Instructions

Answer the following question for each of the following texts:

1. Research hypothesis or research questions?

2. Draft a research hypothesis or research

questions.

3. Identify the variables, if any.

4. Quantitative or qualitative data analysis

 Wang, Min, Charles A. Perfetti and Ying Liu. 2003.
Alphabetic readers quickly acquire orthographic structure in learning to read
Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading. 7 (2): 183-208.

This study aimed to explore how alphabetic readers learn to read Chinese. Firstyear
Chinese beginning learners who are skilled English readers were tested for their
sensitivity to the visual-orthographic structures of Chinese characters. The study
also explored the effect of the frequency of the characters in their curriculum on
performance of a lexical decision and naming task. The students' linguistic
knowledge about the characters was also tested. Results showed that the beginning
learners were sensitive to the structural complexity of characters, they accepted
simple characters more quickly and more accurately than compound characters, and
they responded faster and more accurately to high-frequency than to low-frequency
characters. Sensitivity to the structural composition of the character was also
revealed: The learners rejected noncharacters containing illegal radical forms faster
and more accurately than those containing legal radical forms in illegal positions,
which in turn were rejected faster and more accurately than those containing legal
radical forms in legal positions. A significant frequency effect was also found in the
naming task, though the effect of structural complexity was not significant. These
results suggest that perceptual learning plays an important role in early
nonalphabetic learning by alphabetic readers. Both cross-writing system differences
and second-language status may have an impact on such learning.
 Hyland, Ken. 2003. Genre-based pedagogics: A social response to process.Journal of
Second Language Writing. 12 (1): 17-30.

• Process theories have been extremely influential in the

evolution of L2 writing instruction. Responding to purely formal
views of writing, proponents borrowed the techniques and
theories of cognitive psychology and L1 composition to refine
the ways we understand and teach writing. While remaining
the dominant pedagogical orthodoxy for over 30 years,
however, process models have for some time found themselves
under siege from more socially-oriented views of writing which
reject their inherent liberal individualism. Instead, genre
approaches see ways of writing as purposeful, socially situated
responses to particular contexts and communities. In this
paper, I discuss the importance of genre approaches to
teaching L2 writing and how they complement process views
by emphasising the role of language in written communication.
 Sociolinguistic Variation in a Second Language: The influence of local accent on the pronunciation of non-native English speakers living in
Manchester
Rob Drummond
PhD dissertation. University of Manchester, 2010

• This study is an investigation into the extent to which Polish migrants

acquire particular features of the Manchester dialect (UK). The
research uses data gathered from 41 participants who have been in
Manchester for various lengths of time and who came to the UK for a
wide range of reasons. The aim was to explore the extent to which
local accent features are acquired by second language English
speakers, and the linguistic and social factors which influence this
acquisition. Four linguistic features were identified, on the basis of
them each exhibiting local variants that differ from any pedagogical
model of English the speakers will have been exposed to in Poland.
All four demonstrated some degree of change towards the local
variants in the speech of many of the participants, but to greatly
differing degrees. Multiple regression analyses helped to determine
which factors might be influencing the patterns of variation, with the
social constraints of length of residence, level of English, gender,
attitude, and identity among those believed to be playing a part.
 An exploration of interactive metadiscourse markers in academic research article abstracts in two disciplines
Mohsen Khediri, Chaw Swee Henf, Seyed Foad Ebrahimi

• A generic analysis of research article abstracts can cover issues of

different types; among them are linguistic features. An integral part of
linguistic features of research article abstracts is interactive
metadiscourse usage that can assist to make the text persuasive and
unfolding to a discourse community. The main principle behind applying
interactive metadiscourse is the view of writing as socially engaging;
specifically, it indicates the ways writers project themselves into their
arguments to declare their attitudes and commitments to the readers.
This study aimed to explore how interactive metadiscourse markers are
deployed by research article abstract writers belonging to different
disciplinary communities within the soft sciences, while trying to reach
the audience by creating a well-organized discourse. Hyland’s (2005)
interpersonal model of metadiscourse was adopted to analyze 60
research article abstracts written in Applied Linguistics and Economics.
Based on the results, there were marked variations found across the
two disciplines in terms of interactive metadiscourse markers.
Hyland, Ken. 2003. Genre-based pedagogics: A social response to process.Journal of Second Language Writing. 12 (1): 17-30.

