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Theresa Austin, professor of language, literacy and culture in the College of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies has co-authored an article on ethics in second language and literacy research.

The report, “Ethics for researching language and education: What the discourse of professional guidelines reveals,” which was written with Medina Riveros of Universidad Nacional de Colombia’s Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras and published in the Journal of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, sheds light on how professional associations represent the ethical commitments that should guide their members. The study identifies characteristics of these ethical codes – and their differences – and highlights unexamined needs which the Austin and Riveros say require more fluid, contingent and responsive ethics. It also proposes “a critically and dialogically engaged stance open to periodic yet continual reformulations.”

The complete open-access article can be found here.