Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research E-Book

Alison Mackey

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: GMLZ - Guides to Research Methods in Language and Linguistics
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 782

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Offers the most up-to-date coverage of research methods and best practices in the study of second language acquisition, edited by two of the leading figures in the field Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research provides an up-to-date overview of both traditional and cutting-edge techniques and methods in the field. Bringing together contributions from an international team of experts, this authoritative volume covers the qualitative, quantitative, survey-based, interdisciplinary, statistical analysis, and data replication methods that students and early-career researchers need to know when developing their projects and experiments in second language acquisition research. Each chapter includes best practices, case studies, and research questions, together with suggested readings which exemplify a wide range of contemporary methodologies. Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research builds on the foundation of Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition, the first volume in the Wiley Blackwell Guides to Research Methods series to cover the field of SLA. Eleven new chapters and four revised chapters address classroom research methods, qualitative approaches to data, collecting introspective second language (L2) data, L2 data on brain and articulatory mechanisms, problematic terminology in the SLA community, and more. * Covers theory-based methodologies, synthetic and meta-analytic work, mixed methods, coding, and statistical analysis * Describes and evaluates recent methodological advances and experimental approaches in SLA research * Includes study questions, links to additional resources, and example study boxes that summarize methodological principles and connect them to real-world research studies Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in SLA and applied linguistics programs, novice researchers studying SLA research methods, and more established scholars looking for a concise and up-to-date overview of SLA methodology.

Leseprobe

Guides to Research Methods in Language and Linguistics

Series Editor: Li Wei, Centre for Applied Linguistics, University College London

The science of language encompasses a truly interdisciplinary field of research, with a wide range of focuses, approaches, and objectives. While linguistics has its own traditional approaches, a variety of other intellectual disciplines have contributed methodological perspectives that enrich the field as a whole. As a result, linguistics now draws on state‐of‐the‐art work from such fields as psychology, computer science, biology, neuroscience and cognitive science, sociology, music, philosophy, and anthropology.

The interdisciplinary nature of the field presents both challenges and opportunities to students who must understand a variety of evolving research skills and methods. The Guides to Research Methods in Language and Linguistics addresses these skills in a systematic way for advanced students and beginning researchers in language science. The books in this series focus especially on the relationships between theory, methods, and data—the understanding of which is fundamental to the successful completion of research projects and the advancement of knowledge.

Published

The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Edited by Li Wei and Melissa G. Moyer

Research Methods in Child Language: A Practical Guide

Edited by Erika Hoff

Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition: A Practical Guide

Edited by Susan M. Gass and Alison Mackey

Research Methods in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics: A Practical Guide

Edited by Nicole Muller and Martin J. Ball

Research Methods in Sociolinguistics: A Practical Guide

Edited by Janet Holmes and Kirk Hazen

Research Methods in Sign Language Studies: A Practical Guide

Edited by Eleni Orfanidou, Bencie Woll, and Gary Morgan

Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide

Edited by Francis Hult and David Cassels Johnson

Research Methods in Intercultural Communication: A Practical Guide

Edited by Zhu Hua

Research Methods in Psycholinguistics and the Neurobiology of Language: A Practical Guide

Edited by Annette M. B. de Groot and Peter Hagoort

Research Methods in Language Teaching and Learning: A Practical Guide

Edited by Kenan Dikilitaş and Kate Mastruserio Reynolds

Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research: A Practical Guide

Edited by Alison Mackey and Susan M. Gass

Current Approaches in Second Language Acquisition Research

A Practical Guide

Edited by Alison Mackey and Susan M. Gass

This edition first published 2023© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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The right of Alison Mackey and Susan M. Gass to be identified as the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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List of Tables

Chapter 2

Table 1

Expected responses from native English speakers

Table 2

Responses NSs and NNSs

Chapter 3

Table 1

Research paradigms (Adapted from Lincoln et al., 2017, p. 111)

Chapter 4

Table 1

Tools and resources for MMR

Chapter 5

Table 1

Common corpus tools

Table 2

Resources for working with corpora

Chapter 6

Table 1

Common types of introspective measures in L2 research

Table 2

Validity issues for introspective methods in L2 research

Chapter 7

Table 1

Examples of predictive factors in L2 sociolinguistic studies

Table 2

L2 variation studies with contrasting statistical packages

Table 3

Coding scheme summary from Geeslin et al. (2010)

Table 4

Summary of key issues and best practices for research in L2 sociolinguistics

Chapter 10

Table 1

The Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale (FLES) (Adapted from Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014)

Table 2

Short Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale S‐FLES (Adapted from Botes et al., 2021)

