A discursive constructionist approach to narrative in language teaching and learning research

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, research methodology in the field of language learning and teaching has taken a narrative turn and, consequently, a growing number of empirical studies have employed narrative inquiry methods to investigate different facets of second language acquisition. Narrative inquiry in language teaching and learning research, a volume authored by Gary Barkhuizen, Phil Benson and Alice Chik, aims to provide a concise and practical introduction to different approaches to designing, implementing, analysing and reporting oral, written and multimodal narrative data in studies on second language learners and teachers. In this review I discuss the general relevance of narrative studies in the field and, after a brief summary of the six chapters, I offer a critical analysis of the book’s content.

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Trends in Language Teaching and Learning Research: Analysis of the Publications in the Ukrainian Journal «Advanced Education»

Педагогічний дискурс ◽

10.31475/ped.dys.2020.29.05 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 29-37

Author(s):

Yuliia Olizko ◽

Nataliia Saienko

Keyword(s):

Sample Size ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Language Education ◽

The United States ◽

Advanced Education ◽

Teaching And Learning Research ◽

Learning Research ◽

Language Teaching And Learning

The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse literature on basic research methodology concerning methods, design, types of sampling, the sample size and recent scientific articles in the sphere of language teaching and learning to define current research trends. Twenty articles published in the open access Web of Science indexed journal «Advanced Education» were analysed in terms of scientific methods and sample size used. The journal is semi-annual and peer-reviewed. It highlights the results of scientific research on a wide range of topics in the field of higher education including language teaching and learning. The data was collected through content analysis of twenty publications in language education issued in 2020. Frequencies of methods used and percentages, as well as mean sample size, were calculated. A mixed-method approach was defined as a dominant trend in the majority of articles. It was demonstrated that the learning outcomes coefficient of 0.7 created by Bespalko V. is still used as a reliable way to measure learning outcomes in language teaching and learning research. The mean sample size of the experimental group was defined to be approximately 67 participants. A much bigger sample size was used for surveys. A growth of collaborative research in language teaching and learning was identified as one of the new trends in the sphere of language education in Ukraine. An increase in research cooperation with foreign colleagues was another emerging trend. Poland, the United States, Spain, Turkey, China, and Norway were on the list of research partners. In two out of twenty studies, foreign students were involved as research participants. They were Spanish and Polish learners. Popular methods of qualitative research such as observation, interview, survey, document analysis and the main characteristics of quantitative research were briefly described in the main part of this study based on the personal experience of the authors and analysis of literature dedicated to the theoretical background of research study methods.

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Ethnography: method only or logic of inquiry in efl research in Brazil?

Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada ◽

10.1590/s0103-18132012000100003 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 35-49

Author(s):

Adail Sebastião Rodrigues-Júnior

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Foreign Language Teaching ◽

Graduate Teaching ◽

Teaching And Learning Research ◽

Teaching Support ◽

Methodological Tool ◽

Learning Research ◽

Logic Of Inquiry

This exploratory paper poses the following question: how has ethnography been used as logic of inquiry in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) research in Brazil? In order to start some discussion in this respect, a corpus comprised of thirty seven MA abstracts available at the online Bank of Theses of CAPES (Research and Graduate Teaching Support Coordination) was used to investigate how ethnography has been utilized as an orienting procedure in Brazilian research on EFL. The keywords language teaching, ethnography and ethnographic were chosen so as to select abstracts that were related to ethnography and language teaching, either as logic of inquiry, or as a methodological tool for collecting and analyzing data. The preliminary results have suggested that ethnography has mostly been adopted as an instrument for analysis rather than logic of inquiry, which (i) allows for the misunderstanding commonly arisen from research in this field of investigation and consequently (ii) points out that Foreign Language Teaching and Learning research should take into account more focused and clarified methodological designs under the umbrella of Qualitative Research.

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