1. Researching Bilingually:
A Turkish and English case
University of Manchester ‘Researching Multilingually’
Conference
22-23 May 2012
Zeynep Onat-Stelma

2. My Hunch
I have been in circumstances where I used two
languages, Turkish and English, alongside each other
from an early age. I feel that I developed ‘language
identities’ going from school to university to my doctoral
studies and that these ‘language identities’ may have had
a role in shaping the way I conducted my doctoral
research.

3. Today’s talk through a simplified version of Richard
Fay’s conceptualisation of “mapping narrativity and
reflection-reflexivity”
process and progress of the
research study
research researcher
narrative narrative
Part 2 of Zeynep’s talk Part 1 of Zeynep’s talk
presence of the researcher’s
identity
Fay, R. (2008)

4. In “being and becoming”
researchers, our histories, social
and linguistic forms of capital, and
our identities position us in
particular ways in relation to
participants and the communities
in which they are embedded.
[emphasis added]
Giampapa 2011, p.133
‘language
identities’

5. ‘Lang-ography’
Age 5 Age 8 Age 12 Age 18
Bamako, Mali
Miami, USA Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
American
American English medium English medium
International
kindergarten school university
School
(1 year) (6 years) (4 years)
(4 years)

6. ‘Lang-ography’ (continued)
Age 22 Age 24 Age 25
Istanbul, Turkey Leeds + Istanbul
Research assistant + Leeds, UK PhD (Split-location) +
Masters MEd Working for OUP and
English medium (1year) Bogazici university
university (6 years)
(2 years)

7. Contexts of language use:
‘Language identities’
School ‘language identity’
Academic ‘language identity’
Professional ‘language identity’
Social ‘language identity’
Thinking ‘language identity’

8. School 'language identity' (primary,
middle and high school) :
In Turkey:
Speaker of Turkish with friends
Speaker of English in lessons
Writer in English for almost all lessons (except History, Turkish,
and Geography)
Reader in English for almost all lessons (except History, Turkish,
and Geography
Reader in English for pleasure
Outside Turkey:
Speaker of English in all interactions
Writer in English for everything
Reader in English for everything

9. Academic 'language identity' (BA, MA, PhD,
lecturer work) :
In Turkey:
Speaker of Turkish with colleagues at University
Speaker of English when giving lectures
Writer in English for almost everything
Reader in English for almost everything
In the UK:
Speaker of English in all interactions
Writer in English for everything
Reader in English for everything

10. Professional 'language identity'
(OUP consultant) :
In Turkey:
Speaker of Turkish with colleagues
Speaker of English with native speaker
colleagues and when doing seminars
Writer in English in most situations (a few
letters in Turkish to school teachers/heads)
Reader in English for most situations (some
documents in Turkish)

11. Social 'language identity' :
In the UK:
Speaker of English for social purposes
(colleagues and friends)
In Turkey:
Speaker of Turkish for social purposes
(colleagues and friends)

12. Thinking 'language identity' :
I speculate that I am thinking in English for all
academic situations and both in English and
Turkish at other times although I am not completely
aware of what is happening in my brain!!

13. Background:
PhD experience
Split-location scheme-switching back and
forth between languages.

14. My language related options for
data collection: Interviews
Option 1: Interview in English
Option 2: Interview in Turkish
Relevant ‘Language Identity': Speaker of Turkish in social,
academic, and professional interactions
Feels natural to interview in Turkish as this is consistent
with my ‘speaker of Turkish’ in social and academic and
professional identity.

15. My language related options for
data collection: Observations
Option 1: Take notes in English
Option 2: Take notes in Turkish
Relevant 'Language Identity': Writer of English in most
situations
Feels natural to take notes in English as I have not
written much in Turkish, especially after I graduated from
high school.

16. My language related options for
data analysis: Interviews
[Interviews were conducted in Turkish]
Option 1: Analyse in Turkish, translate only
for writing up
Option 2: Translate to English, then analyse
Relevant 'Language Identity':
Reader and writer in English in most situations
Thinking in English for most academic work (as far as I
believe!!)
Feels natural to conduct analysis in English due to having
spent most of my time studying (writing, reading, and thinking
academically) in English.

17. My language related options
for data analysis:
Observations
No option here, really, as I took
the observation notes in English.
Relevant ‘Language Identity': Reader and writer of
English in most situations
Feels natural to do the analysis in English as I have not
read or written much in Turkish, especially after I
graduated from high school.

18. A few questions to consider…
Can we talk about researching multilingually without
taking into account language identities of the
researcher?
What if the 'natural-ness' does not allow the
researcher to reflect on the particularities of
researching bilingually?

19. References
Fay, R. (2008) The complexities and affordances of
narrative in research texts: Developing narrative
awareness with experienced teachers on
postgraduate programmes. Paper presented at the
Narrative Matters: ‘Storying our world’ Conference,
Toronto, Canada.
Giampapa, M. (2011) The politics of “being and
becoming” a researcher: Identity, power, and
negotiating the field. Journal of Language, Identity,
and Education, Vol.10(3), p.132-144.

20. Thank you!
Zeynep Onat-Stelma
zeynep.onat-stelma@manchester.ac.uk