Our multilingual, multicultural team of researchers has worked since 2017 to develop an annotated bibliography database of research on policy and practice in L1-based multilingual education research.

Using our own linguistic resources, we have made this database a multilingual one by searching, analyzing and coding literature published since 2007 in (but not limited to) Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. Students in Carol Benson’s language-related courses, along with student and alumni volunteers, have been annotating the bibliographic entries to facilitate use of the database for research.

Our aim is to offer researchers and practitioners in low- and middle-income as well as high-income settings access to this searchable, open-source bibliography, with links to articles or chapters that are available online. It is organized so that interested parties may take a closer look at terminology, research methodology, points of contention in the field, and other relevant aspects of available published work. Team members are conducting our own meta-analyses according to our individual and collective interests. We hope these analyses will provide models for other studies as well as becoming springboards for lively debates on important aspects of the field.

Link to databases for public use: This Google folder provides information and links to each database as of November 2023.

English database of publications up to 2017: These publications have been sorted by category under five tabs: 1 (bi-/multilingual school models), 2 (school-based research on MLE), 3 (MLE policy), 4 (MLE assessment instruments), and 5 (reviews of language policy in specific countries/regions and meta-analyses or syntheses of MLE research). Users are free to search by author, keyword in titles or abstracts, country, and theme. [Current work on this database includes updating through 2023 and continuing with the annotations.]

Mandarin Chinese database of publications up to 2018: These publications have been sorted by category under six tabs (same as for the English database but dividing category 5), and can be searched in the same way. [Current work on this database includes updating through 2023 and continuing with the annotations.]

Spanish database of publications up to 2020: These publications have not yet been sorted or annotated, but entries have been cleaned and they are searchable. [Current work on this database includes updating through 2023, excluding irrelevant topics and coding by category.]

French database of publications up to 2019: These publications have not yet been sorted or annotated, but entries have been cleaned and they are searchable. We recommend using the first tab with results of both search engines combined. [Current work on this database includes updating through 2023, excluding irrelevant topics and coding by category.]

Core team:

Dr Kevin Wong kevin.wong@pepperdine.edu

Dr Carol Benson worldcitizen0357@gmail.com

Dr Erina Iwasaki erina.iwasaki@gmail.com

Dr Lajiadou  lajiadou@tc.columbia.edu

Publication:

Wong, K., Iwasaki, E., Benson, C. & Lhagyal, D. (2023). Decolonizing research findings in multilingual education: Using multilingual (re)sources to develop a database for international research. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2023.2168514

Past contributors:

• Coordinators: Jazz Digao (2019-20), Francis Gonzales (2020-21)

• Mandarin team: Lajiadou, Baolier Huang, Obi Eneh, Yigao Liu, Zhaoxin Su, Bingqing Li, Boshang Yin, Chenyi Zhao, Fei Xu, Tianqi Duan, Tianshu Ran, Tongyu Li, Wenxuan Li, Wenyu Xi, Yiran Tang

• Spanish team: Talía González, Pia Maiti, Denise Recinos, Francis Gonzales, Yaritza Villegas-Campos, Andrea López, Angelica Torres, Anishka Arseculeratne

• French team: Erina Iwasaki, Dior Mbengue, Obi Eneh, Jingran Su, Paige Yi, Siyi Li

• Pepperdine University students Joe Schwartz, Hovsep Sarafyan; and Teachers College students in ITSF 4025 Languages, Societies and Schools (Fall 2018, 2019, 2020; Spring 2020, 2023); ITSF 4198 Language and Education Rights (Fall 2019); and ITSF 4013 Literacy and International Development (Spring 2020)