Search results for "nexus analysis"

Families in flux: at the nexus of fluid family configurations and language practices

2021

Research on multilingualism in the home has approached the family as a fixed unit thus neglecting the dynamic view of the family and its intersection with family language practices. The present study aims to address this gap by focusing on Russian-speaking mothers in Finland who have raised their children bilingually in single-parent as well as in dual-parent families. Russian speakers are the largest minority language group in Finland, and their number is constantly growing. The current study is a contribution to the research on family language practices in the Finnish context. It examines the nexus of shifts in family configurations and language practices and explores how the dynamic chan…

Multilingual dynamics in Sámiland: Rhizomatic discourses on changing language

2013

Multilingualism in indigenous language communities brings forth tensions and creativity related to language change. In this article, taking dynamic multilingual indigenous Sámi language practices as a focus of ethnographic and discourse analytical research, I examine rhizomatic discourses on changing language in multilingual Sámi spaces. Based on longitudinal research on multilingualism in Sámiland, I will argue that the interlinked discourses of endangerment, commodification and carnivalisation simultaneously circulate across Sámi spaces, and structure language practices and experiences. Furthermore, multilingual dynamics can lead to both contestation and creativity in language practices,…

Parental discourses of language ideology and linguistic identity in multilingual Finland

2018

Finland is officially a bilingual country but it is in practice multilingual. In the current study, we examined how mothers and fathers of mixed-language families linguistically identified themselves and others, and how ideological discourses and concepts historically and socially situated in Finland circulated through the parents’ talk. The parents of three families in which at least Finnish, Swedish and English were used on a daily basis were interviewed. A discourse nexus approach showed that the concept of ‘mother tongue(s)’ played a central role and that although all family members were in practice multilingual, there was a strong tendency across the couples to identify themselves and …

Creating a bilingual pre-school classroom: the multilayered discourses of a bilingual teacher

2015

Teachers have an agentive role as they interpret, evaluate and develop language policies and practices. In the current study we interviewed a bilingual pre-school teacher in Finland during the first year of implementing a new way of working bilingually with a class of monolingual children. Applying nexus analysis, we explored the teacher discourses on the trajectory of the development of the new approach; the concepts, places and people that were circulating in her reflections; and how these connected with larger societal discourses. The analysis showed that the teacher's new bilingual language practices demanded the renegotiation of previously held personal and professional beliefs. The te…

Putting resources into practice: a nexus analysis of knowledge mobilisation activities in language research and multilingual communities

2014

Recent demand within the academy for language research that bridges different stakeholders renders the social relevance of research a factor in the academic competition for research funds [Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2013). Introduction to the thematic issue: Participating in academic publishing – consequences of linguistic policies and practices. Language Policy, 12, 209–213]. This calls for new means and innovations for designing and carrying out knowledge mobilisation activities, with consequences concerning where, how and with whom this type of undertaking can or should be done. In this paper we, a team of (multilingual) researchers working within the fields of multilingualism, minority…

Hesitant versus confident family language policy: a case of two single-parent families in Finland

2022

Abstract During the past decade, the field of family language policy has broadened its scope and turned its attention to diverse family configurations in versatile sociolinguistic contexts. The current study contributes to this endeavor by focusing on two single-parent families who live in Finland and who strive to support Russian as a family language. Applying nexus analysis as an epistemological stance and as an analytical lens, the study takes an emic perspective on family language policy. Furthermore, it examines how family language policy is manifested and negotiated during mother–child play and what discourses shape it. The findings reveal two contrasting ways in which family language…

The spatiotemporal dimension of doctoral education : a way forward

2020

For an individual doctoral student, doctoral education happens in multiple spaces across a considerable amount of time. However, the existing literature and conceptualisations of doctoral education do not adequately address the spatiotemporal dimension related to it. By using the concept of scales, this article examines how the social action of doing doctoral studies is affected by space and time. As a mode of inquiry, I use nexus analysis, which allows the analyst to spotlight issues that routinely go unnoticed by scholars, policy-makers but also doctoral students themselves. Based on the analysis, I argue that to theorise doctoral education further, its spatiotemporal dimension has to be …

Studying international doctoral researchers : nexus analysis as a mode of inquiry

2020

In this paper I argue how nexus analysis (Scollon & Scollon, 2004), as a holistic, qualitative mode of inquiry, can offer a fruitful activist research approach to study international doctoral researchers. To do this, I will introduce and explain the core concepts of nexus analysis and afterwards empirically demonstrate how nexus analysis can be done in practice by presenting a case study on international doctoral researchers in a particular nexus—at a Finnish university. The overall aim of this paper is to present nexus analysis as a viable alternative for those higher education researchers who want to study communication, interaction, and language-related challenges of international do…

Saamen kielet pääomana monikielisellä Skábmagovat-elokuvafestivaalilla

2015

The many faces of online community : Images and imaginings of togetherness on Imgur

2018

This article discusses the meaning and function of “community” as a discourse on the image-sharing website Imgur. The analysis shows that the community term has many meanings and serves as a shorthand for a wide variety of social practices, and these meanings are shaped by the experiences of social action leading to the use of the term. Based on ethnographic data, nexus analysis provides an understanding of how the interactions related to community on the site come to take place the way they do. In conceiving of these interactions as mediated discourse, the article provides a fresh approach to the long-established academic discussion on the definition of community, suggesting a new concepti…