Qualifications

Ph.D. Linguistics (Stanford, Ca. USA); MA Linguistics (Stanford, Ca. USA); PGCE, with distinction (London, Institute of Education) and BA Hons in French (Southampton).

Profile

Marilyn Martin-Jones is Professor of Languages in Education and Director of the MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilingualism. She has been involved in research on bilingualism and multilingualism in different regions of Britain for thirty years. She has undertaken three broad types of research: (1.) research on bilingual discourse in face-to-face interaction; (2.) research on multilingual literacy and the uses of texts in bilingual and multilingual settings; (3.) ethnographic research related to the processes involved in the translation of language and literacy policies into classroom practice.

Her research has been primarily sociolinguistic and ethnographic in nature and has been based in different research sites: in urban and rural settings, in community contexts as well as in schools, colleges and classrooms. She has a particular interest in multilingualism and gender and in the ways in which language and literacy practices contribute to the construction of identities in local life worlds, in institutional settings and in trans-local contexts.

She was co-editor (with Alexandra Jaffe) of the international journal Linguistics and Education, from 2004 – 2007. She also edited Volume 3 of the new revised Encyclopedia of Language and Education (2008, Springer) on Discourse and Education (with Anne-Marie de Mejia and Nancy Hornberger).

Research interests

Marilyn Martin-Jones’ research and publications have been in the following areas: bilingual discourse, classroom codeswitching, bilingual education, language policy, the ethnography of literacy (including print and screen literacy), multilingual literacy (see her list of publications below).

She is also editor of a new book series on Critical Studies in Multilingualism (Routledge)

Research grants

Marilyn Martin-Jones has been principal investigator on four ESRC-funded research projects:

• Bilingual literacies for learning in Further Education (2008, RES-139-25-0171);
• Literacies at work in a multilingual city (1996, R000221534), rated “Outstanding” ;
• Multilingual literacy practices: home, community and school (1995, R000233833);
• Bilingual resources in primary classroom interaction (1992, X204252001).

She is also co-investigator on two current projects:

• Researching multilingualism, multilingualism in research practice (RES-046-25-0004), funded under the ESRC’s Researcher Development Initiative, 2010-2013 (Dr Deirdre Martin is PI).
• Investigating discourses of inheritance and identity in four multilingual European settings (09-HERA-JRP-CD-FP-051) funded as a Collaborative Research Project, under the Joint Research Programme: Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA)

Teaching and administration responsibilities

Teaching

Marilyn Martin-Jones contributes to teaching, at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level, in the following areas: research methodology in Applied Linguistics, language discourse and society, ethnography of literacy and multilingualism, language and gender.

Supervision of doctoral research

She is currently supervising doctoral research in the following areas: bilingual education (including language across the curriculum); language, faith and education; language teaching and learning (including culture in the language classroom and emotions in language learning); language practices in vocational education classes; literacy (including adult literacy and young people’s literacy practices). Marilyn Martin-Jones has already supervised 20 doctoral researchers to successful completion of their Ph.D. programmes.

Administrative responsibilities

Director of the MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilingualism, School of Education

Chair of the Doctoral Research Board, College of Social Sciences

Other professional appointments

Professional appointments

Marilyn Martin-Jones has held the following professional appointments:

2005 to 2010: Member of the ESRC’s Research Training and Development Board

2002 to 2004: Member of the Executive Committee of the British Association for Applied Linguistics

Visiting professorships

Sept-Dec 1997: Visiting Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education (Educational Linguistics Program), University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Sept 2002-Jul 2003: Visiting Professor and Director of Research, Rinkeby Institute for Multilingual Research, City of Stockholm and Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University, Sweden.

May and June 2006: Visiting Professor, Babylon Centre, Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Publications (Selection)

Martin-Jones, M., Hughes, B.A. and Williams, A. (2009) Land, language and new literacies: the working/learning lives of young people in North Wales. International Journal of the Sociology of Language (Vol. 195), 39-62. ISSN: 0165-2516.

Martin-Jones, M., de Mejía, A.M and Hornberger, N. (eds.) (2008). Encyclopedia of language and education, 2nd Edition, Volume 3, Discourse and education. New York: Springer.

Martin-Jones, M. (2007) Bilingualism, education and the regulation of access to language resources: changing research perspectives. In M. Heller (ed.) Bilingualism: a social approach. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Martin-Jones, M. and Saxena, M. (2003) Bilingual resources and funds of knowledge for teaching and learning in multiethnic classes in Britain, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol. 6, Nos. 3 & 4., 267-282.

Heller, M. and Martin-Jones, M. (Eds.) (2001) Voices of authority: education and linguistic difference. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.

Martin-Jones, M. and Jones, K. (Eds.) (2000) Multilingual literacies: reading and writing different worlds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Publications [pdf]