MuLtiE research seminar: Exploring identity and wellbeing in multilingual lives: From researching multilingual children to researching with them

Speaker: Dr. Yue Zhou, Assistant Professor, University of Birmingham
Series: Multilingualism and Languages Education (MuLtiE)

Talk's abstract

Questions of identity and wellbeing are central to how multilingual children and young people experience languages in their everyday lives. This talk traces how my own research in these areas has developed alongside a growing interest in how children, young people and educators can take a more active role in shaping the research process. I begin with my doctoral work on heritage language learner well-being, where children’s perspectives informed the development of a framework for understanding flourishing in heritage language learning. I then move to later research on multilingual identity and racialised experiences of language, where young people became involved as co-researchers and helped shape what we noticed, discussed and interpreted. I will also draw on more recent work with heritage language teachers to co-develop pedagogical resources, and a project supporting primary pupils to become young language researchers and investigate multilingualism in their own school community. Rather than presenting this as a straightforward progression towards “more” participation, I use these projects to reflect on what these different ways of working open up, as well as some of the continuing tensions around power, responsibility, and the negotiation of different forms of knowledge and experience.

Speaker: Dr. Yue Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education and Social Justice, School of Education, at the University of Birmingham. Her research explores multilingualism, identity, and learner well-being, with a particular focus on heritage language education and the experiences of minoritised learners in migration contexts. She works closely with multilingual children, their families, local communities, and schools in the UK through participatory and co-production approaches.