Susan Coetzee-van Rooy

My research career started in the mid-1990s when I studied cultural identity and the acquisition of English as an additional language among home language speakers of Afrikaans and Southern Sotho. 

I focus on the study of the nature of the multilingual repertoires of people in South Africa, Africa and the world.  Multilingualism is the new linguistic dispensation because of intensified migration, the spread of English and a focus on social justice issues across the world that include linguistic rights.  In my focus on this topic in the recent past, I succeeded in developing a useful survey instrument that assists me to document details of the language repertoires of large groups of multilingual people.  I use Statistica and Excel effectively to analyse my survey data.  The quantitative data that I gather via this methodology contextualizes my more qualitative work where I use language history interviews to expand my understanding of the how and why questions related to the language repertoires of multilingual people.  I can transcribe my own data and I am an adept user of Atlas.ti (version 8) with which I analyse the themes that emerge from interview data that give me information about the language repertoires of multilingual people.

I am exploring 2 new methodologies at this stage: the use of social networks to gather real life data from natural discussions from multilingual people that participate in my study; and I want to use language portrait data more extensively.  Some of my students use language portrait data and I am excited about the potential of the methodology to complement survey and interview data.