Chapter 11

Table 1

Readings and resources

Chapter 13

Table 1

SPSS output of the correlation between content and organization scores

Chapter 14

Table 1

Proposed benchmarks for interpreting d and r values in L2 research

Table 2

Tool for brainstorming coding scheme items for a methodological synthesis

Table 3

A comparison of model choices in meta‐analysis

Chapter 15

Table 1

Replication planning questions about the nature of the previous study’s results (adapted from Brandt et al., 2014)

Table 2

Replication planning questions about designing the replication study adapted from Brandt et al., 2014)

Table 3

Group descriptives for the EIT adapted from McManus and Liu (2022)

Notes on Contributors

Lara Bryfonski is an assistant professor of linguistics at Georgetown University where she conducts research on second‐language acquisition and language teaching, including TBLT, teacher training, language learning in study abroad, and methods for applied linguistics research. She is a former English as a second/foreign language teacher and has taught students from preschool to adulthood in a variety of educational contexts.

Lauren Covey is an assistant professor of linguistics at Montclair State University. She received her PhD from the University of Kansas. Her research takes a cognitive neuroscience approach to second‐language acquisition, utilizing psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic techniques to examine how native speakers and second‐language learners process sentences in real time.

Jean‐Marc Dewaele is emeritus professor in applied linguistics. He is a former president of the European Second Language Association, the International Association of Multilingualism, and is current president of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. He won the Robert Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research (2016) and the EUROSLA Distinguished Scholar Award (2022).

Debra A. Friedman is an associate professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she teaches courses in second language pedagogy, qualitative research, and discourse analysis. Her research focuses on the social, cultural, and ideological aspects of language education in multilingual communities through the framework of language socialization.

Alison Gabriele is a professor of Linguistics at the University of Kansas. She has a PhD in Linguistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Gabriele's research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, focuses on the acquisition and processing of syntax and semantics, focusing on the cognitive and linguistic factors that impact development.

Susan M. Gass is a university distinguished professor emerita at Michigan State University. She has published widely in the field of second‐language acquisition, with works translated into Arabic, Russian, Korean, and Chinese. She is the co‐author of Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course (Routledge) and Second Language Research: Methodology and Design (Routledge). She has served as the president of AAAL and of AILA and was editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Kimberly L. Geeslin was a professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Indiana University, USA from 1999 until her death in 2023. She investigated the geographic, social, and situationally variable properties of second languages. Her recent publications include Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition (Routledge, 2014), The Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language (Routledge, 2021), and The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics (Routledge, 2022).

Stacey Hanson is a doctoral candidate in Hispanic Linguistics at Indiana University, USA. Her research focuses on the second‐language acquisition of phonetics and phonology, with a particular interest in second‐language perception and production of geographically indexed phones.

Mohammad R. Hashemi currently works at the Department of Foreign Languages, Kharazmi University. Mohammad is a researcher in Applied Linguistics. His current research interests include mixed methods and qualitative research, language teacher professionalism, discourse studies, and ELT materials development.

Yuhang Hu is PhD student in the Applied Linguistics program at Northern Arizona University. She earned her MS in Applied Linguistics at Georgetown University. Her research interests include second‐language acquisition, research methods, research synthesis, and meta‐analysis in applied linguistics.

Tania Ionin is a professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. Her areas of expertise include second‐language acquisition and experimental semantics, with focus on the nominal domain. She has published two co‐authored books (Cardinals: The Syntax and Semantics of Cardinal‐containing Expressions, MIT Press, 2018; Second Language Acquisition: Introducing Intervention Research, Cambridge University Press, 2023) and numerous articles.

Shawn Loewen is a professor in Applied Linguistics at Michigan State University. His research interests include instructed second‐language acquisition, classroom interaction, and mobile‐assisted language learning. The second edition of his book, Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition, appeared in 2020. He is the associate editor of The Modern Language Journal.

Alison Mackey is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University, USA, and in summers, professor at Lancaster University, UK. Her research is on how second languages are learned and taught. Her interests include interaction‐driven L2 learning, L2 research methodology, the applications of interaction through task‐based language teaching, as well as L2 dialects and identities.

Kevin McManus is an associate professor of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University. His research expertise is in second‐language acquisition and includes the areas of crosslinguistic influence, instruction, and usage‐based accounts of learning. He also has significant interests in replication research, which has involved conducting and promoting replication studies as well as providing guidance and training in the design, execution, and interpretation of replication studies in the field of second language research.

Frederick L. Oswald is professor of Psychological Sciences at Rice University. His meta‐analysis expertise reflects conceptual clarifications and advances, evaluation of models in simulation work, and real‐world applications. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Div. 5, 8, 14), the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). He received his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1999. Learn more at https://workforce.rice.edu.

