Formal Training
I am a qualitative researcher by choice and training. My first research project (Mora, 1999) was an early exercise in action research. I complemented those first steps with formal training as a qualitative researcher in graduate school at Illinois. In fact, I do hold a qualitative research specialization as part of my doctoral training. I had the honor to learn the craft of qualitative research from world-class scholars such as Liora Bresler, the legendary Robert Stake, and the late Susan Noffke. I also had the privilege to do research in areas such as longitudinal studies (with renowned teacher educator scholar Renée Clift) and mixed methods (with respected bilingual education scholar Georgia García).
As a qualitative researcher, I have conducted studies using the following research methodologies:
As a qualitative researcher, I have conducted studies using the following research methodologies:
- Action Research
- Case Study Research
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Qualitative Interviewing (this was the methodology I used for my dissertation)
- Ethnographic Methods (Ethnography/Digital Ethnography/Autoethnography/Duoethnography)
- Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
The Value of Qualitative Research
To explain why I believe qualitative research is the methodology that best informs the kind of research I pursue, I will refer to my dissertation, as quoted below:
"I believe choosing qualitative research as the paradigm was the proper choice. Issues of literacy beliefs and practices are complex in nature and relying on surveys or evaluations does not provide room for depth. Since I am interested in the participants’ stories to learn as much as I can from them, focusing on each story and the lessons was essential. Only qualitative research, which aims to pick up the depth of what every participant shares with the researcher, would help me achieve that goal. In addition, I did not arrive at this stage with a preconceived expectation of possible answers nor was I trying to prove a hypothesis. Again, I was interested in the lessons I could learn from twelve very interesting individuals. The attention to the participants and the value one gives to their stories and their answers was another factor that helped me choose a qualitative paradigm over any other possible option."
Source:
Mora Vélez, R. A. (2010). An analysis of the literacy beliefs and practices of faculty and graduates from a preservice English teacher education program. [PhD Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]. University of Illinois Library, https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/16829/MoraVelez_Raul.pdf?sequence=3
My Current Research Agenda
While my research interests are varied (see Bonus Track below), I have zeroed in on four specific lines of inquiry
Literacies in Second Languages
As an extension from the conceptual frameworks I developed in my dissertation (Mora Vélez, 2010), I am interested in looking at the different ways in which we can understand literacy as "interpretation and creation of texts." I am developing most of this line of inquiry with my students at SRG-L2 and my graduate advisees at ML2. From this line of inquiry, I will focus on three specific topics (See Mora, 2014 for some examples:
I intend to develop these two frameworks both in English and in Spanish. In the case of Spanish, this is part of a larger framework to define "literacidad" (Cassany, 2006; Mora, 2011c; 2012b) as a term that actually encompasses all the changes that the current definitions of literacy stemming from Critical Litearcy, NLS and Multiliteracies have triggered.
- Urban second language literacies: This is the main line of work at SRG-L2. We have two research projects in progress: "English Literacy Practices in the Urbs of 'Medellín City'" and "A Digital Ethnography of Second Language Literacies in the Third Space of Video Games". The first project is finishing Stage I of data collection and analysis and we're gearing up for Stage II in 2015. The second project is in its early stages of design and data collection.
- Second language literacies in schools: This line of inquiry will stem mostly from my students' senior and master's theses. They will be using ideas from critical literacy, New Literacy Studies, and Multiliteracies as conceptual frameworks.
- Multimodality in language education: The goal of this line is to explore the use of multimodality as a tool to improve the use of technology in language classrooms. Although I had initially linked it to the ongoing work on WebQuests that has become a staple of our preservice education program at UPB, I have moved to working on the design of multimodal essays with my preservice students.
I intend to develop these two frameworks both in English and in Spanish. In the case of Spanish, this is part of a larger framework to define "literacidad" (Cassany, 2006; Mora, 2011c; 2012b) as a term that actually encompasses all the changes that the current definitions of literacy stemming from Critical Litearcy, NLS and Multiliteracies have triggered.
Critical Discourse Analysis
I had some initial approximations to CDA in graduate school, where I got to write two papers for AERA (Mora, 2006) and the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (Mora, 2009). The latter also triggered an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Simon Weaver (Brunel University, UK) related to comedy research. I will disclose more about our collaboration when the time is right.
I've also used socio-critical frameworks, to discuss the social imaginaries in advertisements (Mora & Muñoz Luna, 2012) and movies. Some of my more recent endeavors in this matter include a critical view at the Zombie genre (Mora, 2014) and the analysis of movies through the Bourdieusian framework (Mora & Golovátina-Mora, 2014)
I've also used socio-critical frameworks, to discuss the social imaginaries in advertisements (Mora & Muñoz Luna, 2012) and movies. Some of my more recent endeavors in this matter include a critical view at the Zombie genre (Mora, 2014) and the analysis of movies through the Bourdieusian framework (Mora & Golovátina-Mora, 2014)
Second Languages
Qualitative Research Education
I am particularly interested in understanding how to frame QI at all levels of tertiary education (BA, MA, PhD) and what it means to prepare researchers at every stage. I am also interested in framing QI from three complementary dimensions in the comprehension of educational phenomena: Historical-Political, Socio-Cultural, and Pedagogical. Another main area of work relates to ethics in QI, an area still under a lot of development in the Latin American context. Finally, I want to study the process of becoming a research educator, specifically the transition from learning to do research (as one does in a doctoral program) to learning to teach others to do research (Mora, 2014).