LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

UNIT 1: Applied Linguistics and SLA

● AL: is that science which seeks insights from linguistics and other
language-informative sciences, insights which produce principles on which to
develop a methodology to solve specific language-related problems” (Ingram, in
Kaplan, 1980: 54)

● AL is “the application of linguistic theories, descriptions and methods to the solutions

of language problems which have arisen in a range of human, cultural, and social
contexts” (Carter, 1995)

● “It is a central feature of applied linguistics that it is task-related, problem-oriented,

project-centered, and demand-led. It is also fundamentally based in academic
disciplines” (Strevens, 1991: 14)

● AL “is a multidisciplinary approach to the solution of language-related problems.”

(Strevens, 1991: 17)

● “En un sentido general, el término ‘lingüística aplicada’ se emplea, en oposición a la

lingüística teórica, para aludir a las aplicaciones prácticas que se han hecho de la
lingüística teórica. … En su sentido más estricto, cuando se habla de ‘lingüística
aplicada’ se entiende en su vertiente pedagógica, es decir, lingüística aplicada a la
enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras.” (Alcaraz & Martínez, 1997: 335)

Scientific Commission of the International Association of Applied linguistics (AILA)

1. Adult language learning 12. Lexicography and lexicology

2. Child language 13. Mother tongue education
3. Contrastive linguistics and error 14. Psycholinguistics
analysis 15. Rhetoric and stylistics
4. Discourse analysis 16. Second language acquisition
5. Educational technology and 17. Sociolinguistics
language learning 18. Literacy
6. FL teaching methodology and 19. Language and ecology
teacher education 20. Communication in the professions
7. Interpreting and translating 21. Immersion education
8. Language and education in 22. Learner autonomy in language
multilingual settings learning
9. Language and gender 23. Language and the media
10. Language for special purposes
11. Language planning
Scientific Commissions of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL)

1. Assessment / evaluation 11. Language and technology

2. Critical linguistics 12. Language for specific purposes
3. Discourse analysis 13. Language policy / planning
4. First language acquisition 14. literacy
5. Immersion /bilingual education 15. Psycholinguistics
6. Interlingual /cross-cultural 16. Rhetorics and stylistics
pragmatics 17. Second / foreign language
7. Language and culture pedagogy
8. Language and gender 18. Second language acqusition
9. Language socialization 19. Sociolinguistics
10. Language and sociocnultural 20. Translation and interpretation
theory

Paneles temáticos de la Asociación española de Lingüística Aplicada (AESLA)

1. Adquisición y aprendizaje
2. Enseñanza de lenguas y diseño curricular
3. Lengua para fines específicos
4.Psicología del lenguaje, lenguaje infantil y psicolingüística
5. Sociolingüística
6. Pragmática
7. Análisis del discurso
8. Lingüística de Corpus, computacional e ingeniería lingüística
9. Lexicología y lexicografía
10. Traducción e interpretación

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

● SLA: focuses on theories that explain the way non-native languages are acquired
and empirical studies on different aspects of second language acquisition (grammar,
vocabulary, motivation, age, interaction, etc.)
● LANGUAGE TEACHING; is more practical and less research-oriented, focuses on
the principles that guide language teaching and more practical teaching strategies
(teaching materials, activities, teacher and student roles, etc.)

● First language - Native language - Mother Tongue

The language ( in the case of monolingual acquisition) or languages ( in the case of

bilingual/ multilingual acquisition) that a child learns from parents, siblings and
caretakers during the critical years of development, from the womb up to about 4
years of age. (Ortega, 2009)
 Mother Tongue may refer to the language of one’s ethnic group and First language to
English. Example: Singapore.

● Second language

Any language learned after learning the L1 (or L1s). (Ortega, 2009)

In the case of very young children who are exposed to several languages, it may be
possible to determine whether the two or more languages in question are being
learned simultaneously (bilingual / multilingualism) or sequentially ( as an L2).
(Ortega, 2009)

● Second language - Foreign language

In the case of second language acquisition, the language plays an institutional and
social role in the community (i.e.: it functions as a recognized means of
communication among members who speak some other language as their mother
tongue). For example, English as a second language is learnt in the United States,
the United Kingdom, and countries in Africa such as Nigeria and Zambia. (Ellis, 1994:
11-12)

In contrast, foreign language learning takes place in settings where the language
plays no major role in the community and is primarily learnt only in the classroom.
Examples of foreign language learning are English learnt in France and Japan. (
Ellis, 1994: 12)

