31/03/2024

Seminar hosted by ULIS

30 March 2024

Fundamental considerations
in doing research in
TESOL/applied linguistics
Jonathan Newton
Victoria University of Wellington
jonathan.newton@vuw.ac.nz

Victoria University of
Wellington
New Zealand’s globally ranked capital city
university

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SCHOOL OF LINGUISTICS AND APPLIED

LANGUAGE STUDIES:
LANGUAGE TEACHING

2023 QS Subject Level Results -

Linguistics
–Rank 55 in the world
–1st in NZ

Today’s (tentative) topics

1. You and research: being and doing
2. Comments on research trends in ELT and applied
linguistics
3. What does good research design look like?
4. Conceptualizing a research project
5. Q&A

We will get help from and explore the implications of AI

along the way

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Part 1
You and research:
Being and doing

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Orientation

1. Why are you here?

2. What do you want to get from this session?

3. What would you like to do in this session?

Consuming research

1. When did you last read a research

publication? What was it about? Why did you
read it?

2. What is the most interesting piece of

research you have read?

3. What different types of research can you

think of?

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Reflecting on your inner researcher

1. How important do you think research is in

your masters study?
2. How important is it for your career?
3. What interest do you have in doing research?
4. What topics interest you? (what are you
passionate about? What questions do you
wish you had answers to?)

Communicating about your

research interest
I am (interested in) researching the topic/question of …

…. because I am trying to show who/how/why . . .

. . . in order to explain how/why . . . (rationale)

This will enable us to . . . (significance)

(Adapted from: Booth, et al. (2016) The Craft of Research)

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Warm-up
Socializing your researcher identity
1. Partner up
2. Tell your partner about research you are doing/will
do/would like to do (2 mins each)
3. Reflect:
• how did you conceptualize your research – e.g., topic,
puzzle, RQ, warrant, methodology?
• How did you position yourself in the research?
4. Re-partner and have another go
5. Reflect: What have you learnt about your research
by socializing it?

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What attributes might be

associated with doing research
and being a researcher?

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Here’s a list from me

Curiosity
Persistence
Interest in research
Passion
Patience
Open-mindedness
Criticality
Gratitude
Willingness to learn
Sustainability and sustained motivation
Creativity
Willingness to take risks – willing to fail/fall over
Adaptability

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Research
‘Research’ is a
‘loaded’ word
1. What associations
does it conjure up?
2. What terms could we
use to replace it?

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What synonyms can you think of

for ‘research’

Verb • Discover
• Investigate • Think
• Study • Reflect
• Observe • Test
• Inquire
• Explore Noun (phrase)
• Examine • Body of evidence
• Probe • Combined findings from
• Analyze a set of studies

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Effective teachers engage in forms of

research as part of their professional
practice
• Examining student work collaboratively
• Discussing cases
• Reflecting on their impact and the impact of their teaching
• Conducting action research (intuitively and deliberately)
• Observing peers
• Collaborative lesson study

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Part 2
Research trends in ELT
and Applied Linguistics

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Some trending topics

(JN’s biased view)

• AI as a research tool
• AI in language teaching
• Multilingualism (and its associations with translanguaging,
equitable education, empowerment, CLIL etc.)
• The research-practice nexis
e.g.: Sato, M., & Loewen, S. (2019). Do teachers care about research? The
research–pedagogy dialogue. ELT Journal, 73(1), 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccy048
• Science of Learning (e.g. Maths ed, phonics debates)
• Interdisciplinary research (e.g. ESP)
• Socio-emotional dimensions of learning

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Cinaglia, C., Montgomery, D. P., & Coss, M. D. (2024).

Emotionally (in)hospitable spaces: Reflecting on language
teacher–teacher educator collaboration as a source of
emotion labor and emotional capital. International Review
of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching.
https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2024-0087

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Trending topics (JN’s bias view)

• AI as a research tool and AI in LT
• Multilingualism (and its associations with translanguaging,
equitable education, empowerment, CLIL etc)
• The research-practice nexis e.g.: Sato, M., & Loewen, S. (2019). Do
teachers care about research? The research–pedagogy dialogue. ELT
Journal, 73(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccy048
• Science of Learning (e.g. Maths ed, phonics debates)
• Interdisciplinary research (e.g. ESP)
• Socio-emotional dimensions of learning
• Identity, diversity (power and racism) and diverse contexts
(e.g., the Global South). Note also, themes of power,
exclusion/inclusion & racism) (Note the diverse ethnicities implied by the
names of authors in top tier journals).

