27.4552, Review: Applied Ling; General Ling; Pragmatics; Socioling: Phakiti, Paltridge (2015)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-4552. Tue Nov 08 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.4552, Review: Applied Ling; General Ling; Pragmatics; Socioling: Phakiti, Paltridge (2015)

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Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2016 14:46:05
From: Larry LaFond [llafond at siue.edu]
Subject: Research Methods in Applied Linguistics

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-3845.html

EDITOR: Brian  Paltridge
EDITOR: Aek  Phakiti
TITLE: Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
SUBTITLE: A Practical Resource
SERIES TITLE: Research Methods in Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Publishing (formerly The Continuum International Publishing Group)
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Larry L. LaFond, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

“Research Methods in Applied Linguistics”, by Brian Paltridge and Aek Phakiti,
brings together a great number of experienced scholars with the goal of
creating a resource for beginning researchers in applied linguistics. Given
the size of this work--590 pages and 31 chapters in all--it would be
impractical to summarize each chapter in detail. Fortunately, there is a lot
of commonality in the structure and shape of  the chapters, which permits a
general summary. The book is divided into two parts: the first fifteen
chapters, which tackle differing research approaches and methods, and the
final sixteen chapters, which slice the research task a bit differently,
focusing on specific areas of research.  A 15-page glossary of key research
terms and an index complete the volume.

The first section of the book begins with the editors’ overview of research
approaches and methods. This section looks at many standard distinctions
involved in research: primary or secondary, basic or applied, cross-sectional
or longitudinal, quantitative or qualitative, and combinations of these, such
as are found in mixed methods research. The editors additionally discuss
research paradigms (positivism, postpositivism, constructivism, and
pragmatism), ontology, epistemology, validity, reliability, and ethics.

Beginning with Chapter 2, the general structure for all the chapters in the
first section of the book is set. For example, in Chapter 2, Aek Phakiti
discusses quantitative research and analysis. The chapter begins with a
discussion of underlying assumptions and methodology, different types of
quantitative research, what counts as reliability and validity in quantitative
research, techniques and instruments, stages in the analysis process (coding,
screening, reducing, performing inferential statistics, etc.) and subtypes of
quantitative research. Unlike some of the other chapters, this one includes a
longer treatment of basic statistical concepts and tests. Ethical
considerations are also included in this and most chapters. Also, like other
chapters, Chapter 2 provides a sample study to illustrate the concepts
discussed. All the chapters in the volume conclude with references and
resources for further reading. 

Chapters 2 through 14 follow the same general pattern to handle the following
types of research: quantitative and qualitative studies, mixed methods, survey
research, experimental studies, case studies, ethnographic research, critical
research, narrative inquiry, action research, discourse analysis, research
synthesis, and macro- and micro-ethics and applied linguistics research.
Chapter 15 (also written by the editors) completes the section with guidance
for students on developing a research project. That chapter does not include
sample proposals, but directs the reader to a web page from Baltimore County
Public Schools that includes sample thesis and dissertation proposals.

The second half of the volume, Chapters 16-31, attends to specific areas of
research: speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary,
pragmatics, motivation, learning strategies, young learners, language
classrooms, language testing and assessment, teacher’s beliefs, language and
gender, language and identity, and language teacher education. Authors of each
of these chapters attempts first to synthesize current thinking and research
processes in those areas. For example, in Chapter 18 (Research Reading), after
a short introduction, Marie Stevenson begins reviewing key issues related to
reading research. She then outlines research sub-areas (lexical access,
strategies, intermodal relationships, sociocultural environments, etc.) and
discusses research techniques (verbal protocols, eye-tracking, speed measures,
etc.). As with the chapters in the first half of the volume, these latter
chapters also each provide sample studies and guidance for further reading.

Not every chapter in the second half uniformly follows this pattern; for
example, in Chapter 23, Lindy Woodrow begins her coverage of motivation
research with a review of Gardner’s (1988) socio-educational model of language
learning. In Chapter 30 (Researching Language and Identity), David Block
follows his introduction to this area with a discussion of “typical” stages in
conducting research in this field; he then moves into research strategies and
techniques in language and identity studies. He includes a short examination
of associated problems with narrative analysis before concluding with his
sample study. Despite such differences, the variations between chapters are
minor; authors of each chapter succeed in presenting scholarly thinking and
common processes in their given area of research.

EVALUATION

Overall, this book works as intended. The editors made strong choices in their
selection of authors for the individual chapters, most of which are well known
in their fields. To provide a few examples, Susan Gass wrote the chapter on
experimental research, Steven Talmy discussed critical research in Applied
Linguistics, Lourdes Ortega wrote on research synthesis, and Simon Borg
contributed two chapters, one on teacher’s beliefs and one on language teacher
education. The result is a solid volume, coherently constructed, written in
accessible language for the target audiences. The chapters of larger edited
volumes can often be somewhat uneven in quality, but the end product here is
almost uniformly solid.

The intended audiences for the volume are advanced undergraduates, MA
students, and Ph.D. students who are studying Applied Linguistics, TESOL, and
Second Language Studies. These students will undoubtedly find this book to be
a good resource as they select a research methodology, and it will help them
better understand the concerns associated with their selection. It might also
be quite useful for thesis and dissertation supervisors who are guiding these
types of students. An extended audience might include researchers who are
branching out into new areas or reenvisioning how they might want to
investigate a topic with a different approach.

