Order Description

The aim of the assignment for is to critique a piece of published research on a current language teaching topic, assessing its importance and interest for the language teaching profession, and placing it within the wider context of other studies on the same topic.

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Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication

Module: Core issues in Language Teaching and TESOL (2014-15)

Assignment

The aim of the assignment for this module is to enable you to critique a piece of published research on a current language teaching topic, assessing its importance and interest for the language teaching profession, and placing it within the wider context of other studies on the same topic. Choose one of the following journal articles (available in e-journals) and use it as the starting point for an extended commentary on the topic.

Article (1): Tian, L. & Macaro, E. (2012) Comparing the effect of teacher code-switching with English-only explanations on the vocabulary acquisition of Chinese university students: A Lexical Focus-on-Form study Language Teaching Research 16/3, 367-391

Article (2): Ke, I-C. & Cahyani, H. (2014) Learning to become users of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): How ELF online communication affects Taiwanese learners’ beliefs of English. System, 46, 28-38.

Article (3): González-Lloret, M. & Nielson, K.B. (2014)  Evaluating TBLT: The case of a task-based Spanish program. Language Teaching Research published online 21 July 2014.

This should be done in three parts:

1) Begin with a critical commentary on the article. Do the different sections in the study make sense or are there contradictions and inconsistencies?  Are any sections missing or flawed? You can use the checklist in Brown (pp. 59-61) but you do not need to comment in detail on each individual section.

2) Then you must address the most important question, the ‘so what’ of the study. Is the study important or interesting for the language teaching profession, and, if so, in which ways? You can give examples here from your own experience and/or practice in any language teaching context(s) you are familiar with.

3) Extend the discussion by referring to at least three other research studies on similar or related topics that you have selected from the literature. The papers must have been published in international refereed journals in the last 10 years. They should provide a wider range of theoretical and methodological perspectives on the topic, perhaps presenting an opposing or different point of view. You should use these articles (and any other relevant sources studied in the module) to identify the key issues that researchers are concerned with in this area, and make your own critical assessment of their importance for the language teaching profession.

Word length: 3,500-4,000 words, not including references. The assignment must be submitted electronically (via Moodle, using the ‘Turnitin’ facility). Please refer to information on Moodle and the course handbook for more information on assignment submission and deadlines. Do not attempt to leave your assignment with the course lecturer.