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From A/Prof Betsy Gilliland’s FB feed, 25/3/24

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Ida Badiozaman, Hugh Leong, and Jonathan Newton.

(Eds.) (Forthcoming, 2024/25). Access, Equity and
Engagement in Online Learning in TESOL: Insights on
the Transition to Remote Learning. Routledge.

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TESOL Q – recent articles

What do you notice about the topics and authors?
Decolonizing English in Higher Education: Global Englishes and
TESOL as Opportunities or Barriers (SI on Global Englishes and
TESOL)
Will Baker, Sonia Morán Panero, José Aldemar Álvarez Valencia, Sami
Alhasnawi, Yusop Boonsuk, Phuong Le Hoang Ngo
Teaching English through a Second Language to Linguistic
Minority Students in EFL Contexts: Identifying “Double
Subtractive” Education
Trang Thi Thuy Nguyen
Online News as a Resource for Incidental Learning of Core
Academic Words, Academic Formulas, and General Formulas
Thi Ngoc Yen Dang, Xu Long
(All Open Access)

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Practitioner research – Is this an

appropriate framing for what
some of you might start with?

Practitioner research can be defined as research

in which teachers study themselves, their
classrooms, and their impact on learning.

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The true purpose of PR

The proper aim of practitioner research … is …
‘working to understand life’, not trying to directly solve
problems, but to step back from them and see them in
the larger context of the life (and lives) they affect. … In
short, it must contribute to the quality of life in the
language classroom, before it can hope to contribute
to the quality of teaching and learning (Allwright, 2003, p. 120)

Allwright, D. (2003). Exploratory Practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching.

Language Teaching Research, 7(2), 113–141.

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Part 3
Framing up a
researchable topic

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The steps to writing a thesis

1. Identify a researchable topic and RQs.
2. Provide a warrant for the research topic.
3. Give support for this warrant through citations,
logic, anecdote, previous research ).
4. Design a method for collecting evidence.
5. Provide evidence.
6. Ground conclusions in the evidence.
Toulmin, 1958, cited in Polkinghorne 2007)

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From a hunch to a question

Hunch
Students will write better if I adopt a
flipped classroom approach

A sample question
e.g. Does a flipped classroom approach
lead to improvements in writing
proficiency?

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But, this question needs reframing

Does a flipped classroom approach lead to
improvements in writing proficiency?

What are the ‘hidden’ questions in this question?

In a flipped classroom, do students:
• approach the learning to write/writing process differently?
• do different kinds of writing (or learning to write)?
• write/revise/edit more or less?
• socialize writing more or less?
• have more positive attitudes/motivation towards writing?

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The steps from a hunch to an

operational research question

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Step 1: Start with a hunch

• Women have better communicative skills than men
• Girls are better at language learning than boys
• Bilinguals are better at language learning than monolinguals
• Extroverts are better at language learning than introverts
• Extensive reading is good for vocabulary learning
• Watching TV is as good as extensive reading for language learning
• Singing along with songs is good for vocabulary learning
• Teaching grammar speeds up language learning
• It is best to use only L2 in the language classroom
• CLIL is better for language learning than teaching language as a subject
• Students prefer group work to individual work
• It is better to have a native speaker teacher
• Dictations are good language tests

Much too broad to be investigated. Underspecified notions:

• What communicative skills?
• What language learning? What grammar teaching?
• Good for what precisely?

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Step 2: Turn hunches into research

questions
1. Do women communicate differently from men? If so, in what
respects?
2. Do girls and boys perform differently when learning a second
language? If so, in what respects?
3. Does extensive reading result in gains in vocabulary knowledge?
If so, what kind of knowledge, and how strong are the gains
compared to other ways of vocabulary learning?
4. Does watching TV have the same effect on language learning as
extensive reading? If not, in what respect is the outcome
different?
5. Does grammar instruction influence performance in the L2? If so,
in what respects and under what conditions of language use?

Still very open-ended, but at least phrased in neutral terms.

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Step 3: Get informed

Literature review
How to cite:
• Slitherin (2005) suggests that...
• It has been suggested that.... (Slitherlin 2005)
• It has been suggested that.... (Hufflepuff 2005: 17)
• Griffindor’s (2005) model suggests that...
• According to Granger and Weasley (2006), ...
• Dumbledore et al. (2007) report that...
• Ravenclaw (ibid) provides evidence that
• There is a growing body of evidence that... (Brown 2006; Cho et al. 2007;
Malfoy 2005; Waldorf and Salad 2004)
And quotations:
However, Snape (2005: 17) makes the following argument: Bla bla bla bla bla
bla........................................[...] ......... . However, Willis (2005: 17) argues
that [b]la bla bla.

