It’s been over two years since I graduated from my M.A. program and I’ve done very little reading other than blogs. I’ve picked up a number of books over that time fully intending to read them but never got around to it. That has all changed recently as I finished The Vocabulary of World English (this entry) and Autonomy in Language Learning which I had bought and read sections of for my M.A. but have now finally read the whole thing strait throught (this entry). Tonite I will be starting English Language Learning and Technology by Carol A. Chapelle.

The book by Chapelle is for background research on an action research project that I will be doing in conjunction with a colleague and friend. This colleague specializes in research and is published in several academic journals. He is going to help me with research design and understanding how to analyze the data. That being my weak area and one of the most difficult things I did not learn while doing my M.A. We’ve been meeting over the past few weeks discussing the study design and will be preparing the materials and background research over the winter vacation and then conduct the research in spring semester.

It feels good to be learning again and getting something productive done. I’m also looking forward to getting published assuming the research and article writing go as planned.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Nov 24, 2007 at 04:03 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | Teaching | Book_Gigilo | |

Last semester I wrote a total of 5 essays for my masters program. Today I got the first three of them back. The earliest was submitted September 10! Good turn around time there, this is the longest return time I have had yet. Anyhow I am happy to say I got good grades on the essays especially the essay comparing qualitative and quantitative methods for which I recieved a HD (High Distinction). I am now waiting for the final two essays in order to figure out my final grade for both courses.

I have additionally decided to not do the dissertation option. There were a number of reasons both personal and beaurocratic that brought me to this decision. I will now be taking two classes this next semester and completing my degree in June. I must say that I am definately looking forward to the end - I haven’t yet decided exactly which classes I will be taking but I will of course write about it here.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Dec 28, 2004 at 06:33 PM
general_linguistic_study | Dissertation | Pragmatics | Research_Methods | Teaching | |

I started writing the research proposal this morning and so far everything is going smoothly. I’ve only been working on the introduction but already I have six sources (less than one page) with a required minimum of eight. I’m pretty sure I will end up with around twelve to fifteen. I’m sure that some readers will be wondering if my research will be related to moodle or other areas of CALL since I spend a good amount of time talking about that. It won’t.

There are a couple of reasons for this, but primarily Macquarie does not offer a CALL unit. Without a CALL unit that means there is unlikely to be a supervisor available. And most of what I know comes from informal sources. I have picked up my ideas and practice without a guided approach and while I am confident that what I am doing and know is correct I do realize that there are large gaps in my knowledge that formal training would be necessary to fill. Without that formal training I do not feel ready to write about or research anything in that area.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 16, 2004 at 01:17 PM
Research_Methods | Expression_Engine | web_site | |

I have the beginnings of success. On Thursday I wrote about how my memory had failed me and that I couldn’t use the article I wanted to base my dissertation on. I have found another article that is in the same area but takng a different tack. Additionally this new article is closer to what I currently attempting to do in my classroom. So what I am hoping to achieve here is a good research proposal, followed by an excellent dissertation as well as confirming my teaching practices and improving the manner in which I am doing what I do.

I know that this is a little enigmatic, but I am not sure how much of my idea I should reveal at this time. It is still early and things may change. Additionally there may be conventions of research to which I am unaware or even university rules that I do not wish to break at this time. Once my proposal has gotten a good grade and been accepted for use in my dissertation I will post more details.

At this point I am wondering if I should write to the author to ask permission to use his work and get further advice or if I should wait until it has been approved. What do you think?

Time to get away from the computer, go for a walk and see if I can find a DVD that I want to buy.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Friday Oct 15, 2004 at 05:47 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

I decided that it was time to buckle down and start writing my research proposal for research methods, which theoretically will ultimately become my dissertation. I had remembered reading an article by Joy Reid a few years ago that I thought would be perfect for a study replication and then analysis from the perspective of a monolingual EFL class rather than from a mixed L1 ESL environment. However when I re-read the article it was not suitable, though still fascinating and probably useful for the future.

