Dr. Froso Argyri has very generously agreed to host me on a research placement with her for the final stages of a ground-breaking research project into differences in brain development between monolingual and bilingual children using MRI scans. Below is a synopsis of our conversation which touches on the issues of ethics, funding, interdisciplinarity, outreach, and implications of her study. Her original research proposal is available here.

Ethics process

The ethics process is always complicated when working with vulnerable research participants. In the case of this study, the participants are between 8 and 10 years old so the following considerations were made: 

• All data was anonymised
• All data was kept secure
• Comprehensive but comprehensive information sheets were provided to parents, with more accessible ones created for children
• Consent forms were signed by parents and children
• An animation was used to explain the process
• Children tried a trial run of the process in a play tunnel and also listened to a recording of the MRI scanner

Froso had previous experience working with children, but never with this kind of data (MRI scans) or in this kind of environment (a hospital). Fortunately, Froso’s partners research intensively with children and are familiar with the kind of procedures necessary. 

I wondered whether there might be ethical concerns regarding the monolingual children taking part in the study: Was it unethical to involve participants who did not stand to benefit from the research? Her response was short: No. It was necessary to have a control group, and if this research proved a positive correlation between second language acquisition and brain function, then this would create broad social benefits which would directly or indirectly affect them. This is standard research methodology. 

A related question that this brought up was how monolingual is a monolingual? We are all exposed to multiple languages on a daily basis. Some linguists also take the position that the very notion of neat and distinct languages is perhaps a rather new notion in itself. An unspoken question I am left with is whether this might prove an interesting follow-up question to investigate? If there are some outliers or unusual results in the case of some children, can you investigate the social factors which may have led to any anomalous results? If, for example, the participant in question is a keen musician or uses different dialects or registers.

While Froso is known in the Anglo-Greek community, this has never created anything approaching an ethical concern. It does lead to “convenient sampling” thanks to contacts and affinity. She does add that many Anglo-Greek schools she has contacted in the past never responded to her, though. 

Funding 

This project was very lucky to be granted funding from the Leverhulme Trust, which explicitly supports ground-breaking, interdisciplinary research. She initially had to contact both Leverhulme and UCL offices before moving forward. Like most funders, there were two subsequent stages to the funding: first, a two-page overview was submitted; later came a much more detailed proposal. An issue was raised by one review regarding age in the study, for which a theoretical argument was provided to justify the approach adopted in the research. All in all, this proved a long process, with the first stage beginning in March and the second beginning in December. 

Froso was pleased to receive funding as previous funding applications in the past have failed. These things unfortunately have a low success rate. Proposals must be extraordinarily compact and precise. This successful application has been lent as a template to other colleagues. Nevertheless, Leverhulme funding is less “painful” than ESRC. There is very limited money available so it is necessary to make multiple bids in order to be successful. 

Putting together a team can also be very challenging for early-stage researchers. It can be hard to establish trust. 

Interdisciplinary approach

The interdisciplinary nature of this research project makes it a particularly unique endeavour, and it has a fairly long story behind it. Froso met many of those who helped frame this research through her research group ‘Bilingo’. During a presentation at the ICH, she met Jonathan Clayton who is a specialist in MRI scans and also happens to have a Spanish partner and bilingual children. They met for coffee with Frederique, a neuroscientist also involved in linguistics. Froso sent them several papers of interest afterward to familiarise them with the field. Li Wei (now dean of the IoE) also provided some useful input. Shortly afterward, they decided to focus on the issue of age of onset for the study.

Froso was unfamiliar with the field of neuroscience, so even with a strong knowledge of mathematics, it was challenging to understand all aspects of this field. The software used for processing data was a particular challenge. 

Froso’s keenest advice for an early career researcher was to talk to people, to try to be as sociable as possible, and to challenge your own ideas and bias. Sometimes it is necessary to meet others halfway. 

Outreach

While outreach is very important to Froso, until the research is complete (on June 3rd), nothing is likely to happen. She plans to publish further papers in journals, to attend conferences, and then to plan further possible outreach. This final step remains, however, undecided.

How research sits in the field

This research is considered highly contraversial, both for its focus on brain differences in bilinguals and for its focus on the age of onset. Froso is now meetins with others to discuss some further work. Next, she wants to focus on literacy in home langugaes. She may apply for further Leverhulme funding, or possibly Wellcome trust. She also wonders about how different sociaeconomic groups may fair – as these participants were all of relatively high SES.