Routledge Doing Research within Communities: Stories and lessons from language and education field research

Doing Research within Communities provides real-life examples of field research projects in language and education, offering an overview of research processes and solutions to the common challenges faced by researchers in the field. This unique book contains personal research narratives from sixteen different and varied fieldwork projects, providing advice and guidance to the reader through example rather than instruction and enabling the reader to discover connections with the storyteller and gain insights into their own research journey. This book: provides advice, practical guidance and support for engaging with a community as a research site; covers the real-life theoretical, ethical and practical issues faced by researchers, such as language choice in multilingual communities, and the insider/outsider status of the researcher; discusses challenges posed by a variety of mono- and multilingual settings, from remote island communities to large urban areas; includes research from across the Asia-Pacific area, including Australia, New Zealand and East Timor, and also the US. Doing Research within Communities is essential reading for early career researchers and graduate students undertaking fieldwork within communities. Review "Sociolinguistics recognizes the effects of an outside observer: these scholars, outsiders but increasingly involved with the communities they have studied and tried to help, provide a clear picture of the problems and solutions that they have met. It can be highly recommended to new and experienced researchers; I know I would have benefited in my own interactions with Navajo, Māori and Samoan groups."Bernard Spolsky, Bar Ilan University, Israel "This is an inspiring and timely book that will contribute to the growing movement of researchers involved in research with communities. The collection offers an insightful and essential read to both researchers and practitioners interested in the co-production of research and knowledge with communities."Lisa Goodson, University of Birmingham, UK About the Author Kerry Taylor-Leech is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Griffith University, Australia. Donna Starks is an Associate Professor in Language Education at La Trobe University, Australia.