The distinction between second language and foreign language learning settings
may be significant in that it is possible that there will be radical differences in both
what is learnt and how it is learnt. However, (...) there is a need for neutral and
superordinate term to cover both types of learning. Somewhat confusingly, but in line
with common usage, the term ‘second language acquisition’ will be used for this
purpose. ( Ellis, 1994: 12)

● Second language - third language - additional language

Multilingualism is the norm in many African and Asian countries. Sometimes a

distinction is made between ‘a second’ and ‘a third’ or even ‘fourth’ language.
However, the term ‘second’ is generally used to refer to any language other than the
first language. In one respect this is unfortunate, as the term ‘second’ when applied
to some learning settings, such as those in South Africa involving black learners of
English, may be perceived as opprobrious. In such settings, the term ‘additional
language’ may be both more appropriate and more acceptable. (Ellis, 1994: 11)

Second language acquisition (SLA) will normally stand as a cover term to refer to anu
language other than the first language learned by a given group of learners, (a)
irrespective of learning environment and (b) irrespective of the number of non.native
languages known by the learner. (Sharwood Smith; 1994)
 INTERDISCIPLINARITY OF SLA

DIVERSITY OF SLA: learners’ linguistic background

SLA process and product may depend on whether:

- the TL is typologically (dis)similar to the L1

- the TL is learnt by mono-, bi-, or multilingual speakers

DIVERSITY OF SLA: simultaneous vs. consecutive

SLA processes and products may depend on the order of acquisition of the L1 and
L2:
- Consecutive acquisition: acquisition of a second language after the first
language has been acquired: L1 → L2 (Cenoz, 2000)
- Simultaneous acquisition: Acquisition of a second language while the first
being acquired (‘early second language acquisition’): Lx + Ly (Cenoz, 2000)

DIVERSITY OF SLA: age

Age is one of the few truly popular issues in discussions of language acquisition as
evidenced by observations of the type:
● ‘ I could never learn German at my age’
● ‘ Beginning French at secondary school is not good; kids need to get started when
they’re young and fresh’. (Singleton & Ryan, 2004: 1)

Studies in the literature on the age factor have explored the issue of ‘success’ in terms of:
- Rate of achievement → after short periods of time.
- Ultimate attainment → over the long term; in the long run.
The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) has been used when explaining child-adult differences
in L2 acquisition.

Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH):

● Strong version: after a certain age a child loses the ability to acquire a language in a
native way ( Lenneberg, 1967)
● Weak version: there is a diminishing capacity (as opposed to Lenneberg’s capacity
loss) = Sensitive Period ( Oyama, 1976)

There is no agreement as far as the age limit for the period:

- Puberty: brain lateralization (Lenneberg, 1967; Scovel, 1988)
- Age 6: complete acquisition of L1 phonetic categories (Flege et al., 1995)

Interpretation 1 of the CPH: after a certain maturational point, the L2 learner is no longer
capable of attaining native-like levels of proficiency (Singleton, 2003)

- those who being to be exposed to an L2 after age 12 cannot ever ‘pass themselves
off as native speakers phonologically’ (Scovel. 1988: 185)
- The sine qua non for the acquisition of morphology and syntax to native level is
exposure to the L2 before age 15 (Long, 1990)

Interpretation 2 of the CPH: after a certain maturational point successful L2 learning requires
markedly more effort than before this point (Singleton 2003)

- after puberty ‘automatic acquisition from mere exposure to a given language seems
to disappear, and foreign languages have to be taught and learned through a
conscious and labored effort ( Lenneberg, 1967: 176)
- younger learners acquire second language automatically from mere exposure, while
older learners have to make conscious and labored efforts ( Hyltenstam &
Abrahamsson, 2000: 152)

Interpretation 3 of CPH: after a certain maturational point L2 learning is no longer underlaid

by the same mechanisms that compose child languages acquisition ( Singleton, 2003)

- Some adherents of universal Grammar claim that post-pubertal L2 learners have no

access to UG principles and parameters.
- the proponents of no access ( to UG in post-pubertal L2 acquisition ) have therefore
sought to find explanations for how it is possible to learn an L2 without UG; the
typical solution is seen as general problem solving combined with the knowledge of
the L1 ( Cock & Newson, 1996: 295)

