Abstract Summary
This paper draws on examples of recent studies in gender and language to highlight the different ways in which researchers account for their methodological dimensions. I aim to outline ways in which researchers navigate epistemological complexity to their methodological avenues; and to stimulate discussion around this typically non-explicit endeavor.
Abstract :
Gender and language scholars draw on a diversity of theoretical, epistemological and methodological approaches in their study of language phenomena and language use. These approaches are typically dependent on the researchers' positioning within certain Linguistics subfields (e.g. semantics, phonology, language acquisition) or branches (e.g. experimental linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics), as well as within other related fields (e.g. education, psychology, anthropology, gender studies, sociology). Such positioning brings with it a researcher alignment -- not always made explicit -- with research paradigms which then underlie their choice of methods. Making an effort to explicitly acknowledge one's affiliation to certain paradigmatic principles is important: positivist or constructivist paradigms, for example, entail a different understanding -- compared to, for example, post-structuralist ones -- of what constitutes ‘reality’ or ‘knowledge’ and what counts as valid data, ethical practice, reliable evidence or robust interpretation. Post-structuralist perspectives also tend to 'de-emphasize gendered speakers/ writers as agents, focusing rather on what is communicated by, to and about women, men, boys and girls' (Sunderland and Litosseliti, 2008: 4). As Paltridge and Phakiti (2015), Litosseliti (2018) and others discuss, research paradigms have important ontological dimensions (about the nature of reality), epistemological dimensions (about the nature of knowledge) and methodological dimensions (about the research approaches adopted). These dimensions often remain assumed rather than made explicit, as researchers can become entrenched in them. This paper draws on a range of examples of recent studies in gender and language, in order to highlight the different ways in which researchers negotiate and account for the methodological dimensions of their work. The aim is, first, to outline some of the ways in which researchers navigate epistemological complexity and achieve accountability to the methodological avenues they pursue; and second, to open up a discussion around this typically non-explicit endeavour.
