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Part of
Ethical Issues in Applied Linguistics Scholarship
Edited by Peter I. De Costa, Amr Rabie-Ahmed and Carlo Cinaglia
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 7] 2024
► pp. 218–234

Chapter 12
Ethical research considerations in classroom and online spaces with bilingual students and their teachers

 | Purdue University
In this chapter I discuss the macro- and micro-ethical ethical dilemmas I have faced in four past and current research projects with bilingual students in physical and online learning spaces. These include obtaining IRB approval, securing informed consent, ensuring participant confidentiality, addressing unanticipated ethical issues in the field, and making decisions about appropriate public uses of the data. I discuss how research in online learning spaces can introduce new macro- and micro-ethical issues. To illustrate macro-ethical issues, I will provide two examples from studies in heritage language programs to demonstrate challenges related to following IRB protocols. Next, to illustrate micro-ethical issues, I discuss a series of ethical questions which arose during a study of newcomer ELL students. Finally, I will discuss both macro- and micro-ethics issues myself and members of our larger research team have addressed or continue to grapple with in a large-scale longitudinal study of ELL and dual language bilingual education (DLBE) teachers. The chapter concludes by reaffirming the need for ethical reflexivity and responsible decision making during all phases of the research process, and offers suggestions for doing so.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Conceptualizing ethics
  • Ethics in practice
    • Study of an after school Khmer heritage language program
    • Study of in-school Khmer and Vietnamese heritage language programs
    • Study of newcomer ELL students
    • Studies on improving instruction in ELL and DLBE classrooms
      • Teacher’s understandings of selves as grant vs. research participants
      • Classroom observations
      • Coaching conversations and coursework as data
      • Distance from the participants
      • Pandemic shifts and the introduction of new macro- and micro-ethical issues
  • Commentary and reflections
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 21 November 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.7.14wri
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