Gatekeeping and gate-opening: Ethical and reflexive research with LESLLA stakeholders: A response to "Why should I care? Research ethics in the field of adult L2 literacy"

Eva Malessa; Skye Playsted; Jemima Rillera Kempster; Live Grinden

doi:10.51751/dujal24695

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Gatekeeping and gate-opening: Ethical and reflexive research with LESLLA stakeholders: A response to "Why should I care? Research ethics in the field of adult L2 literacy"

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Gatekeeping and gate-opening: Ethical and reflexive research with LESLLA stakeholders: A response to "Why should I care? Research ethics in the field of adult L2 literacy"

Eva Malessa, Skye Playsted, Jemima Rillera Kempster and Live Grinden

Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol.15, pp.1-9

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51751/dujal24695

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Abstract

adult literacy

informed consent

LESLLA

reflexivity

research ethics

With their self-reflective article and vignettes, Shepperd and Dalderop provide valuable insights into their personal quest for ethical and reflexive research and make an important contribution to research ethics in applied linguistics. In our viewpoint, we would like to elaborate on their reflections on informed consent and voluntary participation by providing our thoughts on potential gate-openers/ gate-opening in LESLLA research. Their article considers three core areas of ethical care (consent, participation and minimising harm while optimising beneficence) to be exercised in LESLLA research and frames these as “layers of vulnerability” (see Luna, 2019). Similarly to Shepperd and Dalderop, we navigated these layers of vulnerability in our individual LESLLA research contexts in Norway (Live), Australia (Skye and Jemima) and Finland (Eva) through various institutional and research gatekeepers and will discuss relevant personal and contextualized reflections of our own in this viewpoint.

Details

Title: Gatekeeping and gate-opening: Ethical and reflexive research with LESLLA stakeholders: A response to "Why should I care? Research ethics in the field of adult L2 literacy"
Authors: Eva Malessa - University of Turku
Skye Playsted - The University of Queensland
Jemima Rillera Kempster - The University of Queensland
Live Grinden - Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Publication details: Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, Vol.15, pp.1-9
Publisher: openjournals.nl
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.51751/dujal24695
ISSN: 2211-7253
Copyright note: Copyright (c) 2026 Eva Malessa, Skye Playsted, Jemima Rillera Kempster, Live Grinden. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Grants: Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship, RTP, Department of Education (Australia, Canberra)
Organisation Unit: School of Education and Tertiary Access
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991245899802621
Output Type: Journal article

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