Nick B. Pandža is an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Maryland's Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security and is affiliated with the Program in Second Language Acquisition and the Language Science Center. His work primarily focuses on the impact of individual differences on language learning outcomes using advanced statistical methods with behavioral, physiological, and neurocognitive data.

Magali Paquot is a research associate at the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics, UCLouvain. She specializes in the use of learner corpora to study key topics in SLA (complexity, phraseology, crosslinguistic influence) and is particularly interested in methodological issues. She is a co‐editor in chief of the International Journal of Learner Corpus Research.

Aek Phakiti is an associate professor in TESOL at The University of Sydney, Australia. Aek is the author and editor of numerous books in applied linguistics, including Experimental Research Methods in Language Learning (Bloomsbury, 2014), Quantitative Methods for Second Language Research: A Problem‐solving Approach (Routledge, 2018), Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology (Palgrave, 2018).

Jenefer Philp is formerly of Lancaster University. Her research is focused on the role of interaction in instructed language learning, among children and among adults, through socio‐cognitive perspectives.

Luke Plonsky (PhD, Michigan State) is an associate professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. His work, focusing primarily on SLA and research methods, has appeared in over 100 articles, book chapters, and books. Luke is editor of SSLA and managing editor of Foreign Language Annals, co‐editor of De Gruyter Mouton's Series on Language Acquisition, and co‐director of IRIS.

Andrea Révész is a professor of Second Language Acquisition at the IOE, University College London. Her research interests lie at the interface of second‐language acquisition and instruction, with particular emphasis on the roles of task, input, and individual differences in SLA. In addition, she holds an interest in the neuro‐cognitive processes underlying second‐language performance and development.

Ekaterina Sudina is a visiting assistant professor at East Carolina University. Her research interests include individual differences in second‐language acquisition, quantitative research methods, and L2 reading and writing. Her work has been published in several prominent journals in the field (e.g., Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Language Learning, Language Teaching, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, The Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly).

Naoko Taguchi is a professor in the English Department at Northern Arizona University where she teaches courses in applied linguistics and TESOL. Her research interests include second‐language pragmatics, technology‐enhanced language learning, and intercultural communication. Her recent books include the pragmatics topic area of The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics Pragmatics Volume (co‐edited, Wiley Blackwell, in press), The Routledge Handbook of SLA and Pragmatics (edited, Routledge, 2019), and Second Language Pragmatics (co‐authored; Oxford University Press, 2017). She is the co‐editor of Journal of Applied Pragmatics.

Nicole Tracy‐Ventura is an associate professor of applied linguistics at West Virginia University. Her research focuses on second‐language acquisition, study abroad, task‐based language teaching, longitudinal research methods, and corpus linguistics. She is a founding member of the Languages and Social Networks Abroad Project (LANGSNAP) and co‐editor of the Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Corpora (2021, with Magali Paquot).

Ayşen Tuzcu is a PhD candidate in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University, USA. Her primary research interests are in instructed second‐language acquisition, with a particular focus on vocabulary learning and teaching, and second language psycholinguistics. Her PhD project focuses on the cognitive processes involved in vocabulary learning from different types of input.

Preface

The current book emerged in response to a previous text, which was called Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition: A Practical Guide. However, the current text is a new book, not a new edition. The current text took the previous book as a point of departure, with a significant extension of coverage and scope as well as continuing and updating the coverage of that earlier volume. In the current text, we break new ground in research methods in second language studies. Five of the original chapters have been updated into new and revised versions of the originals, but 10 chapters in the current book are completely new in coverage and/or authorship.

We bring together top researchers who each focus on their particular areas of expertise with an emphasis on current and emerging research approaches. The book includes foundational methods and emphases that have been part of the discipline since its inception while also introducing a forward‐looking approach by taking a fresh look at current perspectives, reflecting on the questions being asked and the topics being addressed in today’s research climate in the study of how languages are learned.

The structure of each chapter follows the following format and includes:

Background

Main issues related to a specific topic

Sample studies and best practices

Conclusions

Project ideas and resources

Study questions

References

The book is designed for both (1) early second language researchers, such as first‐year graduate students and advanced undergraduate students, and (2) as an important resource for more seasoned researchers who might be branching off into different research directions or who might be curious about new developments in the field. In sum, the book is intended to be an overview of current and forward‐looking approaches to conducting research in second language learning, broadly conceived to include bilingual and multilingual research.