The use of selections of sample studies to concretize concepts, while not a
novel idea, is still a helpful one. About half of the authors chose to use
their own studies as illustrations, while the rest chose current studies by
other authors. Some of those who used their own studies conceded that while
there might be better examples than their own work, they believed they could
comment on their own study with greater insight. Few should find reason to
quarrel with the selections either way. 

While this book attempts to be a comprehensive resource, it quite
understandably was not able to cover all areas of applied linguistics. The
process of selection apparently moved toward those areas and approaches that
“most frequently” appear in applied linguistics journals; however, certain
fields are left out altogether, or apparently not included in the scope of the
editors’ working definition of applied linguistics. Research areas related to
language learning are overrepresented. Also represented are research areas
pertaining to education, psychology, anthropology and sociology. Other applied
linguistic fields, for example, forensic linguistics, computer applications
(with the exception of computer-assisted language learning), language policy
and planning, and translation are missing. Some choices also had to be made
about the kinds of research paradigms discussed, with some paradigms simply
being mentioned but not further discussed (e.g., ecological, critical, social
network paradigm, feminist and participatory paradigms). These are not
necessarily flaws, but do highlight the challenge of trying to be truly
comprehensive when even definitions of research, let alone applied linguistics
research, vary. 

While the volume does introduce readers to research statistics and basic
statistical tests, the treatment would not be sufficient for readers to engage
in their own tests and analyses. There are, fortunately, other recent texts
that address statistics in greater detail and provide practical application in
the use of SPSS specifically for applied linguistics or second language
studies (Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991; Larson-Hall, 2010; Pallant, 2010; Lowie &
Seton, 2013). Again, this is not so much a flaw as it is a recognition of the
limitations and scope of this text.

The same appraisal might be made for the book’s handling of how to present the
research results in a scholarly way. A chapter similar to Chapter 15, which
deals with the structure and development of a research project/proposal could
be envisioned, one that would employ the same strategy to help researchers
present their findings. Chapter 15 does include a brief discussion of criteria
for judging a journal manuscript together with the guidance to look at
resources such as Evans & Zobel (2011) and McIntosh & Ginther (2014), studies
that discuss strategies for writing theses and research reports, respectively.

A bit more globally, one might question why another book on research
methodology in applied linguistics is needed. It seems there are currently a
number of volumes that attempt comprehensive treatment of differing research
methodologies together with discussion of differing areas of applied
linguistic research.  For example, Richards, Ross & Seedhouse (2011) is a
volume (of the same title) that covers much of the same ground that this
volume does. Dörnyei’s (2007) book on research methods in applied linguistics
considers quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies, and attempts a
comprehensive overview. McKay (2006) and Mackey & Gass (2005, 2012) in more
focused ways provide a treatment of second language research methodologies and
design. 

However, none of these volumes are entirely similar in their approaches,
scope, and structure. The most recent volume incorporates the most current
research, and even includes chapters, as mentioned earlier, by researchers
like Dörnyei, Gass, and others who authored some of the previous books. What
Paltridge and Phakiti have done well is to meld discussion not only of
qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods and research techniques and
approaches, but also of a great number of other considerations (ethics, sample
studies, lists of academic journals in applied linguistics, etc.) into one
orderly, intelligible and effective presentation of material.

Ostensibly, the need to update practical resources such as these will
continue, since changes in presentational modes, the creation of
methodological innovations, and the development new tools for investigation
and analysis will continue to reshape practices for future researchers. The
present volume, if not fully comprehensive, will provide students with the
necessary considerations they must attend to as they begin research in applied
linguistics.

REFERENCES
 
Dörnyei, Zoltan. 2007. Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative,
qualitative and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Evans, David, Paul Gruba & Justin Zobel. 2011. How to write a better thesis.
(3rd edn.) Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Gardner, Robert C. 1988. ‘The socio-educational model of second language
learning: Assumptions, findings and issues’, Language Learning, 38(1).
101-126.

Hatch, Evelyn and Anne Lazaraton. 1991. The research manual: Design and
statistics
for applied linguistics. New York: Newbury House Publishers.

Lowie, Wander & Bregtje Seton. 2013. Essential Statistics for Applied
Linguistics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
 
Mackey, Alison & Susan M. Gass. 2005. Second language research: Methodology
and
design. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Mackey, Alison & Susan M. Gass (eds.). 2012. Research methods in second
language
acquisition: A practical guide. Wiley-Blackwell. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

McIntosh, Kyle & April Ginther. 2014. ‘Writing Research Reports’, in Antony
John Kunnan (ed.), The Companion to Language Assessment. London: John Wiley &
Sons.
 
McKay, Sandra. L. 2006. Researching second language classrooms. Mahwah, New
Jersey:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
 
Larson-Hall, Jennifer. 2010. A guide to doing statistics in second language
research
using SPSS. New York: Routledge.

Pallant, Julie. 2010. SPSS Survival Manual: A step by step guide to data
analysis
using SPSS (4th ed.). New York, NY: Open University Press.
 
Richards, Keith., Steven. J. Ross & Paul Seedhouse. 2011. Research Methods for
Applied
Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book for Students. New York: Routledge.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Larry LaFond is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language
and Literature of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He teaches
research methodology in second language acquisition (SLA) to graduates and
undergraduates. His current research interests, in addition to SLA, include
theory and practice in language teacher education and dialectal variation
within American Midlands English.





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