In the framework of SLA this famous hypothesis has been probably exceedingly used as the
explanatory factor when explaining child-adult differences in L2 acquisition (Birdsong, 1999)

A great deal of investigations seem to indicate that age of first exposure to the target
language can account for the differences found in the level of TL competence and in
nativelikeness achievement ( Flege et al. 1995; Oyama 1976; Patkowski, 1980; Snow &
Hoefnagel-Höhle, 1982)
The claim that younger L2 beginners have an advantage over older beginners is constantly
invoked and disputed when decisions are being taken about the optimal starting point for L2
school instruction in schools (Singleton, 2003:3).
One reason why early L2 instruction has remained such a live issue arises from the notion of
a critical period for language development(...). This idea, which is widespread in the
community at large, undoubtedly underlies the pressure to introduce early L2 instruction
which has been exerted on politicians - in Europe at least- by that portion of the population
with children. ( Singleton & Ryan, 2004: 3-4).

AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE

● In general terms, there is a direct relationship between proficiency and

amount of exposure: the more exposure to the L2, the more efficient the
learner is.
● However, each language aspect may follow a different rate of acquisition.
● the incorporation of new L2 features may affect some previously acquired L2
aspects and a drawing-back or attrition process may appear.

TYPE OF EXPOSURE

● The distinction between formal and natural acquisition has a tremendous impact on
language learning.
● Learning the L2 in a purely naturalistic environment is not the same as learning the
L2 in a strictly formal context.
● NATURALISTIC SLA: the language is learnt through communication that takes place
in naturally occurring social situations
● INSTRUCTED SLA: the language is learnt through study, with the help of guidance
from reference books or classroom instruction.
● Psycholinguistic distinction (Klein, 1985):
○ Spontaneous acquisition: the learner focuses on communication in naturalistic
second language acquisition and thus learns incidentally
○ Guided acquisition: in instructed second language acquisition the learner
typically focuses on some aspect of the language system.
● Ellis (1994)
○ Sociolinguistic view: setting and activities in which the learner participates.
● The formal-natural distinction is not a dichotomy but rather a continuum

Natural <---------------------------------------> formal

● It is important to know where the learner’s place is along the natural-formal

continuum.
● Natural
● Formal + natural exposure
● Formal but natural methodology (immersion, CLIL)
● Formal
● Garcia Lecumberri & Gallardo del Puerto (2003):
 ○ exposure: all the very diverse types of contact that learners have with the TL,
including passive listening to real speech, listening to the media, real
interactions, classroom instruction, reading, etc.
○ Importance of oral exposure for pronunciation
○ oral exposure classified along the scales of quantity and quality.

← QUANTITY →
Minimal aural exposure: old-fashioned FL Total immersion in the TL natural with
teaching methods based solely on 100% of learners information and
grammar and translation interaction being carried out in the TL.

← QUALITY →

Single source non-native heavily NL

marked pronunciations of the TL .
Very diverse, natural and native speech

Type of exposure is a factor which has been found to interact cricially with amount of
exposure and with age.
When studying the effect of age it is important to distinguish between second and foreign
language situations.

Why are second and foreign language situations so different?

What sort of result do we find in both settings?

NATURAL SETTINGS:

The studies of naturalistic second language learning (...) which appear to indicate that the
initial language learning superiorly displayed by older learners gradually diminishes suggest
that it takes about a year for this ‘headstart’ to be eroded.

Natural settings:
● initial advantage of older learners
● final attainment: look at data in activity 2.

Formal settings:
● impossibility of achieving native-like proficiency in school settings.
● older learners are always more successful.
1 NATURAL YEAR
1 FORMAL YEAR
10 hours of input a day x 365 days
3.650 hours 5 hours of input a week x 40 weeks
200 hours

1 NATURAL YAR = 18 FORMAL YEARS

If the amount-of-exposure variable is held constant, the concepts of ‘ initial advantage’ and
‘eventual attainment’ in a formal instructional setting need to be associated with a much
longer real-time period than in a largely informal exposure situation. ( Singleton, 1995).

Implications for research:

- Natural settings: rate of achievement and ultimate attainment

- Formal settings: rate of achievement and school attainment

LEARNERS’ GOALS

Learners acquire language for a variety of reasons: to fully participate in a society, to travel
as a tourist, to pass an examination, to obtain employment, to read scientific text, etc. It
won’t do to say glibly that linguistic or communicative competence is what everyone aspires
to. (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991).

