Linguistic diversity in research with and by international students: Considerations for research design and practice

Research with and by international students involves opportunities for, and challenges arising from, the linguistic diversity of staff and students, the institutional context, and the fieldwork sites. National, institutional, and disciplinary policies available may also shape the research. The linguistic aspects of the research landscape thus provide the backdrop for research with and by international students, one in which dominant languages may provide a lingua franca for dissemination and shared knowledge-work but also silence other languages and the wisdom conveyed through them. Given this critical role played by language, it is surprising that linguistic diversity is often under-explored in policy and researcher education. We argue that this linguistic diversity of knowledge-work is a guarantor of the value of our collective wisdom in addressing the challenges that lie ahead in a rapidly changing world. In this chapter, we explore the limitations of research policy specification regarding linguistic aspects; then present a prototypical researcher trajectory with regard to linguistic awareness, design considerations, and purposeful action; and conclude with a call for researcher activism with regard to linguistic diversity and the need to embrace it in research with and by international students.