The ESRC LADO Network is a network of researchers
established through the UK Economic and Social
Research Council grant no. RES-451-26-0911 to
Prof. Peter L.
Patrick of the University of Essex
Dept. of Language & Linguistics
and Human Rights Centre,
in order to conduct a series of Research Seminars. The theme is "Language
Analysis of Asylum Applicants: Foundations, Guidelines & Best Practice", and the
meetings are being held in 2011-12 at the
University of Essex.
The membership of the ESRC LADO Network initially consists of
the LARG Convenors
and Advisory Panel.
The four meetings reach beyond this membership to involve a broad range of
academics and practitioners, as well as postgraduate students and young
scholars. They will assemble linguists and professionals involved in Language
Analysis for Determination of Origins (LADO),
as well as participants from legal, government, academic, NGO and other
backgrounds engaged in refugee status determination.
ESRC LADO Network Seminar #1:
"Data Elicitation for LADO"
Fri 17 June 2011
University of Essex Colchester campus, Square 1, Psychology Building, Room
4.722 (Senate Room)
Description:
This meeting examined the issues involved in interpreting language data from
asylum seekers. It focused on methodology (eliciting data to sample speakers'
linguistic repertoires).
Data collection methods are at the heart of validity,
reliability and practical considerations in linguistic
analysis, yet have only begun to receive attention in
LADO debates. If the primary goal of LADO elicitation is
a representative sample of the speaker’s linguistic
repertoire, within the boundaries set by asylum
procedures, how should LADO elicitations be managed?
To what extent do the multiple challenges of the LADO
setting - time constraints, interviewer training and
language competence, dislocation in time/space,
multilingualism and linguistic accommodation, the
restricted administrative context of LADO interviews,
linguistic imitation (non-authentic speech),
cross-cultural misunderstanding, the desirability of
narration, varying levels of understanding of interview
goals, and test-awareness - make the application of
classic sociolinguistic and ethnographic techniques
desirable or problematic?
This seminar brought together researchers with
knowledge of linguistic data elicitation and LADO
practitioners to discuss the challenges, ideas about the
perfect LADO interview/monologue/narrative, and current
practices. The exchange between practitioners and
researchers aimed to result in a deeper understanding of
the criteria for high-quality LADO data collection, and
a preliminary agenda was drawn up for research in this
area.
Participants: