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Introduction to Research in Applied Linguistics

When you'll study it
Semester 1
CATS points
15
ECTS points
7.5
Level
Level 7
Module lead
William Baker
Academic year
2025-26

Module overview

In this module, we explore some key concepts and ‘ways of knowing’ which are central to taking a research perspective on language use, learning and teaching: the nature of theory, data, ‘truth’, idealisation, modelling, and falsification. We study rationales for applied linguistics and language classroom research, and a range of research approaches which have been adopted for this, including systematic observation, ethnography, teaching experiments, and action research. We consider a number of specific research techniques (e.g. interview, questionnaire design, discourse analysis). We study the structure of research papers and provide opportunities for reading and discussing the research literature.