Undergraduate Research Cluster
Cluster Description
The Undergraduate Research Cluster provides a supportive, collaborative environment for undergraduates from Monash and Warwick to conduct their own research into topics related to any of MITN's areas of interest. The cluster provides an opportunity for undergraduates to integrate themselves into the academic community and create a meaningful contribution to research in the themes of migration, multilingualism, identity and translation.
Photo: Languages in bloom.
Credit: Edward Dunbavin, University of Warwick. Submitted to MITN Photography Competition 2019
Current Research
Investigating language learning during Covid-19
Our founding members Eloise Blaxall, James Haigh, Alanah Mitchell and Martha Watson (Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick) and Bara Danková and Christina Lazell (School of Modern Languages & Cultures, University of Warwick) collaborated to design and conduct the cluster’s inaugural project, which explores motivation to learn a new language during lockdown. This timely project seeks to improve our understanding of L2 motivation.
Bara's reflections on her experiences of collaborating on the project:
"Working with the MITN UG cluster gave me an opportunity to explore a timely topic without much guidance in comparison to following a module assignment brief, as well as to dive into research methods, such as conducting interviews, which I had never done before. The constant teamwork over the course of the year helped me develop a number of transferrable skills, which I was able to mention in job interviews and which will be useful in any future group project."
EUTOPIA Multilingualism and Diversity Linguistic Landscaping Project
We are delighted to announce that Eloise Blaxall and Sophie Frankpitt (Department for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick) have joined the project for EUTOPIA undergraduates to design and conduct individual projects on linguistic landscaping. See our project page for more details.
Past Events
ILLC19: Conference Presentation |
29th June 2021 Eloise Blaxall, Bara Danková, James Haigh, Christina Lazell and Martha Watson presented their research at the 23rd Warwick International Conference in Applied Linguistics (WICAL). The cluster presented the findings of their research, focussing on the role of integrative motivation in lockdown learning.
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EUTOPIA LL: Multilingualism and Diversity Cross-University Linguistic Landscaping Seminar |
4th February 2021 EUTOPIA LL researchers from the University of Warwick, the University of Gothenburg, and University Pompeu Fabra came together for a virtual seminar on linguistic landscaping, where they presented their projects to an audience of EUTOPIA academics and attended keynote talks on linguistic landscaping, concluding with a roundtable discussion on future directions in EUTOPIA collaboration. For further details of the students' research, please see their project blogs.
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EUTOPIA LL: Project Launch |
7th December 2020 Launch of EUTOPIA Multilingualism and Diversity Linguistic Landscaping Project (EUTOPIA LL) |
ILLC19: Project Meeting |
17th September 2020 |
ILLC19: Project Meeting |
9th September 2020 |
ILLC19: Project Launch |
24th August 2020 Launch of project Investigating language learning during Covid-19 (ILLC19)
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Cluster News
December 2021: ILLC19 project report submitted for peer review
Tuesday 29th June 2021: Conference presentation: ILLC19 researchers present at WICAL
Thursday 4th February 2021: Multilingualism and Diversity Cross-University Linguistic Landscaping Conference
December 2020: Warwick participants commence data collection for EUTOPIA LL
November 2020: EUTOPIA Multilingualism and Diversity Linguistic Landscaping project (EUTOPIA LL) open to expressions of interest
Second phase of data collection commences on ILLC19
Tuesday 13th October 2020: Questionnaire launch: Data collection commences on ILLC19
August 2020: Launch of inaugural project: Investigating language learning during Covid-19 (ILLC19)