting on the power and limits of university-based research conducted on behalf of, or in collaboration with, members of local communities and by exploring the complicated relationships, dynamics and understandings that emerge, the chapters collectively demonstrate the value of reflecting on the possibilities and challenges of the research process, including the ethical and emotional dimensions of participating in collaborative research.

Doris S. Warriner is Associate Professor of English, Arizona State University, USA. Her research interests include applied linguistics, literacy studies, and research methods.

Martha Bigelow is Professor in Second Language Education at the University of Minnesota, USA. Her research focuses on equity in language teaching and learning in the U.S. and abroad with particular emphasis on contexts with immigrant and refugee-background youth. She has engaged in transformative and sustainable curriculum projects in Vietnam, Costa Rica, and India. Her newest book with Doris Warriner is entitled Relationships, reciprocity and research in complex contexts: Critical reflections on methods, power and equity (Multilingual Matters).

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