We would like to recognize all those who worked hard in the process of bringing this book to fruition. First of all, the five authors who contributed chapters to the original text made extensive revisions and updates to their work. Next, 10 new authors brought in new ideas and challenges to current thinking. We owe our thanks to all of these authors whose work was exciting and rewarding to read. Our series editor, Professor Li Wei at University College, London, and Ms. Rachel Greenberg at Wiley were steadfast in their belief in the project and support for the new book and were a pleasure to work with. And finally, we could not have finished or delivered the manuscript without the dedicated and talented Georgetown University graduate student editors, Kris Cook and Erin Fell, to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude, and whose own work we look forward to reading in future books.

Alison Mackey (Washington, DC) and Susan M. Gass (Ohio)

Introduction

Alison Mackey and Susan M. Gass

Preamble

Second language acquisition (SLA) research draws its research methodology and tools from a number of other fields, including education, linguistics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and more. Research methodology in second language studies, and applied linguistics more broadly, has seen an increasing amount of attention in recent years, including conferences devoted to the topic, as well as a new journal (Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, published by Elsevier) and special content areas in major journals (e.g., Methods Forum in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Methods Showcase in Language Learning). In addition, because of the disciplines to which the field of SLA is related, such as psychology and education, research methods are frequently evolving in response to developments in those fields. Due to the diversity and plurality of approaches to second language research methodology, a book like this one, where each chapter is authored by individuals who are experienced experts in their particular subarea, is one of the most efficient ways to describe and disseminate information about the method(s) in which researchers have particular expertise.

Designing a research study and determining an appropriate method of investigation is a difficult task. But the task is made easier if one understands that research methods are not determined or decided upon devoid of context; research methods depend on the theories and phenomena they are designed to investigate. Thus, research questions and methods used for determining appropriate data are inextricably linked.

This volume is intended as a guide for novice researchers as they design research projects as well as for more experienced researchers who decide to try out a different method as their questions and interests evolve and change. Each chapter presents some basic background information on the area of research. This is a necessary feature since methodologies cannot be understood in a vacuum. The book also has a pedagogical focus, with each chapter designed to provide a practical, step‐by‐step guide to the method it covers, often informed by reference to empirical studies. Each chapter first outlines the method in the context of the theoretical frameworks within which it is commonly used. A how‐to section then takes students from beginning to end of a particular methodology. Finally, project ideas and resources (e.g., analytical tools, when appropriate, and/or references to more detailed discussions of a particular area) are also included, together with additional readings. Each chapter also provides boxes containing sample studies, including brief summaries of studies that have used the particular methodology, helping readers grasp the main ideas of studies that have used the method in question. Finally, each chapter concludes with study questions that can be used as a basis for class discussions.

Organization

The book is divided into two parts. The first focuses on data types, aiming to represent a wide range of data that are commonly studied in SLA, from often‐researched classroom‐based data to increasingly more common learner corpora, as well as many other types. The second part of the book focuses on data coding, analysis, and replication, where we present chapters on topics related to validity and reliability, meta‐analyses, and replication. No elicitation instrument or methodology is foolproof; all have their advantages and limitations. As we have stressed in our other books dealing with research methods (Gass & Mackey, 2005; Mackey & Gass, 2021), it is always best to begin a research project with extensive pilot testing and/or observations.

Section 1: Data Types

In Chapter 1, “Classroom Research Methods,” Shawn Loewen, Ayşen Tuzcu, and Jenefer Philp focus on an often‐studied context in SLA, namely instructed SLA (ISLA), providing a short review of the ways in which research has been conducted, focusing on the practicalities of carrying out this type of research. Their chapter focuses in general on second language (L2) classroom instruction; they emphasize the multifaceted approach to classroom research, pointing out some specific research questions that often drive the appropriate classroom methodology.

Tania Ionin’s chapter, “Formal Theory‐Based Methodologies,” focuses on methods used in formal, generative SLA research (Chapter 2). She describes the collection of empirical data on learners’ production and comprehension of the target language, which are used to draw conclusions about a learner’s underlying grammar. Methodologies she focuses on include grammaticality judgment tasks and interpretation tasks.

The chapter titled “Qualitative and Interpretive Approaches to Data in L2 Research” by Debra A. Friedman focuses on social approaches to SLA (Chapter 3). Unlike the formal, theoretical approach taken in Ionin’s chapter, Friedman views language learning as a social process. She first provides her perspective on what interpretive research is and what it can contribute to the field and then takes the reader through the process of designing and conducting an interpretive research project, including theoretical, ethical, and practical aspects of qualitative methods for data collection and analysis.

