上課時間
修課班級
課程資訊
選課分析
| Summary and leading discussion |
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Each student will be assigned part of the class readings on the first class day and scheduled for three sessions of “summary and leading discussion.” |
| Oral presentation of research proposal draft |
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Each student will be scheduled to give a 20-to-30-minute oral presentation of a research proposal draft. |
| Oral presentation of final research proposal |
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Each student will be scheduled to give a 20-to-30-minute oral presentation of the final research proposal |
| Written research proposal |
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Each student will turn in a written report of the completed proposal by the Tuesday of the final exams week. |
| Pair work |
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Students will be paired to collect and make 5-10-minute oral presentations of selected sample research components. |
| Learning folder |
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Students will individually put together a learning folder of their own according to the table of contents specified by the instructor. |
This 3-credit semester-long course is designed for graduate students in the field of applied linguistics, including second language acquisition and foreign language education. The course will start with an introduction to second language research methods and fundamental statistics; then move on to research design, including both qualitative and quantitative research procedures, the development of research questions, hypotheses, instruments, and validation of the research instruments; and end with the topic of data collection and analysis. Examples of relevant research studies and assignments of hands-on practice will be incorporated to facilitate the students’ understanding and applying what they have learned in this course.
On completion of the course, the students should be able to a) list and define the components of research; b) list and define the components of a research proposal; c) present major differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods; d) design a qualitative as well as a quantitative research study; e) design a questionnaire and evaluate its validity and reliability; f) write a complete research proposal for a second language research study; g) interpret descriptive and basic inferential statistics; h) critique second language research studies; i) use SPSS for Windows to define variables and create data files; and j) use SPSS for Windows to run basic quantitative data analysis procedures. Course contents: a) Format & components of thesis proposal & thesis b) Paradigm for L2 research c) Preparatory stages of research d) Contextualization of research e) Components of research f) Statistics for testing & research g) Basic use of SPSS 13.0 for Windows h) Qualitative research design i) Quantitative research design j) Experimental research design k) Data and data collection procedures l) Data analysis procedures m) Critiquing statistical studies
a) Textbooks:
Second Language Research Methods, by Herbert W. Seliger & Elana Shohamy (1989),
Oxford University Press.
Understanding Research in Second Language Learning: A teacher s guide to statistics and
research design, by James D. Brown (1988), Cambridge University Press.
b) Supplementary Class Materials (SCM): Readings, figures, symbols, formulas, and tables.