Eurac Research – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

PhD Studentship in Applied Linguistics / Linguistic Ethnography, Institute for Applied Linguistics, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy. Deadline: 31 March 2024.

The Multilingualism and Plurilingualism research group at the Institute for Applied Linguistics at Eurac Research is looking for a PhD student in applied linguistics/linguistic ethnography, who will join the team of the research project EduLiM and conduct PhD research within the project. The ideal start date for the position would be June 1st 2024.

EduLiM stands for Educational Transitions in the Context of Linguistic Minoritization and is a project funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen South Tyrol in the framework of the Programme “Research Südtirol/Alto Adige 2022” and carried out in partnership with a research team at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Innsbruck. The project takes a linguistic-ethnographic approach to examining the role of language in children’s transition from early childhood education (ECE) to primary school in German-language education in South Tyrol. It combines critical educational and sociolinguistic theories and is designed as a multi-sited ethnography conducted in first-year primary school classes and with children’s families. In this way, EduLiM aims to create new knowledge on (language) education policies and practices related to transitions, on collaboration across institutional boundaries and between families and institutions, and on different ways in which children are constructed as linguistically minoritized.

The selected candidate will develop their PhD project within EduLiM and contribute to the project activities in this manner.

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Applied Linguistics/Linguistic Ethnography, Institute for Applied Linguistics, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy. Deadline: 31 March 2024.

The Multilingualism and Plurilingualism research group at the Institute for Applied Linguistics at Eurac Research is looking for a postdoctoral researcher in applied linguistics/linguistic ethnography, who will co-lead the research project EduLiM with the project partners at the University of Innsbruck and join the research team of the project M-Spaces. The ideal start date for the position would be June 1st 2024.

Both projects explore the role of multilingualism and language education in early childhood with a linguistic ethnographic approach. EduLiM, which stands for Educational Transitions in the Context of Linguistic Minoritization, is funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen South Tyrol in the framework of the Programme “Research Südtirol/Alto Adige 2022”. The project examines the role of language in children’s transition from early childhood education (ECE) to primary school in German-language education in South Tyrol. The project combines critical educational and sociolinguistic theories and is designed as a multi-sited ethnography conducted in first-year primary school classes and with children’s families. In this way, EduLiM aims to create new knowledge on (language) education policies and practices related to transitions, on collaboration across institutional boundaries and between families and institutions, and on different ways in which children are constructed as linguistically minoritized. M-Spaces, which stands for Researching and Transforming Multilingual Spaces, explores multilingualism and language education in pedagogical professionalization for ECE. It involves students of a vocational secondary school for ECE in Carinthia and in-service ECE teachers in Carinthia and South Tyrol in generating insights on pedagogical professionalization for ECE in linguistically heterogeneous migration societies.

The selected candidate will co-lead EduLiM from the outset of the project and will mainly be responsible for the family ethnography. Within M-Spaces, the selected candidate will contribute to the analysis of data generated on ECE teachers’ experiences with multilingualism in their pedagogical practice and to the dissemination of findings.