The following chapter by Mohammad R. Hashemi on “Collecting and Analyzing Mixed Methods Data in L2 Research” introduces mixed methods research (Chapter 4). He takes the reader through the many steps of mixed methods research, making the important point that researchers need to provide a rationale for mixing and need to ensure that the research questions necessitate a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. His chapter includes information about data collection, data analysis, and data integration. He offers a discussion of visual displays that jointly present both quantitative and qualitative data, plus a cross‐over analysis whereby techniques from one method can be used for the analysis of the other method, and even an examination of big data analysis.

Magali Paquot and Nicole Tracy‐Ventura’s chapter is about “Using Foreign and Second Language Learner Corpora” (Chapter 5). In recent years there has been a surge of learner research stemming from large corpora available in electronic formats. As with the previous chapter on mixed methods, the authors point out that corpus‐based studies allow for, and often use, both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Their discussion includes information about how to select and/or create a corpus, how to extract data from a corpus, and how to analyze corpus data. They illustrate the many decisions that researchers must make at each stage of a research project when using corpora.

We next turn to Lara Bryfonski’s chapter, titled “Collecting and Analyzing L2 Introspective Data” (Chapter 6), in which she focuses on two factors relating to introspection: the (1) timing (i.e., when introspection takes place) and (2) modality (spoken or written) of introspection. She includes an overview of best practices for each type of data, including the critical initial step of determining if introspection is even appropriate as a methodology for the given contexts and research questions and, if so, which introspective method(s) should be included. She follows this by discussing best practices for both analysis and reporting.

Next, Kimberly Geeslin and Stacey Hanson discuss the topic of “Collecting and Analyzing L2 Sociolinguistic Data” in Chapter 7. After introducing the reader to major terms and basic constructs of sociolinguistics, Geeslin and Hanson discuss a number of studies, both seminal and more recent, to identify and illustrate the use of a variety of instruments often used to better understand the role social contexts in language use, specifically within second language datasets. The authors also review the most common challenges that SLA researchers may encounter while conducting sociolinguistics‐driven studies, and they offer solutions to help mitigate these concerns.

Taking a more cognitive perspective, Lauren Covey and Alison Gabriele focus their discussion of research methods on language comprehension and language production in their chapter, “Psycholinguistic Methods in Second Language Research” (Chapter 8). Their goal is to introduce the reader to commonly used methods that help us understand how learners process data in real time, that is, as they are actually understanding or producing language “in the moment.” They consider methodologies such as self‐paced reading and the eye‐tracking method known as the visual world paradigm, describing these methods and further noting the considerations needed for a successful research project. In terms of measuring language production, they focus on sentence continuation and syntactic priming tasks. In their chapter, Covey and Gabriele describe these tasks and discuss the theoretical frameworks associated with each, and further discuss the methodological considerations that may come into play.

The chapter by Naoko Taguchi deals with “Collecting and Analyzing L2 Pragmatics Data” (Chapter 9). Specifically, data that consider how form and function relate and, importantly, how the context in which language is used influences that relationship. She emphasizes intent and intentionality as the two main questions addressed by second language pragmatics researchers. To understand learner intent, she focuses first on traditional ways of eliciting data (e.g., discourse completion tasks and role plays), showing each's strengths, modifications, and limitations, and second, on naturalistic data elicited during conversations from both in‐person and digital environments. Taguchi also deals with learner comprehension of a speaker’s intent, describing methods for eliciting data that address an understanding of intention.

The penultimate chapter in the first section of the book, “Collecting and Analyzing Individual Differences Data in Foreign Language Learning,” is by Jean‐Marc Dewaele (Chapter 10). He addresses methodologies used to understand ways of understanding how individual differences impact learning, and which differences significantly impact learning. He also takes the reader through the steps of developing a scale to measure learners’ self‐reported enjoyment of their L2 learning. As in other chapters in this book, Dewaele addresses best practices before concluding with issues related to data cleaning and analysis.

The final chapter in this section is another forward‐looking chapter by Nick Pandža, titled “Collecting and Analyzing L2 Data on Neurocognitive Mechanisms,” we again see a cognitive approach to research, focusing on neurological mechanisms (Chapter 11). Pandža’s chapter is a complement to Chapter 8 in its focus on neurolinguistics, rather than psycholinguistics, and its consideration of the neural machinery involved in processing. Pandža limits his discussion to non‐invasive techniques, such as neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and neurostimulation approaches. Included in his chapter is a description of methodologies and considerations of design.

