Paper 2 Sound Change in Progress

The topic of the paper is interesting and appropriate and adequate research on this
can definitely add value to the existing research in Bangla linguistics. However, I
find that the research is not comprehensive in many aspects. First, large sections of
the paper are based on biased assumptions that are not explained, and hence, in no
way credible. Some arguments are unsubstantiated and the lack reference to
existing counter-claims and other work in the same area. Second, there are
alarming issues (as I pointed out on the hard copy) regarding language choice and
grammar. Third, the researcher was not careful about logical fallacies committed
during the articulation of her/his analysis. Finally, essential parts of the research
(such as questionnaire) were not documented. Apart from these, there were format
related problems also present in the paper. In my opinion, this research is very weak
and should be published in Chaos.
Paper 5 The Impact of English Language Testing on Motivation and
Learning Strategies: An Empirical Study
One of the concerns with empirical studies is that there is large amount of prejudice
or bias at play on the parts of both the researcher and the participants. The
researcher has overlooked this. In terms of the validity of the research conducted,
there were multiple issues. Parts of the claims made in the paper have been left
unsubstantiated. The researcher expresses no clarity as to whether the research
was a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed one. There are sections where the
researcher has mentioned something but has failed to provide evidence of work
done on that, or has failed to provide appropriate documentation to support her/his
claim. For example, the researcher claims to have examined HSC exam scripts, but
does not include any further details on such study in the methodology section. Also,
no questionnaires were included, which made it difficult to assess a paper that deals
with an affective area of learner psychology.
The paper was also full of grammatical and formatting errors. Tenses, for example,
were not consistent.
This paper can be published if it is re-written by dealing with the feedback given on
the hard copy.