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Step 3: Operationalise your research

questions (Specify the observable behaviour
or response needed to answer the Q)
1. Do women in NZ take the floor less often than men in
business meetings?
2. Do girls approximate a native-speaker accent in L2 faster
than boys?
3. Do bilingual children grow a vocabulary in an additional
language faster than monolingual children?
4. Do young adult EFL learners who have watched 10 episodes
of Friends obtain different scores on a standardised
vocabulary size test than same-profile learners who have
read 10 short stories, if the test is administered aurally?
5. Does exemplar-based teaching of the use of relative
pronouns improve adult EFL learners’ accurate use of these
pronouns in unplanned communicative speaking tasks?

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Stage 4: State your hypotheses

Turn operational research questions into statements about the
trend you predict in the data you’ll be collecting:
1. NZ women will take the floor less often than men in business
meetings.
2. Members of group X will nod more than group Y when they listen
to their interlocutor in informal conversation.
3. Learners with profile A who have watched X on TV will obtain
higher scores on an aurally administered standardised vocabulary
size test than same-profile learners who have read Y in silence
4. Exemplar-based teaching of the use of relative pronouns will
improve adult EFL learners’ accurate use of these pronouns in
planned communicative speaking tasks, but not in unplanned
ones.

NB: the ‘null’ hypothesis = no, there is no such trend.

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Ways of narrowing the scope

1. Zoom in on a specific group of people, respondents,
participants
2. Zoom in on a specific environment, place, context
3. Zoom in on a specific skill, observable behaviour,
performance that will be assessed

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Up to you
Go from a hunch to an operational research question

1. Warm-up: Hunch - Extroverts are better language learners

than introverts

2. Turn to your own research interest and try to narrow it down

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Finding researchable topics

TO DISCUSS

• How can you choose a topic for research?

• How to generate research ideas for new studies and
directions for future research based on a current study?

Note: we need research on the experience of language

teachers/researchers doing research in English language
education.

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Use focusing circles to narrow your

focus
STEPS
1. Draw a small circle at the center (inside) of a larger
one. Write the issue, topic or problem in the small
circle
2. Divide the larger one into four segments.
3. In each of these segments write an aspect of the
topic.
4. One of these four segments then becomes the
center of the next circle and so on.
(Edge, 1992, pp. 37-38)

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Next how to design the research?

For the flipped classroom question, what are the main
research design options?
• Experimental
• Quasi-experimental
• Action research

What are the limitations of each approach to

answering this question?

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Part 4
Getting to the heart of
the matter: Good
research design

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Discussion question

What qualities make the following

research publishable?

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https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.23982819 p. 48
Research in Vietnam [Victoria University of Wellington].
Pham, A. H. V. (2023). EFL Teacher Development through Teacher
Research design

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Narrative: story, Story STORY (Pham, 2023)

Facilitating factors Constraining factors

Policy legitimises STORY Policy imposes a

teacher research as a managerial
model for CPD perspective on
Story
teacher research

Schools create Schools

supportive and overemphasise using
story
collegial spaces for teacher research
teacher research, reports for evaluation
and use it to purposes
inform pedagogy

Teachers have Teachers focus on

research capacity and compliance and
display agency meeting formal report
requirements

A conceptual map of An’s findings

Pham, A. H. V. (2023). EFL Teacher Development through Teacher Research in Vietnam [Victoria University of Wellington]. https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.23982819

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Some more examples of research

design from my PhD students

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Jing Yixuan
(PhD candidate, Victoria University of Wellington)

An ethnographically informed case

study of school-based EFL teacher
professional development for TBLT in
rural China

Jing, Y., Newton, J., & Jing, Z. (2022). A case study of

curriculum aspirations and classroom realities for TBLT in a
remote rural secondary school in North-Western China. TASK,
2(2), 248–268.

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This is an example of research that is both

participatory and ethnographic. Note the rich sources
of data Jing YiXuan collected (see the next slide).