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE VS. PERFORMANCE

● Competence consists of the mental representation of linguistic rules that constitute

the speaker-hearer’s internal grammar (Chomsky, 1995). This grammar is implicit
rather than explicit and is evident in the intuitions which the speaker-hearer has
about the grammaticality of sentences.
● Performance consists of the use of this grammar in the comprehension and
production of language.

● Linguistic theory is primarily concerned with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely

homogeneous speech community who knows its language perfectly and is
unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations,
distractions, shifts of attention and interest and errors ( random or characteristic) is
applying his knowledge of the language in actual performance. ( Chomsky, 1965: 3)

● Problem: Chomsky’s linguistic theory is limited to grammar and grammar rules are
not enough to explain lexicalized sentence stems (lexical chunks):
○ A. All’s well that ends well
○ B. All that has ended well is well

○ A. Black and white

 ○ B. White and black
● Problem: does that ideal native speaker exist?

There are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless. Just as rules of
syntax can control aspects of phonology, and just as rules of semantics perhaps control
aspects of syntax, rules of speech acts enter as controlling factors for linguistic form as a
whole ( Hymes, 1972:278)

The ability to use one’s language correctly in a variety of socially determined situations is as
much as central a part of linguistic ‘competence’ as the ability to produce grammatically
well-formed sentences (Lyons, 1970:287)

● Communicative competence includes knowledge the speaker-hearer has of what

constitutes appropriate (pragmatic knowledge) as well as correct (linguistic
knowledge) language behavior and also of what constitutes effective language
behavior in relation to particular communicative goals.
● Communicative performance consists of the actual use of these two types of
knowledge in understanding and producing discourse.
UNIT 2: Research Methods in SLA

Definition of research

Research is a systematic approach to finding answers to questions (Hatch & Farhady, 1982:
1)

- Influence of First Language Acquisition and other disciplines.

- Experience → Creativity

RESEARCH APPROACHES
LONGITUDINAL VS. CROSS-SECTIONAL

A longitudinal approach (often called a case study in the SLA field) typically involves
observing the development of linguistic performance (usually the spontaneous speech of
one subject) when the speech data are collected at periodic intervals over a span of time.

● Jon goes to study in the USA. His level of English is very low. You measure his
proficiency in English once a month for 3 years.
● You measure the attitudes towards learning English presented by a group of students
once a year for 6 years.

In a cross-sectional approach, the linguistic performance (usually of a larger number of

subjects) is studied, and the performance data (usually elicited by asking subjects to perform
some verbal task such as, for example, a picture description task) are collected at only one
session (=once).

● You prepare English language tests and you get data from 400 secondary school
students at the end of secondary education.
● You prepare a questionnaire to measure attitudes and motivation and ask 3 different
age groups of schoolchildren to complete it.

Combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches

TIME 1 TIME 2 TIME 3 TIME 4

GROUP A 1 2 3 4

GROUP B 2 3 4 5

GROUP C 3 4 5 6
RESEARCH APPROACHES
QUALITATIVE VS. QUANTITATIVE

● QUAL-QUAN distinction represents a fundamental clash → choice between the two

paradigms
● Unjustified assumption:
○ Studies share characteristics of both paradigms to different degrees
■ Generalizability
■ Instruments
○ Mixed-methods research: quantitative + qualitative procedures within a single
research project
● Do not choose the paradigm, methodology or approach a priori!
● Think about the purpose and the research question!
QUAL-QUAN CONTINUUM OF RESEARCH METHODS

introspection

participant observation

non-participant observation

focused description

pre-experimental

quasi-experimental

experimental

QUALITATIVE PROCEDURES

● These are methodologies that result in descriptions of the SLA process

● Researchers who use these methodologies set as their goal understanding the SLA
process.

1. INTROSPECTION

● With guidance from the researcher, learners examine their own behavior for insights
into SLA
● Using introspection as a research method is an old tradition in psychology.
● Umbrella term: think-aloud and retrospective reports.

Example: Mackey, Gass & McDonough (2000)

● Feedback and use of retrospective interview.

