How do ethnography and language education research go together?

Dr Jean Conteh, Samyia Ambreen, Yixi Lamtso, Nasir Mahmood and Rob Sharples:  ‘How do ethnography and language education research go together?’ (13.00-14.30 HP1.24)

What does it mean to claim that a particular research project is ethnographic? The term is applied to many different kinds of research, sometimes without a clear definition of what is meant, and what the implications are for the nature of the problems being explored and the aims and purposes of the research. Ethnography is not a research method, nor really even a methodology. In the presentation, through presenting a range of ethnographic PhD projects in language education, all of which adopt different approaches to methodology and data collection, we will demonstrate the power and potential of ethnographic research for understanding particular kinds of social problems and issues, and for addressing issues of social justice and equality.