Paper presented at the Researching Multilingually seminar, held at The University of Manchester, UK. (22-23 May, 2012). Some slides have been added, containing information that was communicated orally during the seminar.

1. Γιαθάνεια ζηα δίγλωζζα δεδομένα:
Προθεηικόηηηες και επιλογές αναπαράζηαζης
Ατιλλέας Κωζηούλας
Δρεσνώνηας με πολλές γλώζζες, 22-23 Μαΐοσ 2012
Πανεπιζηήμιο ηοσ Μάνηζεζηερ, Ηνωμένο Βαζίλειο

2. Transparency in bilingual data :
Intentionalities & representational positions
Achilleas Kostoulas
Researching Multilingually, 22-23 May 2012
The University of Manchester

3. Overview
Representational
My study Intentionalities
Positions
Participants Linguapolitical Unedited
Epistemological Standardised
A linguistic
hierarchy of power
Methodological Unabridged
Challenges Ethical Summarised

4. Research participants
• Learners:
– Predominantly Greek (first language: Modern Greek)
– Some with immigrant heritage (first language: Greek
or Albanian, bilingual?)
– Various levels of competence in English
• Teachers
– Native speakers of Modern Greek
– Formally trained in English
– Some variance in English language competence
• Researcher
– Native speaker of Modern Greek
– Competent in English

5. A linguistic hierarchy
Teachers
Proficient learners
Not so proficient learners

6. A linguistic hierarchy
Teachers
Researcher?
Proficient learners
Not so proficient learners

7. INTENTIONALITIES
1. Lingua-political
2. Epistemological
3. Methodological
4. Ethical

8. Lingua-political (I):
The spread of English
• Mounting concern about the global spread of English
(Crystal, 2000, Calvet 1999, Ngugi 1986, Phillipson
1992, 2009b).
• The spread of English in the academic domain, may lead to
social capital deprecation among speakers of other languages.
(cf. Phillipson 2009a).
• It would be helpful if scholarship could be produces in forms
that acknowledge the diversity of the local linguistic ecology.
Crystal, D. (2000). Language death. Cambridge ; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Calvet, L. J. (1999). La guerre de langues et de politiques linguistiques. Paris: Hachette.
wa Thiongʼo (1986). Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London : J. Currey.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Phillipson, R. (2009a). English in globalisation, a lingua franca or a lingua frankensteinia? TESOL Quarterly, 43, 335-339.
Phillipson, R. (2009b). Linguistic imperialism continued. New York, NY: Routledge.

9. Lingua-political (II):
Greek as a tri-graphic language
Ἑλληνικὰ: Πολυτονικῆ Γραφῆ
• Falling into disuse.
• In need of preservation.
Ελληνικά: Μονοτονική Γραφή
• Current standard; largely standardised
• Unmarked.
Ellhnika: Latinotropos grafh
• Non-standardised; controversial
• In need of legitimating.

10. Epistemological
• Is 1-to-1 semantic equivalence…
– desirable?
– possible?
• Whose ‘voice’ does a translation convey?

11. Methodological
Στο μάθημα των Αγγλικών πρώτα γράφουμε ορθογραφία, στη
συνέχεια λέμε το μάθημα, μετά κάνουμε ασκήσεις, και στο τέλος μας
βάζουν ασκήσεις για το σπίτι, αλλά και λέξεις για ορθογραφία.
Literal translation Interim document
In the lesson of English, In a [typical] English lesson,
first we do the dictation, we start with a vocabulary test,
then we say the lesson, then we go through a presentation,
next we do exercises, next we do exercises,
and in the end they put on and in the end we are assigned
us exercises for the house, homework,
but and words for dictation. and [told to learn] some words.

12. Ethical
M: I think it is very important. I. I don’t say that, teachers who are
not native speaker, speakers are not good at their job, but I >if
we take into consideration the fact that students are
examined< (2 sec) in . <the part where they have to listen to a
tape, which is, is recorded by, English>. I I think it is very
important because they come into contact with. new forms of
language that perhaps is used by, the speaker (2 sec) with the
pronunciation, intonation and, this helps them, a lot.
[...]
M: and then ask my students to give me examples. For example
(2 sec) I when I teached the passive voice, I gave them the
rule, and I told them ‘try to give me an example’. But this
didn’t work with everybody because they feel the pressure
that ‘I have to use the foreign language’ and they couldn’t do
this.

13. REPRESENTATIONAL
POSITIONS
1. Verbatim
2. Standardised
3. Unabridged
4. Summarised

14. A cline of representational positions
Transparent Opaque
Verbatim Standardised Unabridged Summarised
data data data data
Bilingual Monolingual
representation representation

15. Verbatim bilingual data
Amy: Και το ξζρεισ κι εςφ καλφτερα από Amy: And I’m sure you know this better
μζνα, πωσ ςτθν ςχ- >το μάκαμε και than I do, that at uni- >when we were
απ’ τθν ςχολι< ότι για να μάκει το at University< we learnt that for a child
παιδί κάτι πρζπει απαραίτθτα να γίνει to learn there needs to be some kind of
καποιο «noticing», ζτςι; (2 sec) Αλλά noticing, right? But when an
ο Άγγλοσ όταν μιλάει με ςωςτι, με Englishman speaks in correct, in RP
RP, κα πει «dishes» αλλά επειδι είναι [Received Pronunciation], he will say
native speaker, κα είναι με devoicing “dishes” but because he’s a native
ςτο /d/, ξζρεισ, και καλά ςαν speaker it will be with devoicing in the
*«tishes» (3 sec) /d/, you know, as in, like *“tishes”
Achilleas : Πιςτ- Νομίηεσ ότι αυτό Achilleas: Do you belie- Do you think that
είναι, ότι αποτελεί πρόβλθ*μα; this is, it amounts to a prob[lem?
Amy: *Ναι, αλλά ο Αγγλοσ Amy: [Yes, but the
αυτό το κάνει χωρίσ να το Englishman does this without
καταλαβαίνει, γιατί είναι native understanding, because he’s a native
speaker. Και όχι μόνο αυτό, δεν speaker. And not only that, he doesn’t
καταλαβαίνει κιόλασ ότι αυτό even understand that this is, ti
είναι, ςυνιςτά πρόβλθμα για τον constitutes a problem for the Greek
Ζλλθνα μακθτι, αν μιλάει ζτςι. students, if that’s how he speaks.