PROS CONS

Access to conscious thought processes Much cognitive processing not accessible

2. PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

● Research take part in the activities they study

● No specific hypotheses in mind but copious notes
● notes recorded immediately after the activities
● Long observation period
● Small number of students studied
Example: Krishan & Hon (2002)
● diary entries from learners in a multicultural classroom

3. NON-PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

● No hypotheses at the outset of the study

● They observe activities without engaging in them directly
● Notes and/or recordings during the observation itself
● The subjects are usually few in number
● The period of study is relatively long
● Usually referred to as longitudinal case studies in SLA

Example: Lacorte, 2005

● on-site observation to code the instructional stages and to record the non-verbal
behavior of teacher and students during the lesson

OBSERVATIONS

PROS CONS

- Detailed and comprehensive - Observer's paradox

description of L2 behavior - Hawthorne effect
- No data reduction - Subjectivity
- Time-consuming
- Difficult to generalize

4. FOCUSED DESCRIPTION

● Focus on a specific area (e.g. morphology) or a particular issue (e.g. the influence of
the native language on SLA)

Example: interaction analysis studies

● Researchers observe a language class using a data-collection device or instrument
to focus and record their observations.
● The instruments contain pre.established categories or behavior
● Lyster & Ranta (1997) as an example
 PROS CONS

- Limited and maintained focus ( you - Data reduction

do not have to explain every aspect) - Biased categories
- Less time-consuming
- More subject can be observed
- More generalizable
- Comparison to other researchers’
findings

EXPERIMENTS

● The goal of researchers using experimental methods is to predict and explain human
behavior (Ochsner, 1979; Chaudron, 2000)
● In a true experiment, researchers attempt to establish a causal relationship between
some treatment and some consequence.
● In order to establish such a relationship in a valid manner, two criteria must be
satisfied (i.e. this will be the case in true experiments)
○ There must be experimental and control groups, i.e. groups distinguished by
which treatment they have experienced
○ Randomization, that is, subjects must be randomly assigned to one of theses
two groups.

5. PRE-EXPERIMENT

● None of the two criteria of experimental designs is met.

● Researchers are prohibited from making statements about causality.
● it can provide useful insights into SLA which later may be tested using more rigorous
procedures.

Example: one-group pretest-posttest

01 treatment 02
● Gardner, Smythe and Brunet’s (1997)
○ Pretest- posttest study of the effect of intensive French language study on
attitudes, motivation and achievement.
○ Change on these variables were observed

PRO CONS

- The starting point for future testable - No possibility for the establishment
hypotheses of cause-effect relationship
(between the course and the
changes in variables)
- Changes could have been caused
due to other factors
 6. QUASI-EXPERIMENT

● One of the 2 criteria of experimental design is met

○ No random assignment of subjects
○ One or more control groups is/are included

Example: time-series designs

01 02 03 treatment 04 05 06
● Multiple observations of a group are made prior to and following the treatment
● Subjects in one group serve both as a control group (pretests) and as experimental
group (prottests)

PROS CONS

- Establishment of a cause-effect - Generalizability of results

relationship

TRUE EXPERIMENT

● The basic premise of an experiment is that all factors save one are held constant
● The single factor is varied to see what effect it has on the phenomenon under
investigation
● 2 Conditions must be met: control group + subject randomization

1. There are at least two groups included in the study:

a. If two groups are treated differently, provided all other factors are controlled,
and their post-treatment behavior differs, then behavior differs as a
consequence of their different treatments.
b. We can establish a cause-effect relationship between treatment and
consequence
2. Subjects are randomly assigned to either group:
a. The cause effect relationship is possible if the groups are comparable to start
with.
b. Random group assignment allows the researchers to assume that they have
two truly comparable groups at the outset of the experiment
c. use of a pretest

Example: to check if the explicit phonological treatment improves L2 English pronunciation

● One group of Spanish students receives explicit English phonological instruction
whereas the other follows a normal English course with little phonetic instruction.
● Randomization of students
● Pretest and post-test administered before and after treatment.
 PROS CONS

- Establishment of a cause-effect - Simplification/manipulation of

relationship variables → change of the nature of
- Generalization of findings the phenomenon
- Intact classes → quasi-experiments
more common in SLA

QUAL VS. QUAN

● No neat separation between one methodology and the next in the QUAL-QUAN
continuum
● Combination of methods. Triangulation.
● One of the features which varies along the QUAL-QUAN continuum is whether or not
any instrumentation is used
■ QUAL: rejection of the use of instruments to elicit data, favoring
spontaneous or natural data
■ QUAN: preference for the use of instruments
● In practice, no such clear-cut distinction exists.
● Instruments used to collect linguistic production data are referred to by a variety of
names:
○ elicitation procedure
○ elicitation device
○ technique for eliciting performance data
○ data-collection device
○ data-gathering device

