Index
Syllabus
Timetable
Activities

Assessment

Online platforms
References
Contact
USB
POSTGRADO EN LINGÜÍSTICA APLICADA
Research Methods Course
Prof. Dafne González
Sept.-Dec. 2004

Activities

Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 /

Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9 / Week 10 / Week 11/ Week 12

Week 1: Getting acquainted and an overview of the course
1. Participants and teacher introduce themselves.

2. Explanation and discussion of syllabus. Teacher gives detailed explanation of how the sessions will be conducted and what is expected from participants.

3.Introduction to the use of the computer for the session. Participant fill in a survey about their expertise in the use of computers and their access to computers.

4.What is research? Participants share their ideas and compare them with the ones found at "dictionary.com" (check under dictionary and under thesaurus).

5. Individually, participants complete a "know-want-to-know" chart, and share their expectations about the course with the whole group.

6.Types of Research: participants take a look at the web page as an introduction to the next activity. Comments on types of research.

7. Participants go to The Five Research Methods page, and do the activities for each type of research (description, strengths, limitations and examples.  Each participant will be asked to share/explain one kind of research to the others. Once this is done, participants will go back to the page to do the practice and test parts. 

8. Participants will share their comments about the previous activity and contents.

9. Participants will be asked to reflect on the kinds of research that would be most suitable for different studies in the area of applied linguistics (for next session).

10. To be discussed in the next session, all participants will read and write a brief summary or outline containing the main aspects contained in: 

  • Cumming, A. H. (1994). "Alternatives in TESOL research: Descriptive, interpretive, and ideological orientations". 

And, each participant will select one of the following articles to be read and summarized in writing:

  • Lazarton, A. (1995). Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics: A progress report.
  • Davis, K. (1995). Qualitative theory and methods in Applied Linguistics Research.
  • Brown, J.D. (1988). Understanding research in second language learning: preface (pp. ix-xi), and chapter 1: "What is research?" (pp. 1-6).
  • Fraenkel, J.R., & Wallen, N.E. (1993 or 2003). How to design and evaluate research in
         education: Chapter 1: "The nature of educational research" (pp. 2-17). (Note: the 5th edition of this book can be found online. Click here for Chapter one. This is a great book with clear explanations of the different kinds of research.)
  • Pierce, B. (1995). The theory of methodology in qualitative research (pp. 569-576).
  • Del Siegle. Qualitative and Quantitative Research.

Note: Participants will be advised to consult the the references in the syllabus  in order to widen their knowledge about the different aspects of research presented in their selected articles. 

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Week 2: Research in Applied Lingustics -  Types of Research - Stating the problem
1. Participants will discuss the article by Cumming.

2. Each participant will present and discuss the article selected for reading.

3. As a group, participants will discuss and summarize their ideas about:

  • Areas of Applied Linguistics that can be used for research.
  • Research methods suitable for those areas - strengths and limitations
  • Main aspects covered in the articles read.
  • Vocabulary items that have emerged from the readings and discussions (participants will start a glossary of research).

The summary of each discussion will be posted to a forum in Moodle for later reference, and the glossary will also be documented there.

4. Participants, in pairs, discuss topics or problems they would like to research and the type of research that seems most appropriate to the topic or problem, to be then discussed with the whole group. Each participant will have a journal in Moodle to write their notes and reflections for the final work.

5. Participants will select the research studies to be presented in the following sessions (2 each one)


Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

  • Tang E.; Nesi H.(2003).Teaching vocabulary in two Chinese classrooms: schoolchildren's exposure 
    to English words in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
    Language Teaching Research, 1 January 2003, vol.
     7, iss. 1, pp. 65-97(33). Arnold 
  • Mitchell R.; Lee J.H-W.(2003). Sameness and difference in classroom learning cultures: interpretations of communicative pedagogy in the UK and Korea. Language Teaching Research, 1 January 2003, vol. 7, iss. 1, pp. 35-63(29). Arnold.
  • Nunan, D. (1992). Action research in language education.
  • Absalom M.(2003).Exploring conceptions of language with teachers of Chinese and Italian. Language Teaching Research, 1 January 2003, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 99-100(2). Arnold.
  • Reeder, K., Macfadyen, L., Roche, J., & Chase, M. (2004). Negotiating Cultures  in Cyberspace: Participation Patterns and Problematics. Language Learning & Technology. Vol. 8, No. 2, May 2004, pp. 88-105.

Week 6

Week 7

Note: All participants are responsible for reading the selected studies for each week.

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Week 3:  Experimental and Correlational studies - Types of variables - hypotheses
1. Presentation of study(ies) and discussion with whole group.

