Workshop Held on Researching WITH Children, Not ON Children

Workshop Held on Researching WITH Children, Not ON Children

Publish Date: 
Friday, March 10, 2023

The Department of English and Humanities, ULAB, organized the Workshop on “Researching WITH Children, Not ON Children" on March 10, 2023. The workshop was conducted by Prof. Arifa Rahman of Dhaka University, Prof. Sue Garton of Aston University, UK, and Dr. Aileen Ireland of University of Stirling, UK, and Prof. Rahman's research assistant, Ms. Syeda Tasnima Tasnin, Senior Specialist, HCMP, BRAC.

Prof. Arifa Rahman introduced their research on learning English as a second language that was conducted by Dr. Aileen Ireland, Prof. Sue Garton, and Ms. Tasnin, in the context of Bangladesh through students of government funded primary schools. Following this, Dr. Ireland began the discussion of the subject matter by explaining why and how the research was conducted. She mentioned how they helped students become enthusiastic about the research by giving them art books which they could use to answer their research questions. She then called upon Ms. Tasnin to talk about her experience in selecting each of the three schools included, and about conducting the research with children. Ms. Tasnin discussed how she had built rapport with them, and the students themselves conducted portions of the research, for instance, by interviewing their peers and parents.

The next part of the workshop was conducted with insights from both Prof. Ireland and Prof. Garton, where they spoke about the results of the research which was conducted in a total of four countries. The research concluded that children are more insightful than they get credit for. This is exhibited through their adaptation to the research methods, and their competence in developing their own research questions, thus making them capable of being researched with.

Towards the conclusion of the workshop, Dr. Ireland asked the audience to come up with their own research questions that they would like to have answered for the research, following which a brief question and answer session was held. The program concluded with some final remarks from Prof. Faheem Hasan Shahed, Associate Professor and Director, Center for Language Studies, ULAB.

Report by Ereti Rhidil Rahman (193013068)