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Researchers’ Language Practices Concerning Knowledge Production and Dissemination: Discourses of Mono- and Multilingualism

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Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities

Abstract

Drawing on research interviews with 43 researchers working across four disciplines in two Nordic countries, this chapter examines the researchers’ perceptions of, and choices related to their mono/multilingual knowledge production and research writing practices. Three discourses were found to be constructed in the interview talk: (a) disciplinary monolingualism, (b) dual monolingualism, and (c) functional epistemic multilingualism. For research writing, most researchers in the study opted for a mono- or bilingual publication strategy, but when doing research, the main determiner in terms of how many and which languages the researchers reported to use was the object of research. The pragmatism associated with the researchers’ language practices may thus be related to both mono- and multilingualism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.julkaisufoorumi.fi/en/publication-forum.

  2. 2.

    See https://dbh.nsd.uib.no/publiseringskanaler/Forside.

  3. 3.

    The LaRA project, funded by the Kone Foundation, is based at the University of Helsinki and directed by Anna Solin. The website of the project is at http://www.helsinki.fi/project/lara.

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Acknowledgements

For Hynninen’s part, this work was financially supported by funding received from the Kone Foundation (LaRA project, grant number 088787). For Kuteeva’s part, the work was supported by Stockholm University’s funds for collaboration with the University of Helsinki and SU Sabbatical 2018/19 (SU FV-5.1.2-4375-17). Our warmest thanks to our study participants, who by sharing their time and perceptions made this work possible! We also express our thanks to Lisa McGrath and Ezra Alexander for conducting some of the interviews in the Swedish context. Some of the interview data from Sweden was collected and used by Lisa McGrath as part of the research leading towards her PhD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Niina Hynninen

  2. Department of English, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Maria Kuteeva

Authors
  1. Niina Hynninen
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  2. Maria Kuteeva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niina Hynninen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Maria Kuteeva

  2. Department of English, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Kathrin Kaufhold

  3. Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Niina Hynninen

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Speaker codes:

I

Interviewer

R

Researcher

Transcription symbols:

te-

Unfinished utterances

(text)

Uncertain transcription

<I: text>

Minimal feedback when marked within another speaker’s turn

@@

Laughter

<text>

Sighs, coughs etc. marked within angle brackets

((…))

Text omitted from transcription

[text]

Text added for clarity by the writers of this chapter

  1. Note: Capitals and punctuation have been added to the excerpts to facilitate reading

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Hynninen, N., Kuteeva, M. (2020). Researchers’ Language Practices Concerning Knowledge Production and Dissemination: Discourses of Mono- and Multilingualism. In: Kuteeva, M., Kaufhold, K., Hynninen, N. (eds) Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38755-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38755-6_13

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38754-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38755-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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