Boğaziçi University

Department of Foreign Language Education

Instructor: Dr. Nesrin Kutlay Classroom: EF 204

Office No.: EF 309 Course Meeting Times: Thurs. 14:00 – 16:50
Email: nesrin.kutlay@bogazici.edu.tr Office Hours: Thursday 13.00 – 14.00 (by appointment)

Course Title: FLED 218.02: Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3 credit hours

Course Description &

Objectives
The course covers quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods linguistics research and
will teach students how to:

 Identify research problems, areas, and questions

 Address ethical concerns involved in conducting research with human participants
 Come up with research questions and predictions
 Decide on appropriate and feasible methods for answering research questions
 Choose, design, and/or adapt data collection techniques, and pilot-test them
 Understand validity and reliability in quantitative research
 Define and operationalize variables
 Understand the importance of credibility, transferability and dependability in
qualitative research, together with triangulation
 Collect, transcribe, describe, code, and analyze data
 Understand how mixed-methods research works, layering different perspectives
 Use a variety of qual-quant tools for data coding and analysis (e.g., SPSS, NVivo)
 Analyze and critique research designs in the published literature
 Develop basic knowledge of data analysis techniques

Textbooks
1
Required Book:

Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design
(2nd ed.). Routledge.

Recommended Books:

Gass, S., & Mackey, A. (2007). Data elicitation for second and foreign language research.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lowie, W. & Seton, B. J. (2013). Essential Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Basingstoke:
Palgrave MacMillan.
Phakiti, A., DeCosta, P., Plonsky, L., & Starfield, S. (Eds.). (2018). The Palgrave
Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan.
Podesva, R. & Sharma, D. (Eds). (2016). Research Methods in Linguistics. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

Resources on APA format:

American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (7th edition). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.

Websites:
FAQ: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx

Honor Code
It is your responsibility to thoroughly familiarize yourself with BU’s policies and
procedures concerning academic integrity. It is essential to realize that the improper use of
sources, whether intentional or unintentional, may constitute plagiarism. This may lead to a
failing grade on the assignment and/or in the course. We will be happy to help you with
correct attribution guidelines and formats. In addition, you are encouraged to discuss
assignments with classmates outside of class, but all written assignments submitted should
be your own work.

Communication with the Instructor

2
 Communication with your Instructor: You may contact the instructor as needed via
email. The only email used to correspond with is Boğ aziçi University email
(nesrin.kutlay@bogazici.edu.tr).

· Please allow adequate time for your instructor to respond.

· The instructor will have weekly office hours. To set up an appointment outside of
this time, please email the instructor.
• Please do not wait until the end of the semester if you feel that you are having
problems in this class. Approach your instructor for help as soon as possible.

Information on Assignments

· All assignments must be submitted on time. Due dates and times are posted on
Moodle and in the syllabus. No LATE assignments are accepted unless
arrangements are made in advance or exceptions noted above.
· Directions for all assignments will be discussed prior to their due date. In addition,
rubrics and assignment descriptions will be posted on Moodle. Students are
expected to read directions and follow the rubric closely. A high level of
mechanics is expected from your assignments.
· If you do not understand the requirements of an assignment, it is your
responsibility to contact the instructor for clarification.

Grading Scale
AA 90 – 100 BB 80 – 84 CC 70 – 74 DD 60 – 64
BA 85 – 89 CB 75 – 79 DC 65 – 69 F 59 – below

Course Assessment
Please note that ALL assignments should be submitted electronically.

1. Class attendance, preparation, & participation 15%

2. 3-Minute Journal 20%
3
 3. APA Style Quiz (2x) 10%
4. Article Critique report 20%
5. Article Critique presentation 20%
6. Final Exam 15%

1. Class attendance, preparation & participation (15%)

You are expected to attend all of our class meetings this semester from the very beginning
of class until the end. Attending class and participating in ongoing class activities contribute
to your final grade in this class. You should do all required readings and have a copy of
them (print or electronic) with you during class. You are expected to contribute to the
whole-class discussion, be active in small group work, and/or find other ways of
participating. Each of you will be assigned a participation score based on your attendance
and active engagement in class discussions.

However, circumstances beyond your control may force you to miss class. There is no
penalty for missing up to three 1-hour class meetings (one week). Further absences will
count against your grade (one-point penalty). The only exceptions are for:

 Documented illnesses or other medical emergencies: Documentation should be

submitted to the instructor.
 Travel for participation in university-sponsored events and activities: You should
provide me an official letter informing me of these absences during the semester.
 Earthquake-related events and issues. You should discuss the issues with your
professor in advance.

Notes:
1. In order to respect your classmates and avoid any distractions for their learning, no
entry to class is allowed after the class begins at the exact time stated in the syllabus.
No exceptions. Entry to class after the door is closed will result in 3 points off the
overall course grade each time it happens.
2. Being late more than 2 times will be counted as one absence.
3. Being absent for more than 12 class (one-hour) meetings result in loss of all class
attendance points (0/20).
4. Being absent for more than 15 class (one-hour) meetings result in course failure.

