Thesis

Analysis
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of M.A. in
Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

Faculty of Literature and Humanities
Department of Foreign Languages

2
 Opening parts
It is the part in which one may thank all
In this part, one can
those who have helped with, supported
dedicate their work to
2 throughout, and participated in their
whoever/whatever they 1 ac
kn study ( supervisor & advisor must be
want. ow mentioned in this part).
l ed
Dedication ge
m
en
t As the most important opening part
of thesis, it can briefly elaborate on
You must specify all the
the following categories:
tables you have The importance of variables to be
embedded in your thesis List of abstract investigated
, including table number, tables  Identified knowledge gap
caption, and their page.  Main objectives of the study
 Methodology (sample,
5 List of 3 instrument,research method,
abbreviations procedure)
 Data analysis
There must be a list containing all the abbreviations used 4  Findings
throughout the thesis along with their full forms (no need for  Key words
more info)
 Content of the thesis

introduction Methodology Discussion

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 reference Appendix

Review of the Results & Findings

literature

4
Introduction
1 5
Introduction chapter is mainly consisted of the following
sections:
 Introduction
 Overview
 Statement of the problems
 Objectives of the study
 Research questions & Research hypotheses
 Significance of the study
 Theoretical background
 Limitations of the study
 Definition of key terms

Introduction
The main goal of this section is to briefly
go through previous studied carried
out. You may focus your attention on an
unseen aspect of the topic which has
remained uncovered by past studies.
You are given an opportunity to justify
how your study suits the gap you have
identified.
overview
Now you have the chance get more
specific on the topic and mention
previous relevant studies’ findings to
reach to the point that literature has not
proceeded beyond. There is also room
for further details (a very brief
explanation of methodology).
Introduction (chapter
1)
Statement of the problems
You have to elaborate on the problems
for which the existing literature has no
clear (if any) solutions.
The existing knowledge gap must be
clearly clarified in order to pave the way
for the upcoming relevant sections of the
work.
Objectives of the study
The main and specific purposes of the
study are to be mentioned in this section.
These could be presented in the form of
pre-fabricated responds to the questions
posed in ‘statement of problems’.
Research questions & hypotheses
Depending on your research type and
objective, following options are possible:
• Wh- questions
• Yes/no questions
• Null hypotheses
• Directional/non-directional hypotheses
Significance of the study
You have to specify what improvements
are going to take place by your work and
how your study is going to help the SLA
community.
It is worthy to mention the novelty
brought about in and the contribution
made to the body of existing knowledge in
the field.
7

Theoretical background
the researcher has to briefly go through
seminal works that affected and
inspired their study. The works
mentioned here are the ones which you
intend to follow them up to add to their
findings.
Introduction (chapter
1)
Limitations of the study Definition of key terms
In this section, the researcher must You may define your key terms with
account for all possible intervening reference to reliable resources (citation is
distractors (even variables) that might necessary).
somehow have an influence on the
results or even during the whole
procedure of research study. You may
also mention the lacks you encountered
during researching.
It definitely elucidates the significance of
your findings.
8
Review of the Literature
2 9
To begin with, one must bring an introductory paragraph to mention main variables to be
included in this section. Sub-sections proceed informing readers more specificly on the main
variables. Needless to mention, you have to designate the frameworks you deployed for the
purpose of your study.

The analyzed thesis followed this chronology:

Nature of the variables

+
Development of the variables Relevant studies of the Criticisms of previous
+ variables in Iran studies of the variables
How the variables are
interrelated

At the end, there is a need for a ‘chapter summary’ to sum up everything you covered in this
chapter. To be specific, you have to mention what you have covered in the same chronology
within the body of this chapter.
Methodology
3 11
 2- Design of
the study
1- Overview
3- participants &
setting
(sampling/samples)
Methodology
(chapter 3)

6- data analysis
procedure
4- instrumentation

5- data collection
procedure
 Methodology (chapter 3)
Overview
A general restatement of what the study
is after (e.g. finding a significant
relationship between variables) will
suffice. It is common to mention the
sub-sections that readers are going to
see in this section (design, sampling,
etc.).
Instrumentation
All the instruments utilized in the study
must be mentioned. You have to refer to
the exact original source from which
you have adopted/adapted your
instruments. What’s more, it is
important to discuss the reliability and
validation of your instruments in this
section.
Design of the study
A brief explanation of followings will be
needed:
• Type of research and different phases
of the study (correlational,
descriptive, observational, etc.)
• Types of instruments used
(questionnaire, observation checklist,
etc.) and samples involved
Data collection procedure
Following details are needed:
• Date of collecting data
• Chronology of data gathering
• The amount of time needed for
fulfilling each of your instruments
• The amount and format of gathered
data (quan & qual)
Participants and setting
Detailed information about the attendees
and the setting in which data gathering
happened must be provided. Depending
on the topic, one may provide detailed
biodata of the attendees in the study.
Data analysis procedure
Detailed specification of the tools
(manuals), approaches (regression), and
soft-wares (SPSS) you used must be
provided. If your study has more than one
phase of data gathering and analysis
( qualitative phase and quantitative
phase), you have to point out the tools
and approaches you hired for each phase.
13
Results & Findings
4 14
 You have to restate:
1-introduction • The purpose of your study (e.g. finding relationship between variables)
• The instruments you used (it can imply the type of data to be analyzed)
• The tool or software you used for analyzing

Regarding the purpose of the study and type of data you may resort to
2-statistics
providing different types of statistics (basic, descriptive, etc.)

Regarding your main variables and approach to analyze the data

3-Main analysis of (correlation, regression, etc.), you have to provide pertinent
Results & target data tables, graphs, etc. to reveal your findings (in this study, the
Findings researcher provided tables for correlation analysis & regression
Chapter 4 analysis)
The researcher has to interpret & present the findings in relation
4-Findings in
to each intended key word. It is also possible to provide
relation to key words transcriptions of qualitative data (e.g. observations & interviews)
to validate and explain more about the results.

In this final part, you may sum up what has been found. What’s more,
5-Summary of you must discuss your hypotheses and specify whether they are
the results rejected or accepted (you have to briefly restate your findings pertinent
to each hypothesis while rejecting or accepting them.

15
Discussion
5 16
 Discussion (chapter 5)
introduction The introductory part informs about the structure of discussion chapter and no more
information is needed
Summary of the study This section usually contains the followings in a summarized and brief manner:
• Identified research gap
• Goal of the study
• Research questions
• Frameworks adopted to approach the research goal
• Sampling, data gathering, data analysis, and procedures
• findings
In this part, the researcher is assumed to assign the interpreted data (results & findings) to
discussion each of research questions. The researcher must elaborate on findings in way that research
questions are all fully accounted for.
conclusion You have to put all the answers to research questions together to reach to conclusions and
make deductive statements based on your findings and the outcome of the whole study and
all the efforts you put into it.
Pedagogical You may have to make recommendations on how the findings of the study can be put into
implications practice to improve the quality of language learning and teaching. Those who can benefit
from this part , include Authorities, practitioners, and students.

Suggestions for In this very final part, the researcher highlights uncovered research areas that are pertinent.
Further issues existing with regard to the same variables are also addressed. It is definitely a
further research great source of research topic for future investigations.

17
 Chapter 5 is followed by references section &
appendices
Note that:
• The main format of referencing is APA format
• Your reference section must be consistent in terms of selected format of referencing
• All the data gathering instruments must be provided in appendix section separately
(appendix 1, appendix 2, etc.)

18
THANKS!
Any questions?

19