RETROSPECTIVE METHODS

● Diary: written or spoken (audio-recorded) form

○ the diarist reports on affective factors and on language-learning strategies
which would normally escape from the attention of an observer

OBSERVATIONS

- No categories
- Pre-established categories
- We can measure:
- group dynamics
- teacher-student interaction
- teacher talk and strategies
QUESTIONNAIRES

● Questionnaires are often used to measure:

○ learners’ personal characteristics (background information)
○ Affective variables (attitudes, motivation, anxiety)
○ interlanguage pragmatics
○ learning strategies

TESTS / TASKS

● Both terms are usually used to refer to the same technique. But different in nature!
● Tests are devised to measure what the learner knows and does not know of the
target language.
● a subject’s performance is measured against that of target language speakers. In this
sense, tests are normative (e.g.: First Certificate Test)
● Tasks are devised to reveal what the learner knows, ‘the rules he is using and the
system and categories he is working with’ (Corder, 1981: 60)
● With tasks, we infer something about the learner’s rules, systems and categories

Error recognition and correction

Grammaticality judgements
Imitation tasks
Comprehension tests (multiple choice, filling gaps, etc.)
Production tests
Reconstruction

With tests /tasks we measure:

- general proficiency
- specific areas of proficiency
- intelligence (IQ test)
- language aptitude
- metalinguistics awareness
- communication strategies
- interlanguage

INTERVIEWS

With interviews we measure:

- personal (background) information

- affective variables
- oral proficiency
- specific areas of interlanguage (transfer, pragmatics)

THEORETICAL REVISION
 ● The researcher must be aware of the ‘state of the art’, that is, what has been done so
far with relation to the question s/he is investigating
● There are two different kinds of theoretical introductions in SLA research:
○ 1. theoretical models or proposals
○ 2. research outcomes

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS / QUESTIONS

Hypothesis or questions must be based on the theoretical revision previously done.

- Hypothesis: learners' age will have an influence on L2 acquisition

- Question: will learners’ age have an influence on L2 acquisition?

DESIGN /METHODOLOGY

Researchers must choose

1. the variables to investigate (sex, age, oral , competence, etc)

2. the approach of the study:
a. quantitative or qualitative
b. cross-sectional or longitudinal
3. the sample: who is going to be observed?
a. How many subjects will the sample be composed of?
b. how do i control the variables so that i have a representative sample (e.g.:
extracurricular exposure to the FL; social status, etc.)?
4. the instruments:
a. The instruments I choose (oral interview, filling the gaps, etc) must be the
appropriate ones to measure the variables I want to investigate.
b. instruments must be valid
c. instruments must be reliable
d. sometimes, before the real data elicitation researchers deliver a pilot test
which is administered to a similar sample
e. the purpose of the pilot test is to detect would-be or potential problems
5. the procedure:
a. data-gathering procedure: how the data were collected
i. How did I get in touch with the school?
ii. What did I explain to students?
iii. How much time did the tests take?
iv. How were the tests administered, individually or collectively?
b. data-analysis procedure: how the data were analyzed: (what did i do with the
data?)
i. Did I use transcription or any kind of codification?
ii. how did i evaluate?
iii. Did I use judges who scored the subjects' productions?
iv. Did I use statistical analysis? which ones and why?
v. Did I use any computer program for linguistic analysis?
RESULTS

At this stage, observation or test results are presented

They are presented, usually in tables and/or figures

DISCUSSION/ CONCLUSIONS

- this is the time to interpret the results. Why do we have these results? Are my
hypotheses met?
- the content in the theoretical introduction has to be considered
- researchers say if their results corroborate other investigations’ findings and explain
the reasons for this (dis)agreement.
Limitations, implications and future research lines

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

● instruments need to be valid and reliable

● content validity, criterion / concurrent validity, construct validity.
● test-retest reliability; inter-rater reliability

Researchers must try to get to the maximum with regard to both validity and reliability

Sometimes, they have to make a balancing act and opt for either valid or more reliable data
- to measure written skills ,multiple choice or written composition?
- to measure the use of articles multiple choice or written composition?

