Conversations with Multilingual International Students

This event will report on the research and development project 'Reimagining Conversations with Multilingual Students'.

The purpose of the project is to deepen understanding of the conditions that would optimise the intellectual and creative development of multilingual international students at a creative arts university. The project methodology draws on the principles of ethnographic monitoring and has been influenced by efforts to decolonise the university.

Due the pandemic, fieldwork has shifted online and an opportunity for thinking and reflection has emerged where ethnographically-oriented institutional research and the decolonising arts movement overlap.

This presentation explores issues emerging from early fieldwork and analysis of classroom interaction and is guided by three exploratory themes:
-how the presence of international multilingual students influences and is influenced by classroom interaction
-the ways in which language makes artistic practice possible
-the extent to which decolonial practice is evident.

In highlighting some of the immediate impacts of institutional context on language use, the seminar seeks to open up discussion around boundaries and responsibilities for practitioners and researchers seeking change.