In this reading group meeting we focussed on the following article:

READING: Graham Tucker, J.M., 2014. Building capacity for Gambian researchers (Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University of Technology). [click link below to download]

Attendees: 12+ people from various backgrounds.

We were interested to explore how Gambian scholars conduct research into language and multilingualism in The Gambia and we therefore invited Dr. Jules Mansaly and Fakeba Kujabi, two lecturers from the University of The Gambia, to facilitate the meeting. The discussion was organised around three questions:

1. What kind of questions are those interested in conducting research in the field of languages and multilingualism of the Gambia should ask?
2. How important are these for Gambian society, research, students, etc.?
3. Which hurdles do scholars in the Gambia interest in this field of research face and how can these be overcome?

Jules Mansaly briefly introduced himself, which was useful since we learnt, for example, that he comes from the Casamance region of Senegal and therefore has a first-hand experience of multilingualism. It was also useful to hear about his experience of working with Gambian university students, particularly int terms of dissertation supervision. He gave us a few examples of research topics explored by past and current students at UTG:

• “Code-switching among students at the Gambia College”
• “Code-switching in teaching and learning”
• “The effect of code alternation in teaching and learning English language and second language classroom”

Other research questions which could be explored by students were also suggested, e.g.:

• What are the most commonly spoken languages in the Gambia?
• What are the linguistic challenges faced by Gambian speakers of minority languages?
• What strategies have been developed to help Gambians become multilingual?
• How do Gambian language policies and practices shape language use and identity?
• How does the Gambian education system promote multilingualism?

This led another participant to attempt combining some of these questions:

• How can “natural” Gambian multilingualism be drawn upon (linguistic resources) to add new languages?

Language ideologies in the Gambia, borrowings in local languages, interpretation and other topics were also brought up as worth studying. Regarding the topic of interpretation, the richness of interpreting practices in The Gambia was discussed.

One of the major obstacles said to face those conducting research at UTG was the challenges of gathering data. The limited time available to Gambian scholars as well as the practical challenges in collecting language-related data were notably discussed.

To conclude, solutions to issues related to the research training of students was discussed. It was taunted as a fundamental issue at UTG.

A warm thank you to all attendees.