Section 2: Data Coding, Analysis, and Replication

In the second part of the book, we move away from a focus on data types and toward information about how to analyze and code data. Chapter 12 by Andrea Révész, “Coding Second Language Data Validly and Reliably,” introduces a topic that is critical to all areas of SLA research and is prevalent in other chapters in this book, as coding is central to the outcome of a research project. Coding, as Révész explains, involves organizing and classifying raw data into categories for the purpose of further analysis and interpretation. She explains the concepts of validity and reliability in relation to coding, focusing on relatively top‐down, theory‐ and instrument‐driven coding methods. Not only does she talk about coding as an abstract concept, but she also notes the important role of the coder themselves, including how coders are trained and how to ensure that there is reliability across coders. Qualitative coding, which emerges bottom‐up from the data, was addressed in Chapter 3 by Debra Friedman.

From coding, we move on to “How to Run Statistical Analysis” by Aek Phakiti (Chapter 13). Statistical analysis involves a vast and diverse range of knowledge and skill sets, and Phakiti aims to provide readers with enough background to achieve statistical literacy. He introduces the basic constructs needed to understand statistics and analyze quantitative data, including introducing a relative newcomer to SLA research: Bayesian statistics. In a section on data management, Phakiti circles back through many of the concepts introduced in this book. Phakiti includes all stages of statistical analysis procedures, from the categorization of data to a possible final stage of performing inferential statistics, and even makes stops along the way to provide in‐depth explanations of how to manage data entry into a computer program and create engaging and useful data visualizations.

The final two chapters in the second section treat topics that have become prominent in recent SLA research: meta‐analysis and replication. Chapter 14, by Luke Plonsky, Yuhang Hu, Ekaterina Sudina, and Fredrick Oswald offers a myriad of tools and resources for “Advancing Meta‐Analytic Methods in L2 Reseach.” This team of authors provides thought‐provoking insights into different types of meta‐analyses and the various approaches therein, not only discussing an overview of some of the major meta‐analysis studies in the field thus far, but also the methodological decision‐making processes that went into each project and, along the way, some of the most impactful trends and patterns we have been able to derive from the results of meta‐analyses. The authors identify and explain several recommended standards and best practices for those who wish to conduct meta‐analyses of various scopes and sizes. Finally, Plonsky et al. point out several methods that are still unfamiliar or under‐utilized in L2 research but that have the potential to lead to greater insights about the nature of L2 learning, usage, assessment, and more.

Kevin McManus’s chapter on “How and Why to Conduct a Replication Study” is the final chapter in the book (Chapter 15). If SLA is to continue to build on strong research practices, we must proceed from a position of confidence in our findings. Replication is a quintessential practice and, in a sense, the sine qua non of research. Without replication, we do not know if our results are merely due to chance, or if they indeed reflect consistent and reproducible phenomena that serve as important understandings for the advancement of our discipline. McManus addresses key issues, such as (1) types of replication, (2) how to conduct a replication study (including justification and feasibility), and (3) what to do with the data once they are collected, including maintaining careful records of how a replication study may have deviated from the original in order to allow for meaningful comparisons.

In summary, then, our book has presented a variety of approaches to second and world language research.

Emphasizing Research Methods in the Field

We have every reason to believe that the emphasis on research methods is a vital part of the discipline and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future for several reasons. First, as mentioned earlier, many journals in the field have developed sections devoted to replication studies over the past few years. For example, Language Learning has two relevant submission types:

Methodological review

. Manuscripts submitted under this category should provide a state‐of‐the‐art review of methods and techniques employed in a particular domain of language learning studies, systematizing and consolidating methodological insights both within and across research paradigms.

Methods showcase

. Manuscripts submitted under this category should introduce new or emerging methods, techniques, or instrumentation for (1) language data collection, (2) cleaning, (3) sampling, (4) coding, (5) scoring, (6) analysis, and (7) interpretation. Methods showcase articles are intended to describe methods and provide detailed examples of their application such that language researchers can easily use them in future studies.

Another example of this trend of academic journals devoting space to showcasing and revisiting research methods in our field include Studies in Second Language Acquisition, which has a category titled Methods Forum that also encourages submissions related to research methods. On the website, a justification and description of this category are as follows:

Recognizing the need to discuss and advance SLA research methods, these manuscripts seek to advance methodological understanding, training, and practices in the field. Submissions can be conceptual or empirical; we also encourage articles introducing novel techniques. All research paradigms, epistemologies, ontologies, and theoretical frameworks relevant to SLA are welcome.