VALIDITY RELIABILITY

QUALITATIVE DATA + -
QUANTITATIVE DATA - +

STATISTICAL CONCEPTS

POPULATION AND SAMPLE

Population: a group of people with some specific characteristics

Example:
- at political elections, the population would be composed of every person allowed to
vote.

Sample: those subjects selected to take the tests and who represent the whole population

Example:
- at political elections the sample would be made up by those who have voted
 ● the sample must be representative of the population
● accurate description of the sample

EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS

● The experimental group is the one receiving the treatment (they take the drug)
● the control group is the one not receiving any special treatment ( they do not take the
drug)

VARIABLES

● A variable is something that varies (it takes two or more values)

● Example: sex, age, mother tongue, intelligence, language competence, etc.
● The dependent variable varies freely and the other variables are said to have an
influence on it. It is the ‘effect’
● The independent variable is fixed, manipulated by the researcher, and said to exert
an influence on the dependent variable. It is the ‘cause’.
● Example: Who are better English learners, girls or boys?

○ Variables: English proficiency and sex

○ Dependent variable(effect):
○ Independent variable (cause):

● Bidirectional variables: those which exert an influence on one another.

○ Example: motivation and FL proficiency.
● Control variables are those variables which have been chosen to be constant by the
researcher.
○ Example: Is ‘FL proficiency’ affected by ‘age of first school exposure to FL’? I
will need to control for ‘amount of exposure’.

● Numerical variables let us obtain means.

○ Example: English marks

● Categorical variables let us obtain percentages.

○ Example: sex

STATISTICAL ANALYSES: CORRELATION

It indicates the relationship between two numerical variables.

- Positive Correlation: when both variables follow the same path

- Negative Correlation: when the two variables follow opposite paths

Example 1: age and blood pressure +

Example 2: music and phonetics. -
 Example 3:

● ‘Pearson index’
- max= -1; min= +1
- Pearson r = .893
- the further from 0, the stronger the correlation, either positive (positive
numbers) or negative (negative numbers)

STATISTICAL ANALYSES: REGRESSION

● It indicates the relationship between more than two variables.

● Phenomena more than often have more than one cause. That’s why regressions are
not usually simple regression but multiple regressions.
● Researchers try to find the causes (in plural) for a particular phenomenon.
● Regression analyses imply a potential cause-effect relationship between more than
two numerical variables.
● We are trying to establish a relationship between various potential causes (aptitude,
motivation, creativity, anxiety) and one potential effect (L2 achievement).
○ Example: which variables influence English phonological acquisition?
○ listening to tapes at home,
○ time of residence in England,
○ native teacher,
○ watching television in English,
○ listening to the radio in English, etc.

● Researchers select a number of variables, the ones they think might have an effect
on the phenomena they are investigating.

● The regression analysis usually indicates that not all the variables they have
considered exert a considerable influence on the dependent variable.
 ● They will focus on the group of the variables that account for the highest percentage
of the variance.

● Regressions are symbolized by an uppercase R2

○ R2= .60 : the group of variables specified (intelligence, motivation and native
teacher) accounts for 60% of the variance of the dependent variable.

● The higher this percentage (R), the stronger relationship between the variables.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES: T-TEST

● The relationship between one numerical variable and one categorical variable

● It is an statistical analysis to compare two different means

○ Example 1: English marks in girls and boys
■ Boys: 7
■ Girls: 7.5

○ Example 2: results in two tests (pretest and a post-test)

■ Pretest: 5
■ Posttest: 7

● Statistical significance means that results cannot be due to chance.

● Convention for statistical significance: when the significance index is lower than .05
(p ≤ .05).
● This means that there are only 5 possibilities out of 100 to get the same results by
chance.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: ANOVA

● you need a numerical variable and a categorical variable with at least 3 values

● We compare means among different groups or tests (at least 3)

○ Example: English marks in monolinguals, bilinguals and trilinguals.
■ Monolinguals: 7
■ Bilinguals: 7.5
■ Trilinguals: 8
STATISTICAL ANALYSES: CHI-SQUARE

● You need two categorical variables

● It is a statistical analysis to compare percentages.

○ Example: Is type of feedback related to gender?

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Note that when the distribution of the data is not normal, non-parametric tests are used:
Mann-Whitney U (similar to T-test for independent samples), Kruskal-Wallis (similar to
ANOVA for independent samples), Wilcoxon-rank test (similar to T-test for dependent
samples), etc.

Note that p-values will be generally provided for statistical analyses, not just for T-tests.