Description and contextualization of the subject

This course is offered in the first term of the Master’s degree. Its main goal is to familiarize students with research approaches to the study of second language acquisition, as well as with the use of bibliographic resources and with the specificities of a research paper. This course on research methods, together with other methodological courses such as Designing Experiments and Data Transcription and Codification, as well as Methods of Statistical Inference that are also part of the Master’s degree, will contribute to the acquisition of the skills needed to carry out research on language acquisition.

Ordinary call: orientations and renunciation

The type of assessment is continuous. Students will be assessed according to their performance in the following assignments:



Exercises on bibliographic resources (10%): Students are to hand in the exercises on bibliographic search carried out during the practical sessions at the UPV-EHU library.



Oral Presentation (40%): Students are to deliver an oral presentations on one of the compulsory readings assigned. They must follow the guidelines provided by the instructors during the course.



Research Project on language acquisition (50%): Students are to submit a written research project including the following compulsory sections: introduction + review of the literature + aims and research questions/hypotheses/predictions + method (participants, instruments and procedure) + expected results + references.





Marking criteria:



Exercises on bibliographic resources:

• Content: 80%

• Clarity of presentation of ideas: 20%



Oral Presentation:



• Content: 50%

• Structure: 25%

• Delivery: 25%



Research Project on language acquisition:

• Content: 70%

• Organization: 10%

• Style, use of academic register, formatting: 20%



Information on the use of resources and materials in exams and assignments







Exam: The use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed



Home-assignments: the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by themselves. The students must identify and include the source of all facts, ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others through in-text referencing and the relevant sources should all be included in the list of references at the end of their work. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources or any other source must be acknowledged and the sources cited must be identified in the list of references.







Withdrawal from an exam call: Not submitting one of the assignments qualifies as an automatic withdrawal [no presentado/a] from the corresponding call.

Extraordinary call: orientations and renunciation

The mark will be based on the same assignments as in the first call (convocatoria ordinaria) (100%). Those assignments which earned a passing grade in the first call may be kept in the second call.

Exam marking criteria: The same marking criteria apply as in the first call.



Information on the use of resources and materials in exams and assignments







Exam: The use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed



Home-assignments: the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by themselves. The students must identify and include the source of all facts, ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others through in-text referencing and the relevant sources should all be included in the list of references at the end of their work. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources or any other source must be acknowledged and the sources cited must be identified in the list of references.







Withdrawal from an exam call: Not submitting one of the assignments qualifies as an automatic withdrawal [no presentado/a] from the corresponding call.

Temary

Unit 1. Bibliographic resources and tools in the Humanities



Reference sources, electronic databases, electronic journals and the internet. Practicals at the university library.



Unit 2. The nature and stages of SLA research



What is research?

Research stages

The good researcher

Ethical considerations



Unit 3. Research approaches in SLA



Basic vs. applied

Primary & secondary

Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal

Qualitative vs. quantitative

Naturalistic vs. laboratory

Case vs. group

Action research

Statistical research



Unit 4. The concepts of variable, validity and reliability



Sample and population

Experimental and control groups

Variables

Basic statistical concepts

Validity

Reliability





Unit 5. The qualitative Model: characteristics, data gathering and analysis



Defining qualitative research

Gathering qualitative data: Ethnographies, Case Studies, Interviews, Observations, Diaries/Journals, Introspection

Mixed methods research

Analysing qualitative data: Credibility, transferability, confirmability and dependability; Triangulation

Classroom Research



Unit 6. The quantitative Model: characteristics and data gathering and analysis



Defining quantitative research

Gathering quantitative data: Surveys, Tests,

Analysing quantitative data: Correlational designs, Experimental designs, Factorial designs



Unit 7. Reporting results in Second Language Acquisition



The structure of the research paper

Specificities of the quantitative/qualitative report

Style and typical language used in each section







Sixty hours will be devoted to in-class activities. Lecturers will introduce the different topics and will highlight the most important aspects of each topic of the syllabus. These lectures will be accompanied by a set of exercises, problem-solving activities and critical review of articles which will be carried out in groups during the sessions. Students will have to do out-of-class work as well, which will encompass a variety of of activities to consolidate the main theoretical points shown in class, such as the preparation of an oral presentation, and a design of a research project dealing with language acquisition.

Bibliography

Compulsory materials

Materials prepared by the instructors will be available at the photocopy room at the beginning of the semester. Handouts and practical activities on each unit will be available on the E-gela website as the course progresses.

Basic bibliography

Brown, J.D. (1988). Understanding Research in Second Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brumfit, C. and R. Mitchell. (1990). Research in the Language Classroom. ELT documents (133), Modern English Publications in Association with the British Council.

Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fortanet Gómez, I. (2002). Cómo escribir un artículo de investigación en inglés. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Gass, S. M. and A. Mackey. (2007). Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Johnson, D. M. (1992). Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning. New York: Longman.

Larsen-Freeman, D. and M. H. Long. (1991). An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. New York: Longman.

Mackey, A. and S. M. Gass. (2005). Second Language Research: Methodology and Design. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Nunan. D. (1992). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tarone, E., S. Gass and D. Cohen. (1994). Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Journals

Applied Linguistics



Applied Psycholinguistics



Bilingualism: Language And Cognition



Eurosla Yearbook



International Journal Of Applied Linguistics



International Journal Of Bilingual Education And Bilingualism



International Journal Of Multilingualism



IRAL



ITL



Journal Of Multilingual And Multicultural Development



Language



Language Acquisition



Language Learning



Language Teaching



Language Teaching Research



Second Language Acquisition



Second Language Research



Studies In Second Language Acquisition



System



Tesol Quaterly



The Modern Language Journal

Links

ICOSLA: http://www.hw.ac.uk/langWWW/icsla/icsla.htm



The Linguist List: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/linguist.html



Eslresearcher: http://www.eslresearcher.org/mailinglist.php



Eurosla: http://www.swan.ac.uk/cals/eurosla/







AAL : http://www.aaal.org/



BAAL: http://www.baal.org.uk/



AILA: http://www.aila.info/



AESLA : http://www.aesla.uji.es/