Process theories have been extremely influential in the

evolution of L2 writing instruction. Responding to purely formal
views of writing, proponents borrowed the techniques and
theories of cognitive psychology and L1 composition to refine
the ways we understand and teach writing. While remaining
the dominant pedagogical orthodoxy for over 30 years,
however, process models have for some time found
themselves under siege from more socially-oriented views of
writing which reject their inherent liberal individualism.
Instead, genre approaches see ways of writing as purposeful,
socially situated responses to particular contexts and
communities. In this paper, I discuss the importance of genre
approaches to teaching L2 writing and how they complement
process views by emphasising the role of language in written
communication.
Atkinson, Dwight. 2003. Writing and culture in the post-process era. Journal of Second
Language Writing. 12 (1): 49-64.

Does the notion of culture, currently under wide-ranging

critique across the social sciences, still have a future? In this
paper I discuss three possible uses of the culture concept in
the field of second language writing for the 21st century: (1)
Turning the cultural lens back on ourselves (where ,ourselves'
means the very academics who have found the concept most
useful in the past); (2) Investigating continuity, universality, and
hybridity, whereas the culture concept has traditionally been
used to investigate difference, localization, and cultural 'purity';
and (3) Expanding, contracting, and complexifying the scope of
the culture concept. I conclude by arguing for a view of L2
writing that takes into account the full range of social and
cultural contexts impacting L2 writing, rather than focusing
narrowly on skills and processes of writing (in the classroom) in
themselves.
Wang, Min, Charles A. Perfetti and Ying Liu. 2003. Alphabetic readers quickly acquire orthographic structure in
learning to read Chinese. 
Scientific Studies of Reading. 7 (2): 183-208.

This study aimed to explore how alphabetic readers learn to read Chinese.
Firstyear Chinese beginning learners who are skilled English readers were tested
for their sensitivity to the visual-orthographic structures of Chinese characters.
The study also explored the effect of the frequency of the characters in their
curriculum on performance of a lexical decision and naming task. The students'
linguistic knowledge about the characters was also tested. Results showed that
the beginning learners were sensitive to the structural complexity of characters,
they accepted simple characters more quickly and more accurately than
compound characters, and they responded faster and more accurately to high-
frequency than to low-frequency characters. Sensitivity to the structural
composition of the character was also revealed: The learners rejected
noncharacters containing illegal radical forms faster and more accurately than
those containing legal radical forms in illegal positions, which in turn were
rejected faster and more accurately than those containing legal radical forms in
legal positions. A significant frequency effect was also found in the naming task,
though the effect of structural complexity was not significant. These results
suggest that perceptual learning plays an important role in early nonalphabetic
learning by alphabetic readers. Both cross-writing system differences and
second-language status may have an impact on such learning.
 Petric, Bojana. 2003.
Validating a writing strategy questionnaire. 
System. 31 (2): 187-216.

Validation of data collection instruments is an extremely important step in

research; however, it is often only briefly reported in research studies. This
paper deals with the validation of a writing strategies questionnaire and
presents the various stages in the validation process. The questionnaire was
validated using a qualitative and a quantitative method with two groups of
participants from the target population, i.e. advanced non-native speakers
of English. Using the qualitative and quantitative data, the authors discuss
factors which affected the participants' responses to the questionnaire,
dividing them into factors related to the construct of writing strategies, and
those related to the research instrument and reliability check method.
Potential problems and limitations of research into writing strategies using
questionnaires are pointed out. The authors conclude that validation using
triangulation of different data sources provides not only information on the
validity of the instrument but also valuable insights into the construct itself.
Markelis, Daiva. 2003. 'Talking through letters': Collaborative writing in early Lithuanian immigrant life. Written Communication. 20 (2): 153-169.

• The emphasis on the individual in Western culture has blinded us to how

social relationships affect literacy acquisition and, conversely, how literacy
transforms these relationships. This article deals with the literacy practices,
specifically, letter writing, of Lithuanian immigrants who arrived in the
United States during the end of the 19th century. For these immigrants,
reading and writing were collaborative activities, not the individual, solitary
acts that we often assume them naturally to be. Individuals often turned to
more literate neighbors for assistance in tasks involving reading and writing,
an extension of the concept of talka, the Lithuanian tradition of collective
assistance. Parents also frequently engaged the help of sons and, especially,
daughters in writing letters to relatives in Lithuania. Letter writing thus not
only fostered solidarity between immigrant and their relatives in Lithuania
but also between Lithuanian immigrant parents and their increasingly
literate, Americanized children.