2. Conclusions derived from the discussions will be summarized by participants, with an emphasis on:

  • Characteristics of experimental and correlational studies (stregths and limitations), 
  • Variables and hypothesis, and
  • Data collection techniques

3. In pairs, participants will complete the exercises on this page (University of Connecticut)

4. Participants will interact with our Guest Speaker: Rubena St. Louis from Universidad Simón Bolívar.

Rubena's presentation in ppt.

Extra resources:

Del Siegle's  notes on correlation  (see the Power Point presentation).

How the correlation coefficient operates--interactively! Correlation Coefficient

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Week 4: Survey studies -Selecting Subjects - Data Collection Techniques

1. Presentation and discussion of studies for this week.

2. Collaboratively participants will summarize the following topics and post the document to the course Moodle platform:

  • Characteristics of Survey studies (strenghts and limitations)
  • Importance of the selection of subjecs and sample size
  • Data collection techniques other than questionnaires and surveys

3 .Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Aiden Yeh from the Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, Taiwan (Teacher professional development among taiwanese efl teachers).

Listen to Aiden's talk and read her research page at: http://dcyeh.com/aiden_phd/

Suggested readings to complement this week's discussion:

  1. McNamara, C. Overview of Basic Methods to Collect Information.
     
  2. Notes on Observation by Del Siegle, University of Connecticut:  Five Dimensions of Variations in Approaches to Observation
  3. Selecting subjects for a study:
     
  4. Table for sample sizes:

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Week 5: Classroom-based Research - Case Studies - Action Research

1.Presentations and discussion about classrooom-based research, case studies and action research through the readings selected for this week.

2. Collaboratively participants will summarize the following topics and post the document to the course Moodle platform:

  • What is classroom-based research. Importance.
  • Characteristics of Action Research and Case Studies (strengths and limitations)
  • Validity, reliability, triangulation

3. Participants will work on developing the research glossary.

4. Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Arnold Mühren from The Netherlands.

Read Arnold's Web page for the session: "Action Research: Teacher as Researcher".
Listen to the session at Alado. Open the zip file and select the html file for the whole session (chat - audio and web pages) or just the file for audio.

 Suggested readings to complement this week's discussion:

Notes on Triangulation and trustworthiness by Del Siegle (UC):

Dick, B. (2002 ).Action research: action and research.

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Week 6: Ethnographic Research - Content Analysis - Conversation Analysis

1. Presentation of studies and class discussion on Ethnographic Research.

2. What is the role of content and conversation analysis in research. Qualitative or quantitative?

3.Collaborative construction of class summary.

4. Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Susanne Nyrop

Suggested readings to complement this week's discussion:

Notes on Qualitative research by Del Siegle (UC):

Garson, D. Etnographic Research

Ginger Lin, C.J. Content Analysis Theme Park (check out the link to "A flow chart for the typical content analysis from The Content Analysis Guidebook by Kimberly A. Neuendorf )

Adams, C., & Bishop, D.V. (19899).Conversational characteristics of children with semantic-pragmatic disorder.I: Exchange structure, turntaking, repairs and cohesion ( An example of a conversational analysis)

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Week 7: Collaborative Research - Research in CALL

1. Presentation of studies and class discussion on collaborative research

2. Presentation and discussion of a qualititaveconversation analysis study of ESP students interacting in task-based chat groups (presenter: Dafne Gonzalez).

3. Group discussion about research in CALL.

4. Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Renata Suzuki (article:Diaries as introspective research tools: From Ashton-Warner to Blogs.)

Suggested readings to complement this week's discussion:

Burns, A. (1999).Collaborative action research for English language teachers.Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press

 

Week 8: What kind of research should Applied Linguists do? Discussing the issues

1. Paricipants will reflect in pairs about the research agenda set by TESOL and then share their reflections with the whole class.

2. Participants will discuss the criteria to be used for the evaluation of the final papers.

3.Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Hanson-Smith

Suggested readings to complement this week's discussion:

Developing a research agenda for TESOL

TESOL Research Agenda, June 2000: Part III:
PRIORITY RESEARCH AREAS AND QUESTIONS: 

Chapelle, C. (1997).CALL in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms?

 

Week 9:-Discussion of Participants' projects

1. Participants will discuss their projects with teacher and fellow students.

2.Participants will interact synchronously at Alado.net with our guest speaker: Leticia Estéves : Evaluación de un Progama de Inglés

Week 10: Discussion of Participants' projects
1. Participants will discuss their projects with teacher and fellow students.
Week 11: Projects and Wrap up
1. Informal discussion of final papers.
Week 12: Evaluations
1. Participants will self-evaluate

2. Participants will peer-evaluate

3. Participants will evaluate the course.

 

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Dafne González
July 20, 2004