Diving into diachronic! Introducing diachronic analysis of language policy & language environments

How do we, as researchers, identify and make sense of change and continuity? This workshop introduces participants to diachronic analysis in qualitative research, focusing particularly on data related to language policies and environments over time. During this 1.5 hour session, we consider the importance of diachronic analysis, review theoretical foundations, and explore a range of methodological approaches including qualitative longitudinal research and comparative case study. The workshop includes hands-on activities with a selection of interview, linguistic landscape, and historic policy data for participants to review, identify, and discuss temporal trends and shifts. The session will conclude with ways participants might incorporate diachronic analysis in their own research as well as opportunities and challenges with applying these methods.

I am an educational anthropologist who works in the Social Foundations & Qualitative Inquiry Program in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina (USA). As a researcher committed to justice and equity, I have found diachronic analysis to help me understand the ways politics and life trajectories help influence school-based language policies and programs particularly for non-dominant languages. I have years of experience with diachronic analysis in my established research lines including those focused on innovative language-policy programming (in Estonia) and global teacher migration (in southeastern U.S.).