Thinking, Practicing and Living Plurilingualism
KapitolaThe Shift from Multilingual to Plurilingual Ethos: Research Practices in Development Projects
Rok vydání: 2026https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M280-0880-2026-12
Abstrakt
This paper reflects on the development of plurilingual practices in a research, development and innovation (RDI) project team at a Finnish university of applied sciences. In response to Finland’s growing superdiversity, we reflect on how plurilingualism, understood as the dynamic experience of linguistic repertoires, can strengthen RDI work as well as working with target groups in that type of projects. Using collaborative autoethnography, we explore every-
day practices as a diverse team working in Finnish-dominant contexts, while also drawing on concepts of multilingualism, plurilingualism, and code-switching.
The daily work in the Empowering and Inclusive Language Learning (VOIKO) project illus-
trates how plurilingualism informs our team’s internal and external collaboration, and shapes research methods, including data collection, transcription, and analysis. Our findings highlight both the opportunities and challenges of working multilingually, particularly with respect to inclusivity, ethics, and research validity. We argue that a shift toward plurilingualism is necessary in increasingly multi-cultural and multilingual research teams. Growing awareness of how it is experienced could permeate the boundaries between languages in practice.
Klíčová slova
reflexivity, multilingualism, plurilingualism, research teams
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