Case studies of individual language learners are a valuable means of illustrating issues connected with learning, using, and in some cases, losing another language. Yet, even though increasing numbers of graduate students and scholars conduct research using case studies or mix quantitative and qualitative methods, there are no dedicated applied lin

Doing Research in Applied Linguistics: Realities, dilemmas, and solutions provides insight and guidance for those undertaking research, and shows the reader how to deal with the challenges of this research involving real people in real settings. Featuring over twenty chapters by experienced and up-and-coming researchers from around the world, this book: outlines the steps involved in solving the problem and completing a successful, and publishable, project; provides case studies of obstacles faced at each stage of research, from preliminary planning to report writing; addresses issues of validity and reliability during data collection and analysis; discusses ethical issues in research dealing with vulnerable groups including children, refugees, and students; includes examples from longitudinal studies, and both qualitative and quantitative research. Doing Research in Applied Linguistics is essential reading for students studying research methods, or for those embarking on their first research project in applied linguistics or language education.

Written in a clear, informal style for graduate students and practicing teachers embarking on their first qualitative research study in applied linguistics, leading authors introduce the principal research approaches and data creation methods to offer novice researchers an easy-to-follow and straightforward guide to qualitative inquiry.

The successful collection of data is a key challenge to obtaining reliable and valid results in applied linguistics research. Data Collection Research Methods in Applied Linguistics investigates how research is conducted in the field, encompassing the challenges and obstacles applied linguists face in collecting good data. The book explores frequently used data collection techniques, including: * interviews and focus groups * observations * stimulated recall and think aloud protocols * data elicitation tasks * corpus methods * questionnaires * validated tests and measures Each chapter focuses on one type of data collection, outlining key concepts, threats to reliability and validity, procedures for good data collection, and implications for researchers. The chapters also include exemplary research projects, showcasing and explaining for readers how the technique was used to collect data in a successfully published study. This book is an essential resource for both novice and experienced applied linguists tackling data collection techniques for the first time.

A follow-up to the successful 2013 publication about OER and language teaching, this book celebrates the many ways in which language teachers and learners around the globe are embracing the concept of ‘openness’ in and beyond the language classroom. Divided into three sections (creating and using OERs, working in open spaces, and openness and teacher development), these short, practical case studies provide first-hand information on how openness can facilitate language teaching and learning. The editors hope it will inspire teachers to explore open tools, practices, and teacher development as part of their language teaching practice.

Case studies are a powerful pedagogical tool for illuminating constructs and models in real-life contexts. Covering a wide range of teaching-learning contexts and offering in-depth analyses of ESL/ELT language curriculum design issues, this casebook is distinctive and unique in that each case draws on and is clearly linked to a single model presented in Nation and Macalister’s Language Curriculum Design (www.routledge.com/9780415806060), giving the book a high degree of coherence. A short commentary by the editors after each case highlights features of note and/or issues arising from it. This is a versatile text, designed to work as a companion to Language Curriculum Design (adding meaning and depth to the model presented there by relating it to a range of applications), as a stand-alone text, or as a resource for language teacher trainees, teacher educators, practicing teachers, program administrators, and materials writers in the field.

This work aims to bring together a wide-ranging set of clinical linguistic case studies covering all levels of linguistic analysis and demonstrating the application of more than one level of linguistic analysis to individual cases. It focuses on "patient-driven" cases. The authors aim to demonstrate the collaborative nature of applied linguistics by illustrating the kind of service that speech and language therapists may reasonably ask of linguists, without feeling that they need have expertize in this area themselves. The case studies include a representative range of communication disorders and involve a wide range of areas of linguistics and phonetics. Most of the studies incoporate complementary analysis at several linguistic levels, and involve a wide variety of analytical techniques including standard assessments and profiling procedures, instrumental and computational procedures, and improvised materials tailored to the specific nature of individual cases.