Linguistic Reflexivity in Multilingual Research

Qualitative research projects are often conducted across languages and cultures. Several specific decisions need to be made in such multilingual projects, such as deciding how to communicate with participants, whether to translate and how to navigate transcription. However, researchers do not often articulate these decision-making processes, thereby conveying a sense that such decisions were made without tensions. Issues of power come into play in linguistic decision making which may impact the relationship between the researcher and participants and, thus, the data collected. This paper explores linguistic reflexivity through reflections on our decision-making processes in our multilingual research projects. Foregrounding our positionalities, we highlight how researchers’ linguistic profiles inevitably impact their linguistic decisions and the ways in which such decisions foster linguistic reflexivity. Underpinned by a decolonial lens, our linguistic reflexivities prompted analytical, methodological, ethical and epistemological concerns and choices which enabled us to forge more meaningful connections with participants in their places. In articulating our decisions, we encourage researchers to begin their research with linguistic intentionality and think critically about the usage and exclusion of language throughout the key stages of research.