Tutorial 1: Introduction to research in applied linguistics

Tutorial 1: Introduction to
research in applied linguistics
• Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hung Tien
• Group 1:

Nguyen Duong Ha
Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc
Do Thi Phuong Thanh
Tran Thi Thu Trang


I. What is research?
SEVERAL DEFINITIONS:
1. Research is a systematic process of inquiry
consisting of 3 elements or components:
- A question, a problem, or a hypothesis
- Data
- Analysis and interpretation of the data.
(Nunan 1992)


I. What is research?
2. Research is the process of going up alleys to
see if they are blind.
(Marston Bates, American writer)
3. Research is what I am doing when I don't know
what I am doing.
(Von Braun, American engineer)
4. If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if
you steal from many, it's research.
(Wilson Mizner, American dramatist)

I. What is research?
5. Research is:
- about inquiry. It has 2 components: process and
product. The process is about an area of inquiry
and how it is pursued. The product is the
knowledge generated from the process as well
as the initial area to be presented.
- a process which involves (a) defining a problem,
(b) stating an objective, and (c) formulating an
hypothesis. It involves gathering information,
classification, analysis, and interpretation to see
to what extent the initial objective has been
achieved.


- undertaking structured investigation which hopefully
results in greater understanding of the chosen
interest area. Ultimately, this investigation becomes
accessible to the "public".
- an activity which analyses and critically evaluates
some problems.
- to collect and analyze the data in a specific field with
the purpose of proving your theory.
- evaluation, asking questions, investigations, analysis,
confirming hypotheses, overview, gathering and
analyzing data in a specific field according to certain
predetermined methods.
(Nunan 1992)

• 6. In the first sense, the outcome of
research is the establishment, publicizing,
or utilization of something that somebody not the researcher or the person
commissioning it - already knows. In the
second sense, the outcome is the
knowledge nobody had before.


II. Purposes of a research
- getting a result with scientific methods objectively, not
subjectively.
- solving problems, verifying the application of theories, and
leading on to new insights.
- enlightening both researcher and any interested readers.
- proving/ disproving new or existing ideas, to characterize
phenomena (i.e., the language characteristics of a particular
population), and to achieve personal and community aims.
That is, to satisfy the individual's quest but also to improve
community welfare.
- proving or disproving, demystifying, carrying out what is
planned, to support the point of view, to uncover what is not
known, satisfying inquiry. Discovering the cause of a problem,
finding the solution to a problem...
(Nunan 1992)


Sample research
– Title: Jordanian Undergraduate EFL Students'

Errors in the Use of the Indefinite Article
– Author : Dr. Rula Fahmi Bataineh, Jordan
University of Science and Technology, Irbid,
Jordan
– Source: 2005 Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1,
March 2005,
/>b.php


The objectives of this research
• (1) to investigate and then identify the errors the
learners make in terms of their types and
potential sources
• (2) to compute and compare the relative
frequency of these errors to detect any
developmental tendencies among the learners of
the different levels of proficiency
• (3) to determine any potential differences among
the subjects which can be attributed to class
level or average length of compositions


How these objectives are achieved:
• Stating the research questions
• Choosing a suitable study design
• Selecting the research instruments
• Choosing sample size
• Collecting data and Analyzing them
• Presenting and Discussing the
findings

III. Different views of the
nature of social sciences &
social reality


Social Sciences
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and
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discover
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regulating
and
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Social reality-the truth
• A social reality is any causally efficacious
system, structure, or mechanism which
can exist independently of any particular
historical individual, but cannot exist
independently of some group of individuals
somehow linked together in sustaining or
reproducing that reality from day to day
(Bhaskar 1979; Durkheim 1982; Giddens
1979).


Social reality-the truth
=> is distinct from biological reality or individual
cognitive reality, and consists of the accepted
social tenets of a community.
(Hitchcock and Hughes)

Examples:

• French is an existing social reality
• Cornish (a dead language) - is not a social
reality


Social reality assumptions
1

Ontological assumptions

2

Epistemological
assumptions


Different social reality assumptions
• Ontological assumptions
– "Do social structures determine an individual's
behavior or does human agency?"

•

Social reality external to individuals (objective
nature): Fixed, stable, observable, measurable

•

Social reality - the product of individual
consciousness (results of personal recognition):

Multiple realities that are socially constructed by
individuals


Different social reality assumptions
Epistemological assumptions
•

Knowledge is hard, objective and tangible:
researcher is observer – natural methods,
positivism: Gained through scientific and
experimental research. Knowledge is objective
and quantifiable

•

Knowledge is personal, subjective and unique:
researcher- participant observer, rejection of
natural science methods, anti-positivism: Gained
through understanding the meaning of the
process/experience.


Different social reality
assumptions:
• Ontological assumptions give rise to
epistemological assumptions, and
these in turn give rise to
methodological considerations which
give rise to issues of instrumentation

and data collection


Social reality assumptions & their
orientations to research
Ontology
(nature of reality)
1
11

22

Epistemology
(knowledge)

Orientations to
Research

Fixed, stable,
observable,
measurable

Gained through scientific Post-positivist
and experimental research. Research
Knowledge is objective
(Quantitative)
and quantifiable

Multiple realities
that are socially

constructed by
individuals.

Gained through
understanding the
meaning of the
process/experience.

Interpretive Research
(Qualitative,
phenomenology,
ethnography, case
study, grounded theory)


IV. Research process


What is research process?
A process of formulating
questions, problems, hypothesis

Collecting data or evidence relevant to
these questions, problems or hypothesis

Analyzing
Analyzingor
orinterpreting
interpretingdata
data

(Nunan,
(Nunan,1992)
1992)


A model of research process
1
2

problem / experience / observation
hypothesis/ research questions

3
4

data gathering/ collection

5
6

investigation and experimentation
to test the hypothesis/ research questions

data analysis and interpretation

confirmation or disapproval of the hypothesis
(Wisker, 2001)


The first phase: Problem

Recognition & Hypothesis
• Experience
• Observation
• Questions for brainstorming
• Focused research questions/ Hypothesis


IIlustrations from real research
reports
– Title: Jordanian Undergraduate EFL Students'
Errors in the Use of the Indefinite Article
– Author : Dr. Rula Fahmi Bataineh, Jordan
University of Science and Technology, Irbid,
Jordan
– Source: 2005 Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1,
March 2005, />

The problem arises from some
starting points:
- The experience:
‘The English articles a(n), zero, and the are quite difficult to
acquire not only for ESL/EFL learners but also for
children learning English as a first language. (CelceMurcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999).’

- An observation of the author:
‘The English article system is one of the most difficult
structural elements for ESL/EFL learners, especially for
those whose native languages do not employ articles or
article-like morphemes.’