2. 3-Minute Journal (20%)

In order for the instructor to gauge your response to and understanding of key concepts over
the course of the semester, students are expected to read the assigned readings and submit a
brief 3-minute journal written in their own words that is related to the book chapters 5 times
over the semester. Type up your 3-minute journal (minimum 300 words and maximum 500
words in length) in the provided template and submit it electronically through the Moodle
site by the due dates. Each 3-minute journal submitted is worth two (2) points of your total.
These are graded holistically, but completing them thoughtfully will not only consolidate
your understanding but also count towards your grade formatively.
4
3. APA Quiz (10%)
You will have two short quizzes during the semester to assess your understanding of APA
guidelines as covered in the workshop.

4. Article Critique Report & Presentation (55% in total)

In groups of (3-5), you are expected to select an article and critically review it, especially
its research design and methodology. You need to write up your critique and present it in
class. The selected research article can be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed design, and
must be published after 2010 in one of the following journals:
 Modern Language Journal
 TESOL Quarterly,
 Language Teaching Research
 Studies in Second Language Acquisition
 International Journal of Applied Linguistics
 System
Article Critique Report Guidelines:
Write up a critique report, minimum 4 pages. Your critique should reflect your deep
understanding of the article and its research design as well as your learning and use of the
class contents/materials. Your critique report must be written based on the following
checklist:
Article Critique Checklist*
Introduction
 Does it properly introduce the subject?
 Does it clearly state the purpose of what is to follow?
 Does it briefly state why this report is different from previous publications?
Methods and materials
 Is the test population clearly stated? Is it appropriate for the experiment?
Should it be larger? More comprehensive?
 Is the control population clearly stated? Are all variables controlled? Should
it be larger? More comprehensive?
 Are methods clearly described or referenced so the experiment could be
repeated?
 Are materials clearly described and when appropriate, manufacturers
footnoted?
 Are all statements and descriptions concerning design of test and control
populations and materials and methods included in this section?
 Are research materials and data used in the study shared at the end of the
paper or shared somewhere else for the readers’ view?
Results
 Are results for all parts of the experimental design provided?
 Are they clearly presented with supporting statistical analyses and/or charts
and graphs when appropriate?
Are results straightforwardly presented without a discussion of why they
occurred?
 Are all statistical analyses appropriate for the situation and accurately
performed?
5
 Discussion
 Are all results discussed?
 Are all conclusions based on sufficient data?
 Are appropriate previous studies integrated into the discussion section?

Article Critique Presentation Guidelines:

Prepare a 20 minute-presentation of your article critique and present it on the assigned
date to the rest of the class. Be informative but brief in your slides, try to limit the number
of your presentation slides (20-25 slides max), and avoid wordy slides.
Each group member should take roughly equal presentation time.
Your presentation will be graded based on the following criteria:
 Clear, accurate, and organized presentation (8 points)
 Intellectually stimulating, thought-provoking, engaging (4 points)
 Clear and concise presentation slides (4 points)
 Meeting the time requirements (20-25 minutes) (4 points)
A Step-by-Step Roadmap
Step 1
Register in the sign-up sheet shared on Moodle to form your groups.
Step 2
Search and select 1 potential article based on the criteria mentioned above.
Step 3
Get a confirmation from the instructor for your selected article.
Step 4
Critically review the selected article based on the critique checklist provided above.
Step 5
Present your critique in class.
Step 6
Write-up your critique as your final project and submit it on Moodle.

DATE Topic Readings Important dates

Week 1 Introduction & Syllabus
(Feb. 15) review
Week 2 Introduction to Research M & G: Chapter 1 3-minute journal #1 due by Feb
(Feb. 22) 21.

Week 3 Ethical Issues in L2 Research M & G: Chapter 2 3-minute journal #2 due by Feb.
( Feb. 29) *IRB Workshop 28.

6
 Week 4 Research Variables, Validity M & G: Chapter 5 3-minute journal #3 due by
(March 7) & Reliability March 6.
Week 5 Designing a Quantitative M & G: Chapter 6 3-minute journal #4 due by
(March 14) Study *APA Workshop March 13.
APA Quiz 1
Week 6 No Class No Class
(March 21)

Week 7 Designing a Qualitative M & G: Chapter 7 3-minute journal #5 due by

( March 28) Study *Interviewing workshop March 20.

Week 8 Mixed Methods L2 Research M & G: Chapter 9 3-minute journal #9 due by

(April 4) April 3.
SPRING BREAK

Week 9 Classroom L2 Research M & G: Chapter 8 3-minute journal #8 due by

(April 18) April 17.

Week 10 Data Collection Measures M & G: Chapter 3 3-minute journal #3 due by

(April 25) *Survey Design April 24
Workshop
Week 11 Data Coding M & G: Chapter 4 3-minute journal #9 due by May
(May 2) 1

Week 12 Group Presentation

(May 9)

Week 13 Group Presentation

(May 16)

Final
exam
(TBA)
Article Critique Report due by June 3, Midnight

Note: Except for changes that substantially affect the implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a
guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice.
*Blevins (n.d.). Steps in analyzing a research article. Retrieved March 7, 2021, from https://kostovski.webs.com/CHECKLIST
%20FOR%20EVALUATING%20A%20RESEARCH%20REPORT.pdf