Finally, as we noted earlier, a new journal titled Research Methods in Applied Linguistics had its inaugural issue appear in 2022. As they note on the webpage (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/research‐methods‐in‐applied‐linguistics), the journal

[i]s the first and only journal devoted exclusively to research methods in applied linguistics. […] The scope of the journal encompasses all aspects of research methods, including research design, data collection, data coding, data analysis, and reporting practices. The journal welcomes research from all paradigms, be they quantitative, qualitative, or mixed, and methods of all kinds, whether they are utilized to observe the occurrence of a phenomenon or behavior, explore correlations, or examine causal relationship.

In sum, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics is a journal that covers many of the topics inside this book.

Moving Forward

Broadening the Database

No discussion of methods can ignore the larger picture in the field. We must ensure that discussions of SLA research and related methodology pertain not only to a broader understanding of how languages are learned and taught, but also toward truly moving the field forward.

One important issue concerns participants in second language research. An ongoing project initiated by Sible Andringa and Aline Godfroid entitled “SLA for All” is described in a 2018 article. They address the problem of sampling bias, which has been a perennial issue in the field of language learning. Citing Henrich et al. (2010), Andringa and Godfroid note in their article that, “[i]f the selection of participants is somehow biased, then the reliability of researchers’ statements about the behavior under investigation is compromised” (p. 134). It is in this vein that SLA research has been biased, much the same way that research in the field of psychology has been.

Plonsky (2016) estimated that 67% of the SLA database comes from university students, although Andringa and Godfroid (2020) present data on adults showing that 88% are from university students (p. 138). According to Arnett (2008), in psychology, most participants come from WEIRD societies, an acronym for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. An early paper that advocated for wider sampling came from Bigelow and Tarone (2004) and Tarone and Bigelow (2005), who advocated for research on illiterate and/or uneducated learners. Mackey and Sachs (2012) also wrote an early paper dealing with older adults, specifically pointing to the gap in this research on this important segment of the population, who are often neglected.

Another way of gauging the field’s sampling biases and problems with generalizability of our findings is to consider journals, as Zhang (2020) did, showing the domination of Western scholarship and how this lack of diversity negatively influences the impact of our research, particularly if we continue to limit our samples in the way that the field has done thus far, since, in doing so, we also limit the reach and scope of the generalizations we can make regarding how language learning takes place. This is not dissimilar to medicine when new medications are tested; it is important to get a wide, diverse sample of participants to make sure that the medication is valid across age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, race, and other critical individual and demographic differences.

The solution is not an easy one because most researchers are attached to universities, which means that many individuals are able to conduct research relatively easily with the populations close to them—namely, university students. In addition to making a plea to the research community to expand the database, Andringa and Godfroid presented a concrete proposal at the American Association for Applied Linguistics 2019 Conference, officially calling researchers to join their 2018 “SLA for ALL” initiative and commit to registering replication studies. Further, on the Open Science Framework website (https://osf.io/mp47b/) for a special issue of Language Learning, they declared: “We invite researchers to join an initiative designed to gauge the generalizability of SLA research findings through registered replications of SLA studies with non‐academic participant samples.” Their ultimate goal is to “promote further efforts to make Applied Linguistics less WEIRD and, with that, a bit more fair and inclusive” (Andringa & Godfroid, 2020, p. 140).

Transparency, Reproducibility, Openness

The final chapter in the book deals with replication (cf. recent book by Porte & McManus, 2019), and it is with that topic that we begin this discussion. As many before us have argued (and as indeed we ourselves have argued previously, e.g., Polio & Gass, 1997 and Mackey & Porte, 2012), replication is what allows us to clearly understand how language learning takes place. It is not sufficient to show only that a particular phenomenon takes place when English L1 speakers learn L2 Spanish; but does this same phenomenon occur when German L1 speakers learn L2 Chinese? Replication is a way forward, but in order to be able to replicate, we need to have a thorough understanding of how the original research took place. Who precisely were the participants? What exactly did they do? What were the instruments they used to collect data? How were data coded? and so forth. This means that researchers must be detailed in their description of their methods and committed to sharing their tools for the sake of supporting the collective advancement of our field. In other words, there needs to be an emphasis on transparency and openness in our scientific practices.

An influential step forward came in 2011 when a grant from the U.K.’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) was awarded to Emma Marsden (University of York, U.K.) and Alison Mackey (Georgetown University, U.S.) for the project titled “Instruments for Research into Second Languages” (IRIS; Mackey & Marsden, 2016). IRIS (https://www.iris‐database.org/iris/) is a free database where research instruments can be uploaded and downloaded. This database is fully searchable by a wide range of parameters, including the first and second languages under investigation, the type of instrument, the age of the learner, and so on. The IRIS project makes the process of selecting and locating data collection instruments much more streamlined and efficient, assisting the process of replication and meta‐analysis in SLA research. IRIS also facilitates the scrutiny of instruments so that researchers can more easily evaluate the validity, reliability, and generalizability of tools used for data collection. Given that the vast majority of the field’s journals have endorsed IRIS and encourage authors to submit their materials to the database to facilitate replication, IRIS is therefore a shared resource that facilitates openness in SLA research practices. Replication, along with careful methodological approaches ranging from case studies to surveys to corpus‐based studies, represents the past, present, and future of SLA research.

