Read the following brief description of an experiment.

Are the conclusions that this researcher came to

valid? Why or why not?

The researcher wanted to compare the effectiveness of (a) instruction based on principles of cognitive
linguistics coupled with an in-class teacher-led drill, with (b) instruction based on principles of task-
based language teaching coupled with independent task work. Both types of instruction focused on the
acquisition of locative constructions by second language learners. The experiment was carried out
during a 7-week term at the English Language School where the researcher was teaching. Six grammar
teachers were assigned to six classes of 15 students each. Two classes were classified as beginning, two
as intermediate, and two as advanced according to a placement test that consisted of listening
comprehension, reading comprehension, and general grammar. The researcher randomly assigned one
teacher at each level to each of the experimental instructional treatments. Students were given an essay
to write based on some pictures that produced contexts for locative constructions at the beginning and
end of the 7-week term. Each teacher scored his or her students' use of locative constructions based on
the number of correct forms over the number of forms attempted. At the end of the 7 weeks, the
experimenter collected both sets of scores and compared them. She found that students whose
teachers conducted in-class drill sessions had relatively fewer problems with locatives at the end of the
session. She therefore concluded that classroom drill is superior to independent task work for the
development of correct locative forms in second language learners

Upon reading the topic of validity in research, I believe that the conclusion in the first item is valid. It
passed on the different criteria of validity. For example in the content based, the researchers were able
to observe a great difference between the different test groups with the use of a placement test with
the same parameter and category. Another important reason is its internal validity where the
researcher’s conclusion were able to discriminate the factors that contribute to their study such as the
language background, their experience in the target language and even their proficiency level that were
tested before they conducted the experiment proper. The following criteria constitute to the validity of
the research and making the conclusion acceptable as an important factor to distinguish which of the
two instruction principles were effective in learning language.