Toward a non-extractive research ethics for transcultural, translingual research: perspectives from the coloniser and the colonised

Abstract

ABSTRACTIt is widely acknowledged that research ethics is a controversial notion in cross-linguistic, crosscultural research. We suggest that most ethical issues in research arise from four major issues: (1) ethics is not adequately defined, theoretically or practically; (2) researchers have failed to make a distinction in the types of communities they study; (3) insider research versus outsider research has been insufficiently considered; and (4) consent has been mistaken for consensus. Failure to adequately deal with these issues has rendered research ethics in applied linguistics extractive rather than non-extractive. Therefore, several principles, including the intent and integrity of the researcher, the concept of a social hostage, and the inclusion of non-human knowledges are all discussed as they relate to the development of a non-extractive research ethics in applied linguistics.