16. Verbatim bilingual data
Amy: Και το ξζρεισ κι εςφ καλφτερα από Amy: And I’m sure you know this better
μζνα, πωσ ςτθν ςχ- >το μάκαμε και than I do, that at uni- >when we were
απ’ τθν ςχολι< ότι για να μάκει το at University< we learnt that for a child
παιδί κάτι πρζπει απαραίτθτα να γίνει to learn there needs to be some kind of
καποιο «noticing», ζτςι; (2 sec) Αλλά noticing, right? But when an
ο Άγγλοσ όταν μιλάει με ςωςτι, με Englishman speaks in correct, in RP
RP, κα πει «dishes» αλλά επειδι είναι [Received Pronunciation], he will say
native speaker, κα είναι με devoicing “dishes” but because he’s a native
ςτο /d/, ξζρεισ, και καλά ςαν speaker it will be with devoicing in the
*«tishes» (3 sec) /d/, you know, as in, like *“tishes”
Achilleas : Πιςτ- Νομίηεσ ότι αυτό Achilleas: Do you belie- Do you think that
είναι, ότι αποτελεί πρόβλθ*μα; this is, it amounts to a prob[lem?
Amy: *Ναι, αλλά ο Αγγλοσ Amy: [Yes, but the
αυτό το κάνει χωρίσ να το Englishman does this without
καταλαβαίνει, γιατί είναι native understanding, because he’s a native
speaker. Και όχι μόνο αυτό, δεν speaker. And not only that, he doesn’t
καταλαβαίνει κιόλασ ότι αυτό even understand that this is, it
είναι, ςυνιςτά πρόβλθμα για τον constitutes a problem for the Greek
Ζλλθνα μακθτι, αν μιλάει ζτςι. students, if that’s how he speaks.

17. Verbatim bilingual data
• Highlights theoretically significant aspects of
form.
• Promotes visibility of languages other than
English.
BUT
• Can we completely avoid being selective &
reductive?
• Is the word-space used at the expense of
argument?
• Can the dissemination outlet typographically
support this?

18. Standardised bilingual data
«Δε μου αρζςει και τόςο όταν βαργεμε (sic) *...+ γιατι οταν
βαργεμε (sic), βαργεμε (sic)». [I don’t really like it when I’m
bord (sic) […] because when I’m bord (sic), I’m bord (sic).]
«Δε μου αρζςει και τόςο όταν βαριζμαι [...] γιατί όταν
βαριζμαι, βαριζμαι». [I don’t really like it when I’m
bored […] because when I’m bored, I’m bored.]

19. Standardised bilingual data
• Removes language infelicities that might
detract attention from the participants’ view.
• Levels off differences between competent
and not-so-competent users.
BUT
• Whose standard is used? Why?
• Is the data distorted in this way?

20. Unabridged monolingual data
… to write, we don’t make mistakes and readind grammar rules.
In an English class we should to learn grammar, reading and listening, because with them …
Νομίηω ότι το ςθμαντικότερο είναι θ γραμματικι και το λεξιλόγιο …
Πιςτεφω ότι πρζπει να ξζρουμε γραμματικι, λεξιλόγιο, listening και speaking για να …
My opinion is a little bit more important. Grammar lessons because this will help us speak …
Εγώ πιςτεφω ότι πρζπει και να ξζρουμε γραμματικι και να μιλάμε καλά χωρίσ πολλά λάκοι.
I will have lots of exercises, reading and grammar, because I will have more exercise for it, …
Γραμματικι, γιατί πιςτεφω ότι εάν ξζρεισ καλά τθ γραμματικι ξζρεισ και να μιλάσ και να διαβάηεισ αλλά
κ.α.
Views such as the following were typical of the students’ responses: “I believe
that the most important [thing] is grammar and vocabulary…”

21. Unabridged monolingual data
• Useful when presenting quotes that
symbolically represent large sets of bilingual
data, rather than actual utterances.
BUT
• How is the quote selected?
• Does it reinforce language inequalities?

22. Summarised monolingual data
When I asked one of the teachers, whom I knew to
present very comprehensive notes, to comment on this
practice she replied that:
…the grammar sections [in the books] were not very useful to
the students, as they tend not to read them, but they are
quite useful to the teachers, because they allow them to
elaborate on the grammatical content of the lesson. After
prompting, she explained that learners are of course exposed
to new grammar in the language input sections of the
materials, but this is not always comprehensive as it did not
cover all eventualities or exceptions. For instance, there may
be a text in the students’ books demonstrating the plural
forms of nouns, but it’s unlikely to contain enough input to
cover all the irregular forms. (Donna)

23. Summarised monolingual data
• Highlights content rather than form.
• Useful when transcript might damage
participants’ confidence and / or reputation.
BUT
• Is transparency compromised?

24. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
Achilleas.Kostoulas@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

25. COMMENTS?
Achilleas.Kostoulas@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk