Professor Marilyn Martin-Jones

• Ph.D. Linguistics (Stanford University, California, USA)
• PGCE, with distinction (Institute of Education, University of London, UK)
• BA Honours in French (Southampton University, UK)

Before joining the School of Education at the University of Birmingham in 2005, Marilyn Martin-Jones held the following positions:

• 1983-1998 Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, Lancaster University
• 1998-2005 Professor of Bilingualism and Education, School of Education, University of Wales Aberystwyth

She was also involved in the following research activities:

From 1989 to 2005, she served as Director of three research projects, in multilingual settings in cities in England. All three were funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

• Bilingual resources in primary classroom interaction (1989 – 1992)
• Multilingual literacy practices: Home, community and school (1993-1996)
• Literacies at work in a multilingual city (1995-1996)

(See details below under 'Research').

From 2004 to 2007, she acted as Co-Director (with Dr Alexandra Jaffe) of the international journal Linguistics and Education, published by Elsevier. She was also a member of the editorial board of two other journals: International Journal of Bilingualism and Language and Education.

From 2002 to 2004, she served on the Executive Committee of the British Association for Applied Linguistics

After her move to the School of Education, University of Birmingham, in 2005,

Marilyn Martin-Jones began a fourth ESRC-funded research project, which was based in Further Education settings in Wales (2005-2007).

• Bilingual literacies for learning in Further Education (2005-2007)

(See details below under 'Research')

She also served as founding Director of the MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilingualism (2008-2010). She organised an international conference at the University of Birmingham to launch the Centre.

Then, from 2010 to 2013, she was Co-Investigator of an ESRC-funded project (with Dr Deirdre Martin, a MOSAIC colleague), entitled: Researching multilingualism, multilingualism in research practice.  This project provided advanced research training. The MOSAIC Centre served as the organisational hub and the main location for the research training activities (See details below under ‘Research’).

From 2005 – 2010, she also served as a member of the Research Training and Development Board of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

In 2011, she established a book series with Routledge and served as editor (with Dr Joan Pujolar) from 2011-2023. The series is entitled Critical Studies in Multilingualism. 32 books were published before the series was passed on to new editors in 2023.

From 2011 to 2014, she was a Visiting Professor at several universities outside the UK: Institute for the Study of Language (IEL), UNICAMP, Brazil (2011); University of Jyväskylä (Finland) (2013), University of Hong Kong (2014).  

In 2018 and 2019, she directed an ethnographic project in two universities in Brazil. The research team included five Brazilian colleagues and two British colleagues from the University of Birmingham. The project title was: The changing language and literacy landscapes of Brazilian universities: English in policy development and in practice. The project was supported by the British Council, the University of Birmingham and Brazilian research organisations e.g. CNPq. (See details below under ‘Research’).

Since 2023, Marilyn Martin-Jones has been an active supporter and contributor to the University of Birmingham Brazil Institute, a newly established interdisciplinary network at the University.

From 2005-2010, Marilyn Martin-Jones contributed to teaching at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level in the School of Education and the College of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She contributed to courses in the following areas: Research Methodology in Applied Linguistics, Language, Discourse and Society, Ethnography of Literacy, Multilingualism and Language and Gender.

Marilyn Martin-Jones has acted as supervisor at Masters and Doctoral level in the following areas: Bilingual education (including language across the curriculum); language, faith and education; language teaching and learning (including different projects e.g. 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)

She has supervised 25 doctoral researchers to successful completion of their Ph.D. programmes. In June 2010, she received a university award for Excellence in Doctoral Supervision.

She has also examined 52 doctoral theses, including 31 in the UK and 21 in other countries.

Most of Marilyn Martin-Jones’ own research has been based in the UK. She has also collaborated with colleagues in Lusophone contexts in the Global South (e.g. in Brazil and East-Timor) building on her knowledge of Portuguese

The changing language and literacy landscapes of Brazilian universities: English in policy development and in practice (2018-2019)

This ethnographic project investigated the specific ways in which university policy-making, with regard to “internationalization at home” was unfolding in two universities in Brazil. The focus was on the specific ways in which the use and production of texts in English – online and offline – was mediating this aspect of policy-making, in different areas of academic life: research, teaching/learning (in different disciplines) and administration.

Researching multilingualism, multilingualism in research practice (2010-2013) (ESRC, RES-046-25-0004)

The main aim of this capacity-building project was to provide an introduction to new epistemological, conceptual and methodological developments in the sociolinguistic study of multilingualism – developments ushered in by globalisation, increased transnational population flows, new conditions of diversity in urban neighbourhoods and the advent of new communication media. The MOSAIC Centre, School of Education, University of Birmingham was the main site for capacity building activities ranging from residential courses, master classes and workshops for doctoral researchers and early career researchers to an end of project conference for mid-career and senior researchers. Thematic workshops were also organised in collaboration with researchers in other UK universities.

Bilingual literacies for learning in Further Education (2005-2007) (ESRC, RES-139-25-0171)

This ethnographic project was funded as part of the ESRC’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) (Extension to Wales). It was linked to a TLRP project entitled Literacies for Learning in Further Education which was based in England and Scotland. The main aim of the project was to uncover actual and potential overlaps and connections between the bilingual literacy practices (in Welsh and in English) of students’ everyday lives, the bilingual literacy demands of their courses and the bilingual literacy demands of the workplaces in which they were hoping to gain employment. The full-time researcher on the project was Buddug Griffiths (now Hughes) – a fluent Welsh Scholar. The other principal investigator was  Dr Daniel Chandler. The project was based in a rural Further Education college in Wales. The research focus was on three curriculum areas (two vocational and one academic): Agriculture, Early Years Child Care and Welsh. Two further aims of the project were: (1.) to contribute to staff development in the bilingual Further Education contexts in which it was based; (2.) to identify specific ways in which bilingual provision in Further Education in Wales could be further developed and consolidated.

Literacies at work in a multilingual city (1995-1996) (ESRC, RES-R000221534)

This ethnographic project was based in the city of Leicester, with Gujarati speakers who engaged in bilingual literacy practices at work, drawing on a range of languages, literacies and technologies. The project was carried out with men and women with diverse backgrounds, with different migration histories and educational experiences. They were also based in different kinds of workplaces: in private and public sector contexts and in local community contexts. The full-time, Gujarati-speaking researcher on the project was Arvind Bhatt. In the first phase of the project, we carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the participants. In the second phase, we carried out ethnographic observations of particular literacy events and collected literacy materials associated with those events (including hand-written and printed texts). The project was rated ‘Outstanding’ by the ESRC.

Multilingual literacy practices: Home, community and school (1993-1996) (ESRC, RES-R00023 3833)

This ethnographic project was also based in the city of Leicester and focused on twelve households where Gujarati was used. The participants in these households had diverse backgrounds, different migration histories, different religious backgrounds (e.g. Hindus and Muslims) and different educational experiences. They also included households with young children and households with older children. The full-time Gujarati-speaking researcher working with the project was Arvind Bhatt. The other principal investigators were David Barton (Lancaster University) and Mukul Saxena (College of Ripon and York St John). Our primary focus in this project was on multilingual literacy practices and uses of texts, in home and local community contexts (including Gujarati classes). In the first phase of the project, we carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with individual household members. In the second phase of the project, we did follow-up visits and ethnographic observation of particular literacy events in five households and in local community contexts.

Bilingual resources in primary classroom interaction (1989 – 1992) (ESRC, X204252001)

This ethnographic project was based in primary schools in South-East Lancashire. The research focus was on the role of bilingual teaching assistants who had been appointed by the local education authority to work alongside class teachers in nursery and reception classes.  The project was funded by the ESRC as part of a wider initiative on “The Educational Needs of a Multicultural Society”. The full-time Panjabi-speaking researcher on the project was Mukul Saxena. The other principal investigators were David Barton and Roz Ivanic (Lancaster University). The main research activities undertaken in this project were: (1.) interviews with participants (bilingual teaching assistants and class teachers); (2.) ethnographic observation of teaching/learning events that were undertaken bilingually, (3.) audio and video-recording, transcription and analysis of bilingual classroom discourse. The overall aims were to investigate the ways in which different participants understood and constructed the ‘role’ of bilingual teaching assistants in different teaching/learning events, and to build an understanding of the broader educational significance of the practices documented.

Marilyn Martin-Jones was Chair of the Doctoral Research Board, College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, from 2009-2010. 

She has also assumed the following roles beyond the University of Birmingham:

• 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