Docentship Trial Lecture for Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä, 31 May 2024
This webpage includes links to teaching activities, references, writing and further information about creative inquiry in applied linguistics. It was created by Dr Jessica Bradley as part of her public trial lecture for a docentship in the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. Jessica is Senior Lecturer in Literacies and Language in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield where she co-directed the BA Education, Culture and Childhood 2000-2024, is deputy director of the EdD and is co-director for Internationalisation. You can find out more about her work on her personal website here and on her departmental profile page here. If you have any questions about any of the content or if you would like to hear more about this work, please email her at jessica.bradley@sheffield.ac.uk .
Pedagogical context
The suggested lecture and associated materials would fit within the HYTJ1301 Research Methods module (suggested 5 credits for 'Creative Inquiry in Applied Linguistics). It could be complemented by wider teaching relating to Linguistic Ethnographic and Visual Ethnographic approaches to research which are also among Jessica's areas of specialism. Assessment would include a portfolio of creative inquiry activities (3-5) supported by a reflexive essay (3000 words). In addition, the materials could be developed further to complement the lecture on walking methodologies delivered by Jessica with colleague Dr Tim Herrick in November 2023 as part of the FORTHEM Campus course Approaches to Multilingualism developed by contributors of Multilingualism in School and Higher Education Lab.
Suggested reading
Some of the ideas Jessica draws on in this lecture are from her book chapter on Creative Inquiry in Applied Linguistics which she co-authored with Dr Lou Harvey at the University of Leeds in 2019, leading on from an invited colloquium at the British Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Meeting in Leeds in 2017. You can read the book chapter (open access) here. Full references for the trial lecture are found at the end of this webpage. In Finnish you can read a thematic special issue from 2020 on kieli ja taide, edited by Professor Sari Pöyhönen and Dr Heli Paulasto. The link to the editorial is here
Defining creativity?
Creative Inquiry: questions you might ask and reflect on about each category in relation to your own research
Research with
- How might focusing on objects, artefacts and processes of production enable new understandings of language?
- How might this open up to new theories and lenses on language in everyday life?
- How do we communicate 'beyond and besides' language?
- How do creative processes and artefacts inform languaging practices?
- What kinds of 'real world' problems might present themselves when we do research in this way?
Research into
- What happens in creative and artistic contexts, such as theatre production or socially engaged arts?
- What kinds of interactions take place?
- How do people draw on their communicative repertoires in different ways in processes of making?
- What kind of impact do these collaborative and ever-dynamic processes have on language and communication?
- Can we find connections between the individual and collective repertoires, as moving and dynamic?
- What kinds of 'real world' problems might present themselves in these contexts?
Research through
- How do the practices and processes which we observe and engage with as researchers entangle with our own research toolkits?
- If we also participate - for example in doing ethnographic research or participant observation, are our toolkits always fit for purpose?
- Can we keep open-minded in terms of how we generate data and what kinds of data will enable us to engage with evolving questions?
- What kinds of different and new insights and understandings do arts based research methods bring?
- Do these enable us to rethink what real world problems might look like and how we can engage with them analytically?
- How might creative methods help us to understand more about our own position in our disciplinary fields and when researching with people?
‘we sought in part to define and to name this kind of work that takes place in the margins…We used the term ‘creative inquiry’, tentatively and critically, to describe research which brings in the arts, broadly defined, or creative methods.’ (Harvey & Bradley, 2023, p. 359)
Research through: interactive activities
The proposed activities are adopted from or build on research and practice activities with which I have engaged for recent projects. The two writing prompts are adopted from journaling materials which were developed by writers and poets for the Arts Council England-funded Maternal Journal podcast project (2023-24) for which I was a partner. In this project, ten creative practitioners recorded podcasts about their creative practice in relation to parenthood. In addition, they created materials based on their own writing practice which can then be used worldwide in Maternal Journal workshops. Maternal Journal is an international creative movement aimed at supporting mothers and birthing parents during the perinatal period. Groups meet every week for approximately 2 hours over an 8-week period, led by a practitioner, to undertake creative activities which have been designed by artists. My research with Maternal Journal has taken place in face-to-face workshops since 2022 and I have collaborated with the movement founders, creative practitioners and trauma expert midwives through my research.
I chose these materials because I want to highlight the porosity of Creative Inquiry as an approach to research and the ways in which the research both informs the practice and the practice informs the research. It is through doing research with Maternal Journal that I became particularly interested in how research approaches engage with contexts. For example, in the research setting of a journaling workshop, many of my usual 'tools' are not available, for example audio or video recording. I must participate in the workshop myself and engage with the activities. The writing prompts were created to engage with experiences of motherhood. But I also found them to be highly productive when thinking about my research. For doctoral researchers, the doctorate is a time of incredible change, as with new parenthood. I find that using writing prompts like these in research can help with writing and also with finding a rhythm with observing and reflection. I have also used them in my own doctoral teaching, for example with my guest session on creative methodologies for the University of Sheffield DEdCPsy (Doctorate of Educational and Child Psychology).
Writing Prompt 1: A Moment in Time
Writing Prompt 2: The Conflict of Memoir