1st Edition

Understanding, Evaluating, and Conducting Second Language Writing Research

By Charlene Polio, Debra Friedman Copyright 2017
    322 Pages
    by Routledge

    322 Pages
    by Routledge

    Understanding, Evaluating, and Conducting Second Language Writing Research speaks to the rapidly growing area of second language writing by providing a uniquely balanced approach to L2 writing research. While other books favor either a qualitative or quantitative approach to second language acquisition (SLA) research, this text is comprehensive in scope and does not privilege one approach over the other, illuminating the strengths of each and the ways in which they might complement each other. It also provides equal weight to the cognitive and socio-cultural approaches to SLA. Containing an array of focal studies and suggestions for further reading, this text is the ideal resource for students beginning to conduct L2 writing research as well as for more experienced researchers who wish to expand their approach to conducting research.

    Chapter 1: Introduction

    Part I: Approaches

    Chapter 2: Experimental research

    Chapter 3: Causal-comparative and correlational research

    Chapter 4: Ethnography and case study

    Chapter 5: Mixed-methods research

    Part II: Methods

    Chapter 6: Learner text analysis

    Chapter 7: Target text analysis

    Chapter 8: Retrospective and introspective methods

    Chapter 9: Interviews

    Chapter 10: Thematic analysis

    Chapter 11: Qualitative discourse analysis

    Chapter 12: Emerging methods and current issues

    Biography

    Charlene Polio is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian, & African Languages at Michigan State University, USA. She is currently co-editor of the Modern Language Journal.

    Debra Friedman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at Indiana University, USA.