ELT508 RESEARCH METHODS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
| Course Code: | 8200508 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | English Language Teaching |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | Assist.Prof.Dr MÜGE GÜNDÜZ |
| Offered Semester: | Fall or Spring Semesters. |
Course Objectives
In this course, students will be introduced with the essential basics of conducting research, namely choosing a topic, finding credible sources, summarising, paraphrasing, quoting, citing, and referencing. Besides providing guidelines on data collection, data analysis and review of the relevant literature, emphasis in the class will be placed on the know-how of writing a good research paper. On the one hand, students will be instructed and given ample opportunities to practice how to organize their thoughts in order to present their ideas in a coherent, clear and interesting way. On the other hand, they will be taught the guidelines that concern layout, formatting and style of the research paper, so that their writing conforms to the widely accepted standards. Issues of originality, validity, academic worth, and a wide variety of presentation-related topics are discussed.
Course Content
The course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the research methods and techniques used in the field of applied linguistics and to help students develop skills necessary to design and implement research in the field. The first section of the course provides a brief review of the main concepts in the area while the second part focuses on quantitative methodology and scrutinises experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental research designs as well as the data collection and analyses procedures appropriate for this brand of research. The third part of the course is devoted to qualitative research designs and examines case studies, ethnographies, action research, grounded theory and phenomenology. It also walks the students though the basics of gathering and interpreting qualitative data. The course ends by discussing topics such as mixed research designs, writing the research and practicalities in applied linguistics research.
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to
* conduct an original research in Applied Linguistics.
* conduct a piece of original research to agreed, conventional and academic methodological and formatting standards.
* conduct small-scale data analysis which will lead to the production of a full-length research paper
Program Outcomes Matrix
| Level of Contribution | |||||
| # | Program Outcomes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | demonstrate awareness of theoretical and applied knowledge about contemporary approaches, methods and techniques and use this awareness effectively in practice for various educational settings. | ✔ | |||
| 2 | synthesize, critically assess, and improve theoretical and practical findings on contemporary research. | ✔ | |||
| 3 | evaluate the existing instructional procedures, methods and techniques and make suggestions to improve new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 4 | carry out studies with a scientific point of view in order to meet the educational needs in national and international contexts with the aim of making contributions to the field. | ✔ | |||
| 5 | demonstrate the necessary skills to conduct independent research with scientific research methods and share research findings at academic meetings or other settings both orally and in written form. | ✔ | |||
| 6 | evaluate national and international instructional materials, exams and programs and design new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 7 | analyze innovative theories, applications and tools, and conduct research to suggest new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 8 | investigate the cultural differences and similarities that can be found in countries where English is spoken as native, second and foreign language, and use this knowledge to improve national English learning and teaching practices. | ✔ | |||
| 9 | analyze the theories and applications about the acquisition of English language as a second and foreign language and applied linguistics, and use this knowledge in relation to English language teaching and learning. | ✔ | |||
0: No Contribution 1: Little Contribution 2: Partial Contribution 3: Full Contribution