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Note the rich range of data sets for this

ethnographically-informed study

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Sample study 3:
The teacher as
researcher

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Sample study 3
Teacher as researcher: Learning
to adapt to task-based language
teaching in teaching beginner
level Japanese
Yoshie Nishikawa
Lecturer and PhD candidate
Victoria University of Wellington

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My Research - Action Research

Situation Planning
Analysis

Action &
Reflection
Observation

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The context

Context Criteria of a task

• University Japanese
language course Meaning focus
• 1-hour lesson per week Gap
Own resources
• Beginner level
Outcome
• Grammar-based textbook

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Example of a non-task textbook exercise

X Meaning Focus
X Gap
X Own resources
X Outcome

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Example of a task-based activity

Roleplay: Careers advice
Pairs: Career advisor and Advisee

Career advisor asks questions about what Advisee are good at

Advisee answers

Advisor identifies which job would be good for Advisee

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The advisor worksheet

✓ Meaning Focus
✓ Gap
✓ Own resources
✓ Outcome

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My struggles as the teacher

Context Criteria of a task

• University Japanese
language course Meaning focus
• 1-hour lesson per week Gaps
Own resources
• Beginner level
Outcome
• Grammar-based textbook

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What I learned: How the teacher can support students

with limited language resources
my insights lesson design
Vocab can be 1. Mini vocab quiz
presented
2. Input task
Grammar items can
be “borrowed” Output task
• Peer and teacher help
Searching for words 3. (during & post-task)
is a part of the • Learners search for
learners’ non- language items (post-task)
linguistic resources
4. Grammar explanations and drills

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Students’ voices
We practiced I couldn't
a lot of vocab remember
in a realistic (I liked) vocabulary
way Working with and verbs we
others because just went over
they were very
The engaging helpful
activity I found it difficult
towards to put words into
learning how proper sentences
to use のが right away when
talking

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An insight from my reflective teaching

journey

I used to tell my students that the classrooms are the place for
them to make plenty of mistakes so that they will not make
mistakes in real-life when they have a chance to speak with native
speakers.

But I have totally different view now. For them, language use is
happening here right now. They use the language with their
classmates and teachers, not as a learner but as a language user in
the real communication events.

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Development of Teacher as Change Agent

Research
Planning Teacher’s
deeper
understanding
of classroom Classroom:
Action & Improved
Reflection Observation dynamics
quality of
learning
opportunities

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Research through stories:

Using narrative to make sense of multiple data
sources

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Re-storying (Barkhuizen, 2008)

stories (reflective
journals)

Stories (Weekly
stories)
STORIES (Thematic
analysis of all the stories)

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Insights from Yoshie’s research

Mediator of learning Change agent
1. Plans and selects content a. What change is needed?
2. Organizes b. What challenges need to
3. Motivates be addressed to bring
4. Supports (including about change?
socioemotional support) c. What innovations emerge
5. Stimulates engagement from reflective practice?
6. Acts as a conversational d. How can these innovations
partner be shared with the wider
ELT community?
7. Assesses

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The teacher and classroom

research – what matters?
• Context
• Complexity
• Exploration and
discovery
• Stories
• Subjectivities
• Reflection &
Reflexivity

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How to value teachers’ (and

learners’ ) voices in research?
• Case studies • Autoethnography
• Diary studies • Participatory Action
• Think aloud studies Research
• Action research • Narrative-based
• Phenomenology accounts
• Longitudinal studies
• Ethnography practice

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My suggestion for contextually

relevant qualitative research

1. Two-phase research:
Situational analysis -> intervention
2. When studying teacher cognition
remember that it is not (just) in the
head – i.e., observe behavior!
3. Close analysis of cases reveals unique
developmental trajectories

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… to conclude
1. Teachers’ voices need to be
heard and to play a role in
shaping and humanizing our
pedagogic future.
2. Research that values these
voices can bridge the gap
between policy and practice
3. Innovative approaches to
thesis supervision and writing
are needed to allow these www.jennyluca.com

voices to be heard.

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Part 5
Conceptualising a
research project

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The basic components of a research proposal

1. Title – functional description

2. Introduction – basically a brief executive summary
3. Rationale – reasons for the proposed research, and possible outcomes
4. Literature Review – an account of a particular research field that identifies
what we know and where there is currently an area of ignorance or neglect.
5. Research Questions
6. Methodology – an account of the various frameworks to be used to
generate, interpret and evaluate data
7. Impact statement - Contribution and expected outputs/ outcomes/KPIs
8. Research schedule
9. Funding details
10. Ethical Implications
11. Bibliography
Note: Items 3 and 4 could be combined under heading, Research Context

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The Research Proposal: Questions to Answer

1. What is this study about? (introduction)

2. Why is it important? (rationale)
3. What does existing literature tell us about the topic?
(preliminary literature review)
4. What doesn’t it tell us? (research questions)
5. What will you do to answer them? (methodology)
i.e. (a) WHAT will you analyse? (b) HOW will you analyse it?
6. What impact or contribution will this research make?
(value)
7. Are there ethical considerations?
8. What's your schedule for completing these steps?
(timeline)

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The Problem of the Problem

Name your topic: I am researching about …

State your indirect question (and thereby define the condition of

your problem): . . . because I am trying to show you
who/how/why . . .