Another aspect of what can be called the open science movement is the promotion of open science badges. According to the Center for Open Science (https://www.cos.io/initiatives/badges), badges “enhance openness, a core value of scientific practice.” Through the achievement and showcasing of badges, researchers are incentivized to share data and materials as well as encourage others to do the same, since “[b]adges signal to the reader that the content has been made available and certify its accessibility in a persistent location.” An increasing number of journals in applied linguistics offer such badges, with many other journals in closely related fields also participating. There are three badge types that, when authenticated, appear on the front page of a published article. The most common types of badges are “Open Materials” and “Open Data,” which, as the names suggest, verify that (1) the materials used to collect data are publicly available or (2) the actual data are available, respectively. A third type requires that authors pre‐register their research. This means that prior to data collection, authors submit a detailed plan for research. This includes an introduction to the research that justifies and explains the background, a description of (1) who the participants will be, (2) what the procedures will be, (3) what the design will be and what the materials will be, and (4) how the data will be coded and analyzed. The proposal is evaluated through a peer review process, and once approved, deviations cannot be made.

Advances and improvements to second language research methodology are being made all the time. This is an exciting period for methodology in SLA—there are new journals soliciting papers, new sections in existing journals, greater recognition of the critical need for more diverse and inclusive sampling, and considerable advances made in open research practices. Furthermore, we have seen consistent methodological innovations made via improvements in technology, along with increasing recognition of the importance of contextual and sociocultural variables in the data, all of which continue to lead to advancements in our knowledge process. We hope this book will provide ways for readers to familiarize themselves with a sample of the wealth of approaches and topics in second language research and allow them to then take over and drive the field forward.

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Part IEliciting Second Language Data

1Classroom Research Methods

Shawn Loewen

Michigan State University

Ayşen Tuzcu

Michigan State University

Jenefer Philp

Lancaster University

Background

This chapter focuses on research methods for investigating the nature and effectiveness of instruction on second language (L2) learning. Instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) “aims to understand how the systematic manipulation of the mechanisms of learning and/or the conditions under which they occur enable or facilitate the development and acquisition of an additional language” (Loewen, 2020, pp. 2–3). Instruction often happens within the four walls of the classroom; however, it is also possible for online instruction to occur within a structured, institutional setting. Consequently, this chapter views the classroom as any location—physical or virtual—in which individuals are attempting to teach or learn an L2. In terms of classroom research methods, it is important to point out that there is no single ISLA research methodology; instead, ISLA research draws on different methodologies to help answer specific questions related to the effects of L2 instruction.

Brief Overview

Early ISLA research was represented by so‐called comparative method studies, which were associated with methodological and technological advancements in the teaching of languages in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the audiolingual method and use of language laboratories (Chaudron, 2001; Mitchell, 2009). These studies sought to compare the effectiveness of different kinds of teaching interventions using matched pretests and posttests. This early research traditionally compared intact classes. Teachers were asked to use certain teaching methods and avoid others over a specific timespan. Gain scores from students who received different types of instruction were compared, and differences were attributed to the respective teaching methods. However, these “black box” studies (Long, 1980) often did not verify, through observation or recording of classes, the teaching and learning processes that actually occurred; consequently, it was not possible to know for certain the precise nature of the instruction nor if any changes were due to the instruction itself.

To avoid this limitation, subsequent research has emphasized carefully documenting classroom interventions through observation, recording, and classification. Most research comparing classroom instruction seeks to include data regarding the treatment itself to confirm that the intervention occurred as intended. For instance, current studies of corrective feedback (e.g., Gurzynski‐Weiss & Baralt, 2015) often report the number of feedback episodes provided in the treatment. However, information regarding the treatment is not always accessible (e.g., Sato & Loewen, 2018). Researchers may encounter difficulties in gaining permission to observe and/or record classes. In such cases, it is important to ensure successful administration of the treatment in other ways, such as through training and debriefing classroom teachers.

In summary, classroom research in ISLA has progressed steadily from the early black box studies. However, there is no perfect research methodology; each has its advantages and disadvantages. The rest of this chapter will outline different classroom research methods and provide information about their strengths and weaknesses.

Observational Studies