I now have to rethink my entire approach and perhaps even design original research rather than doing a study replication. Obviously this means I have a lot more work to do now than expected. I"ve just spent the last several hours searching my CD’s of TESOL Quarterly, TESOL Journal, & ELT Journal for articles on learning styles & strategies. Obviously including both styles and strategies is far to broad and difficult of a topic for one graduate student to undertake, so I will have to narrow it down. I am leaning towards style awareness as I personally find that more interesting. However if I can find a study to replicate that focuses on strategies I will use that instead.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Oct 14, 2004 at 07:38 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

Well I have finished essay two of three for Research Methods, two weeks early. Now I really need to catch up on my pragmatics reading and start focusing on the research proposal fcr the third essay. Fortuneatly there is a five day weekend right now and I have ample time to get reading done. I’ll be heading off to Starbucks yet again to read and drink coffee.

On a pragmatics note I was watching CNN this morning and they had a story about MIT"s Open Course Ware which I had written about earlier but had forgotten. Anyhow I spent some time looking around and found several bibliographys and links to pdf documents. The pdf’s are often not active links but if you paste them into the address bar they work. Hope someone finds this useful.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Sep 26, 2004 at 01:17 PM
general_linguistic_study | Pragmatics | Research_Methods | web_site | |

While reading for the latest research methods essay I found to concepts to be very similar: the Hawthorne Effect and the Observers Paradox. The Hawthorne Effect is when subjects are “so pleased at being included in a study that the results of the investigation are more closely related to this pleasure than to anything that actually occurs in the research.”¹ Now clearly this is not the same as the Observers Paradox, which is the fact that being observed or recorded changes the behavior of the subjects.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Sep 21, 2004 at 11:00 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

I’ve started reading for essay two of three which is due on October 15. The first research methods essay was brutally difficult to write and incredibly dull as it dealt primarily with statistics and which test to choose based on the research design and variables involved. Yawn This essay, however, does not appear to be as difficult nor as boring. (that doesn’t mean it isn’t boring!).

I spent about 2 hours at starbucks, before church yesterday, reading the some of the required articles and then again for about 4 hours this morning. Amazingly I only needed two coffees to get through it and didn’t fall asleep even once. 

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Sep 14, 2004 at 04:03 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

Below is the first question for Research Methods. As you can see it is rather detailed and in depth. Considering the trouble I am having with the readings I certainly have my work cut out for me.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Aug 9, 2004 at 11:45 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

Research Methods must be the most difficult, confusing and boring class I have ever taken. I can not seem to wrap my head around the differences of the various statistical methods or why one is superior to another depending on the different variables. Fortunately I do not actually have to do the math, but only explain why I would choose a particular method based on a type of research given. The first essay question also requres us to critique a reserch proposal and explain what statistical method is best and why. Ouch… And I really need to get writing this soon.

The problem is that everyime I open the book I fall asleep. I will drink two pots of coffee but still fall asleep in the middle of the second part. That is how exciting and interesting the material is. It doesn’t matter how much sleep I’ve had, I fall asleep in seconds.

So the material is difficult, confusing and boring - what am I going to do to actually finish the reading. I have no idea…

Now playing Land of Confusion by Genesis

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Aug 9, 2004 at 09:05 PM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

The final assignment for Research Methods is a, surprise, research proposal. We can use this research proposal for the dissertation option as well. I will be taking advantage of this opportunity since it will allow me to get work done during the next vacation in advance of actually starting the research. All this of course supposes that I end up with a proposal that is accepted.

In the course notes one of the first ideas suggested is to keep a research journal. A quote included in the notes provides some useful advice:

...each time you think of a question for which there seems to be no ready answer, write the question down. Someone may write or talk about somthing that is fascinationg, and you wonder if the same results would obtain with your students, or with bilinguial children, or with a different denre of text. Write this in your journal… ...Of course, not all of these ideas will evolve nto research topics. Like a writer’s notebook, these its and peices of research ideas will reformulate themselves almost like magic.
Hatch and Lazaraton, 1991:11-12

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jul 19, 2004 at 10:02 AM
general_linguistic_study | Research_Methods | |

On Friday I recieved the material for the next two course that I am taking, LING 904 Pragmatics and LING 905 Research Methods. The essay questions look to be difficult but interesting.

Fortunately for me, I recieved the material two weeks before the semester officially starts so I can get a headstart and hopefully do well. Research methods is using Introduction to Research Methods 4^th by Robert B. Burns as the set text plus a large selection of articles and books sections. Pragmatics, however, does not have a set text but relies entirely on a broad selection of articles and book sections. I will probably purchase a text sometime next week.  Recommendations from readers will be greatly appreciated.

---

Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Jul 18, 2004 at 03:29 PM
general_linguistic_study | Pragmatics | Research_Methods | |