Why Research Communication?
Research is often published in academic journals and databases that are restricted to members in academia. In addition to the strict gatekeeping of many of these journals and databases, research is often written using field-specific language. This exclusive access to research also makes it difficult for research findings to be visible, accessible, and intelligible to community members with a career or interest in language research. In response to this, the open science movement is a way for researchers to bridge the gap between research and practice. While steps have been made in applied linguistics to make research more accessible to a broad audience, most of the publications are written in English, thus creating a language barrier.
The Multiʻōlelo Initiative
Multiʻōlelo (MO) is a language research communication initiative, led by graduate students in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Our aim is to make language-related research visible and accessible to people from those in language-related careers to the everyday person. Additionally, MO aims to produce materials in multiple languages to reach an international audience. MO has established the following three targets to meet these aims: (a) enable research communication to happen via the provision of tools and resources, (b) engage different stakeholders into a community of practice, and (c) evaluate best practices in language research communication.
Multiʻōlelo Webinar Series
MO Webinar Series is one step to enabling researchers to connect with various stakeholders who are involved or interested in language-related research. The motivation behind holding this webinar series is to raise awareness of research communication in applied linguistics and learn about the most effective methods to create accessible material. As the primary audience for this webinar series, graduate students, researchers, and instructors in applied linguistics will learn about current issues related to research communication.
Multiʻōlelo 