1. Researching multilingually adult
immigrants’ language needs in order to
design a course of Greek as a second
language
George Androulakis
University of Thessaly
androulakis@uth.gr
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
3. The context
Greece and its monolingual tradition
Recent immigration into Greece
Greek as a second language
The need of needs analysis
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
4. Needs analysis components
(1/2)
Context situation, in which the course will be run
Personal/social information about learners
Language information about learners
Professional and social information about learners
Learners’ deficiencies and strengths
Language learning needs formulated by the learners
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
5. Needs analysis components
(2/2)
Language learning needs formulated by the second
language community
Learners’ needs from/about the course
Language and communication patterns used in the
target situation
Content analysis of documents used in the target
situation.
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
6. Needs analysis strategy:
questions
Who will conduct the study?
What kind of information is to be collected?
How the information will be collected?
How the findings will be interpreted?
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
7. “ELMEGO” project
Interdisciplinary, qualitative research
-Stages: 3 distinct but interdependent stages
-Research team: interdisciplinary, hierarchy (4 “grades”)
-1st stage: 3 researchers for the fieldwork (1 Albanian-speaking)
Field: Volos
-Target groups: 3 ethnic communities: Albanian, Pakistani, Romanian
-More precisely: parents with children in compulsory education.
Research methods and tools:
- participant observation of everyday situations
- focus groups
-interviews
•for a period of ten months (Jan. 2011 to Oct 2011).
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
8. Exploring the literature
Previous researches on the same issue ?
-Many studies on multilingualism, not on multilingually
conducted researchQ
Topics:
- Needs assessment / analysis
-Immigration and language / multilingualism
-Parents-school communication / involvement
Languages:
-IL: English, French, German, Italian
-TL: Greek
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
9. Process
Data generation
Transcription of recordings
Reformulation in “academic” (applied linguistics)
Greek
Presentation of the research (English and Greek)
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
10. The tools
Participant Observation
Focus groups
Interviews
Research protocol: written in Greek only!
(other languages: hidden)
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
13. The data
Mostly in Greek (TL).
- (“It has to be in Greek”; “It’s about Greek after all!”)
But: Albanian, Urdu, Romanian (SL)
Paired with: Italian, English, French (shared IL)
for some speakers.
Trilingualism for each community!
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
14. Research and multilingualism
Language choice
Translation into Greek
Codeswitching
Negotiations between researchers – mediators – participants about:
language (language needs at several levels);
power relations (distance, trust);
“meaning of the research” (usefulness, context, their personal perspective)
Initially monolingual perception of the research
Other Ls generated and gradually encouraged.
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
15. Translation and translatability
Cultural/pragmatic/linguistic differences, representations:
complex decodings from L to L
Diversity of languages and levels of competences
Need to translate concepts often private and emotional
Examples (Albanian – Greek)
Zot – Θεόσ
problem – πρόβλθμα
Ø – φροντιςτιριο
hyrje në shkencë – γραμματικι ???
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
16. Extracts from the researchers’ diaries
1/4
Σώρα, ςχετικά με το τι κάναμε εμείσ: Όπωσ αναφζρκθκε ιδθ πολλζσ φορζσ μασ
μετζφραηαν άλλοι, διαμεςολαβιτριεσ ι άλλοι ομόγλωςςοι που ιταν παρόντεσ/οφςεσ. Σα
προβλιματα που ςυναντιςαμε ςχετικά με τισ γλώςςεσ ιταν περιςςότερα από όςα
περιμζναμε. Χρειάςτθκε πολλζσ φορζσ να αναπροςαρμόςουμε τθ ςτρατθγικι μασ. Π.χ.
ρωτοφςαμε ςυχνά, ώςτε να ςιγουρευτοφμε αν καταλάβαμε ςωςτά. Αυτό ιδιαίτερα ςε μία
περίπτωςθ μθτζρασ από τθ Ρουμανία (αν κυμάμαι καλά 2 χρόνια ςτθν Ελλάδα) δεν ιταν
κακόλου εφκολο. Ιδιαίτερα όταν μιλοφςαμε ςτο τθλζφωνο μαηί τθσ κυμάμαι ότι είχαμε
δυςκολίεσ, οπότε κάποιεσ φορζσ ζπρεπε να πάμε από το ςπίτι τθσ, ώςτε από κοντά να
επιτευχκεί μια καλφτερθ επικοινωνία. ε ομάδα εςτίαςθσ που κάναμε με τθν Αλεξάνδρα,
θ οποία μιλάει αλβανικά, κυμάμαι ότι προςπάκθςε να διατυπώςει κάποιεσ ερωτιςεισ ι
να δώςει το ςτίγμα τθσ ερώτθςθσ με κάποιεσ λζξεισ ςτα αλβανικά. Πόςο ςίγουρεσ μπορεί
να είμαςτε όμωσ για το αν αποδίδουμε ςωςτά το πνεφμα των αναγκών τουσ;
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
17. Extracts from the researchers’ diaries
2/4 (translates 1/4)
Concerning what we have done so far; as often mentioned before, others were
translating for us, our mediators or other native speakers who were present. The
problems that we faced regarding languages were more important
than we were expecting. Very often we had to reconsider our strategy.