State how your answer will help your reader understand

something more important yet (and thereby define the cost of not
knowing the answer): . . . in order to explain to you how/why . . .
(rationale)

State significance if appropriate . . . This will enable us to . . .

Source: Booth, et al (2016). The Craft of Research.

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The Problem of the Problem (Example)

Name your topic: I am researching about Online discussion
groups...

State your indirect question: . . . because I am trying to show

you why there is very little real engagement/dialogue
between participants.

State how your answer will help your reader understand

something more important yet . . . in order to explain to you
how different disciplinary discourses keep people within their
own frames of reference. (rationale)

State significance if appropriate. . . This will enable us to

develop ‘rules’ for interdisciplinary dialogue and thus to
counter ‘boundary rhetoric’

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The Problem of the Problem (Example)

I am researching about online discussion

groups because I am trying to show you
why there is very little real
engagement/dialogue between
participants, in order to explain to you how
different disciplinary discourses keep
people within their own frames of
reference. This will enable us to develop
‘rules’ for interdisciplinary dialogueand
thus to counter ‘boundary rhetoric’ .

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Promising the Reader

An example:
“This paper seeks to redress the balance.
Based on analysis of 64 project reports written
by final year Cantonese L1 undergraduates in
Hong Kong and transcripts of interviews with
students, I explore how these writers explicitly
establish the presence of their readers in the
discourse.”
Hyland, K. (2005) Representing readers in writing: Student and
expert practices. Linguistics and Education 16, 363 – 377.

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Common misconceptions about research

1. The topic cannot be grounded in personal

interest.
2. The focus is on finding out.
3. The literature review is a survey.
4. Methodology is just about generating data.
5. The analysis is a description of findings or
results (c.f. critical evaluation).
6. Writing is recording.

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Addressing misconceptions
1. The basic dynamic of research (knowledge creation) –
locating a problem or gap in current knowledge.
2. This undertaking is an academic one – i.e., the problem to
be addressed must emerge from the disciplinary field and
its body of literature as well as from personal experience
and real-world needs.
3. The literature review must be an argument that
progressively demonstrates the existence of a problem or
gap, out of which the research questions directly emerge.
… continues …

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… continued

4. Methodology is not just about “data” generation –

methodologies for analysis and evaluation are also
needed, and justification for your choice.
6. The discussion section must link back to the
literature review – it tells us how the research has
addressed the gaps identified in the LR.
7. Writing up the research? Try ‘writing through the
research’. i.e., writing to think – use drafting and
revision to clarify insights and arguments.

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Review
Write your response to the following
questions:
1. What is the most memorable thing(s) you have
learnt?
2. What questions remain uppermost in your mind?
3. Is there anything you don’t understand or are
confused about?
4. What action will you take next in relation to the
seminar themes?

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Thank you!
jonathan.newton@vuw.ac.nz

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References
Barkhuizen, G., Benson, P., & Chik, A. (2014). Narrative inquiry in
language teaching and learning research. Routledge.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2016). The craft of
research (4th ed.). University of Chicago press.
Pham, A. H. V. (2023). EFL Teacher Development through Teacher
Research in Vietnam [Victoria University of Wellington].
https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.23982819

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Extra – not used

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Steps to becoming
research active:
‘WEBS’

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Step 1. Write

• Make writing a priority

• Writing is a thinking process
• We get better at writing by writing

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Step 2. Engage

• Find a topic that interests you

• Read research on that topic

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85
152 chapters

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Step 3. Belong

• Attend conferences
• Join on-line communities or start one!
• Start a reading/viewing group
• Start a procrastinators group
• Mentors? Champions?
• Collaborate

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Research community
How to connect to other international researchers
who are doing similar research?
• Conferences
• Visiting fellows
• FB groups
• Reading in your field
• Start in-house ‘research labs’

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The ‘lab’ approach

• “A rising tide lifts all the boats”

• Multiple projects clustered around common themes
• Lead researcher(s) who champions research and
support novice researchers who join the team
• A ‘community of practice’ model

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Step 4. Set goals

• Know what you need to do and why

• Set SMART goals
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and
Time-Bound)
• Start small (e.g. action research, reflective
practice)
• Start a procrastinators group

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