1VuHongDuyen - Portfolio 5

RESEARCH METHODS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
PORTFOLIO 5
Question for Tutorial 5:

1. Find a report of a case study research in applied linguistics and give your
comments on the following checklist:
• Question/hypothesis
• Significance/value of the study
• Subjects
• Procedures
• Types of data
• Type of analysis
• Conclusions
• Further research
• Comments on the internal/external reliability, internal/external validity,
construct validity
2. Propose a list of research topics in applied linguistics that you think
appropriate for case research and give a rationale for your choice.
3. Work out a research plan for one of the proposed topics and report it to your
Tutorial group.
1
Question 1: Find a report of a case study research in applied linguistics and
give your comments.
 Title: “Developing oral skills by combining fluency- with accuracy-focused

tasks: A case study in China”
 Author: Pedro Luis Luchini.
Formerly, Shanghai Normal University, China.
Currently, a professor at Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina.
 Source:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252512376_Developing_oral_skills
_by_combining_fluency_with_accuracy-
focusedtasks_A_case_study_in_China
Here are some comments on the article:

* Question/hypothesis: There are no research questions or hypothesis.
* Significance/value of the study:

- Explore what constitutes the life cycle of this unit with a view to establishing
generalizations about the wider population to which it belongs.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of my contribution to the
spoken-English program offered at Shanghai Normal University.
* Subjects: 268 third-year college Chinese students (Shanghai Normal

University) pursuing different majors apart from English. Their level of English
language competence ranged from low-intermediate to intermediate and most of
them had been studying this language for more than eight years.
* Procedures:
(1) First, the students arranged in permanent groups of five or six members
each, were presented with some kind of comprehensible input in the form
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of reading material, video-tape, tape-recording, among others, featuring
the target form they would then have to generate in the output session.
(2) Once the students had been introduced to the input session, they were
then put to work on collaborative tasks in pairs or in their fixed groups.
At that point, guided by the input given, the students were expected to
complete the task set by using their interlanguage resources at hand.
(3) As the task was performed, the students were made to notice gaps in their
outputs which were filled out in subsequent sessions where they were
asked to analyze and usually compare their own performance with the
material used in the input session.
(4) Then the students reported their findings to the class and at that moment
the target language focus was formally introduced.
(5) After that, the students were put to work on a similar task which required
them to consciously use the same target form introduced in the previous
activity, but on this second time a different context was used. This last
sequence was generally used as a means to test their level of
internalization, if any, of the new target form.
(6) A final discussion and reflection section followed after each task aiming
at raising the students' awareness of how language operates when they are
engaged in tasks that promote oral speech.
* Types of data:
- Collecting data about a specific group (268 third-year college Chinese
students)
- Using multiple sources of evidence: Self-assessment reports and
questionnaires.
- The data were systematically collated using a range of qualitative elicitation.
* Type of analysis: the results obtained were interpreted and explored in depth.
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- In this evaluative case study, data have been collated from two different
sources, interpreted and critically analyzed: “On looking at the matrix above, it
can be observed that 78.54% of the 256 students participating in this study
claimed that after taking their spoken-English course they noticed they had
made significant gains in their oral skills …”; “On analyzing the findings
obtained, it was found that 30.47% of the students acknowledged having met
their expectations fully while 49.61 admitted that their course main aims had
been sensibly accomplished. Conversely, 17.58% of the students indicated
having met their expectations to a degree, while only a 2.34% completely denied
having done so”; etc.
* Conclusions: The author has given a brief conclusion.

- He summarizes the data analysis.
- He also gives some implications for using group work in Chinese classroom
and teaching of EFL to non-Chinese students in other contexts as well: “With
regard to the development of oral skills by integrating form- with accuracy-
focused activities, it should be borne in mind that, ideally, foreign language
classrooms should create opportunities for learners to participate in both forms
of instruction, since both are believed to contribute to second language
acquisition”; “Although this paper supports the use of group work for Chinese
students because of their Confucian values, the methodological insights
described in the above sections may also have implications for the teaching of
EFL to non-Chinese students in other contexts as well. This is because of the
notion that the teacher should encourage collaborative learning strategies and
create a low-anxiety teaching/learning environment for students to make the best
use of their learning opportunities”.
* Further research: The article is also concerned with further research: “The
result of cross-referencing information coming from different data sources, as is
this case, may help to strengthen the validity of this study. However, in order to
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claim that this methodology which combines both types of tasks - fluency with
accuracy - is really effective for teaching oral skills, much more research would
be required”.
* Comments on the internal/external reliability, internal/external validity, and

construct validity: The author has given some comments these characteristics:
“In this section, after interpreting all the data coming from the different
elicitation instruments, some constructive observations will be made.
In order to reassure the internal reliability of this case study, instrument-related
reliability was improved by using a mixture of two different instruments of data
collection: the students' self-assessment reports and an evaluative questionnaire.
However, using information about the students' performance or achievement
collected on different occasions throughout the project under study would have
provided interesting data which would have enabled the evaluator to measure
the learners' outcomes and thus determine whether they actually made any
language acquisition gains and, if any, corroborate whether this progress was the
result of the impact of instruction or of any other factor external to it”.
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Question 2: Propose a list of research topics in applied linguistics that you
think appropriate for case research and give a rationale for your choice.
According Dr. Le Hung Tien, case study may be used to investigate:

• Learning of a second or foreign language
• Coping with academic content in second/foreign language (academic
listening experiences of ESL students in university courses)
• Scaffolding, problem solving and second/foreign language learning (L2
learning and content learning interact younger students)
• Second/foreign language writing
• Reading strategies
• Adult literacy
• Modifying input strategies (teachers in their classroom interaction)
Based on the information above, I would like to suggest some topics in

applied linguistics I think appropriate for case research:
Topic 1: Teachers’ English Learning.
→ It is suitable because this topic talks about English learning of a specific
individual – a teacher.
Topic 2: Content and Language Integration in Tertiary Education in Viet Nam
→ It is appropriate because this topic discusses about content and language
integration (second language) in a specific context – A university in China.
Topic 3: A case study of changing motivation in foreign language learning.
→ It is suitable for case research because it talks about “motivation” – a specific
factor affecting foreign language learning.
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Question 3: Work out a research plan for one of the proposed topics and
report it to your Tutorial group.
This is a research plan for the topic “A case study of changing motivation in
foreign language learning”
(1) Define the problem

(2) Search and review the literature
(3) Formulate the research question
(4) Define participants
(5) Select data gathering instruments
(6) Collect data
(7) Analyze the data
(8) State the results
(9) Discussion and recommendation

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RESEARCH METHODS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Question for Tutorial 5:

 Title: “Developing oral skills by combining fluency- with accuracy-focused

Here are some comments on the article:

* Significance/value of the study:

* Subjects: 268 third-year college Chinese students (Shanghai Normal

* Conclusions: The author has given a brief conclusion.

* Comments on the internal/external reliability, internal/external validity, and

According Dr. Le Hung Tien, case study may be used to investigate:

Based on the information above, I would like to suggest some topics in

(1) Define the problem

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