For example, we used to ask again, so as to be sure if we got it right. This wasn't
easy at all especially in the case of a mother from Romania (I think she had
arrived in Greece just 2 years ago). Especially when talking on the phone with
her, we can remember having many communicative difficulties. So sometimes we
had to visit her at home, so as to achieve a better communication result. In a
focus group that we formed with Alexandra, who speaks Albanian, I can recall
her trying to make some questions or to simply give the outline of the question
using some words in Albanian. However, how sure can we be that we
correctly express the spirit of their needs?
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
18. Extracts from the researchers’ diaries
3/4
Μου ζχει τφχει περιςτατικό ςυνάντθςθσ ςτο τζκι με δυο –τρεισ μετανάςτεσ που
πίναμε καφζ, να αρχίςουν να μιλάνε ςτα αλβανικά ςε βακμό που δε μποροφςα να
ςυμμετζχω ςτθ ςυηιτθςθ, οπότε και βρζκθκα ςτθ κζςθ που πικανότατα ζχουν
βρεκεί οι ίδιοι ςτθν Ελλάδα μθ γνωρίηοντασ ελλθνικά. Αυτι ιταν μια ςτιγμι που
μου ζκανε καλό ωσ ερευνιτρια, κακώσ ξεκίνθςα να ςκζφτομαι τουσ ςυςχετιςμοφσ
δυνάμεων και εξουςίασ από τθν αντίςτροφθ οπτικι και εκ των ζςω. Κατά κάποιο
τρόπο ιρκα πιο κοντά ςτθν κατανόθςθ τθσ ετερότθτασ. Ακόμθ, με ζκανε να νιώςω
ευχάριςτα μπορώ να πω, κακώσ χάρθκα που ζβλεπα τουσ ςυμμετζχοντεσ να
απελευκερώνονται και να φζρονται επθρεαςμζνοι όλο και λιγότερο από τθν
παρουςία μου. Κάποια ςτιγμι μόνοι τουσ ζνιωςαν ότι αυτό ίςωσ δεν ιταν τόςο
ευγενικό, το παραδεχτικανε δθλαδι, λζγοντασ πωσ ξεχαςτικανε λζγοντασ τα δικά
τουσ και αρχίςανε να μιλάνε ςτα ελλθνικά, αλλά ενδιάμεςα πάλι ξεχνιόντουςαν
και μιλοφςαν ςτα αλβανικά. Είμαι ςίγουρθ και αγχωμζνθ ταυτόχρονα για όλα
αυτά που χάναμε ςτο μεταξφ…
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
19. Extracts from the researchers’ diaries
4/4 (translates 3/4)
It occurred to me a kind of incident, when i was having coffee with 2 or 3 immigrants at the
Immigrants’ Hangout; I was incapable of participating in the discussion because they started
talking in Albanian to an extend that I couldn't follow them. At this moment I felt the way they
probably have felt when coming to Greece not speaking Greek. This moment was very useful for
my experience as a researcher, for I started thinking about the correlations of power and
authority the other way round. I somehow felt that I could better feel the concept of difference.
It was also a very pleasant feeling to realise that the participants were feeling free to express
themselves and to gradually not pay attention to my presence. Finally, there was a point, when
they themselves felt that this attitude might have been quite impolite, I mean they admitted it
saying that they were "lost" in their private conversation and they started talking in Greek again.
But there were still moments when they were mixing the codes using both Greek and Albanian.
I'm convinced and anxious simultaneously about all that information we had lost in the
meantime.
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
20. Mediators:
(not interpreters: informal work)
Multiple persons / multiple identities
“Appointed” / “spontaneous” mediators (mediators coming from the
community, family members)
Key persons during the process of generating and interpreting data
-Empowering role of the linguistic mediation.
Mediators and researchers’: sharing of the project’s perspectives and
priorities
(objectives, tools, roles, interpretation)
- Explanations of the research objectives
- Transformation of questions (examplifying)
- Interpretations of answers (hierarchy of needs).
Mediator: a co-researcher
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
21. Questions – Discussion
The researchers’ points of view:
- How do they deal with the languages issues in the field?
- What if they don’t speak the SL of the informants?
- What are the differences when they speak/understand the SL?
- To what extent they may encourage the use of SL and/or IL?
Mediators’ role:
- If expressed in SL, how the findings (needs) are interpreted, influenced,
biased by the mediators?
- How can we make the mediators and the researchers more visible (their
choices and decisions)? Should we?
Presentation of research
- How well the wills and interests of immigrants are reported?
- How can we cope with the contrast between a flexible and tolerant
multilingualism in conducting the research (oral / informal) and a thorough,
regulated multilingualism in presenting the research findings to the scientific
community (written / academic).
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
22. Thank you!
George Androulakis
androulakis@uth.gr
gandren@ath.forthnet.gr
George Androulakis
RM Network Event,
Bristol, 24-25 April 2012
