A good language educator is also a researcher. I believe staying tuned to the latest educational trends and linguistic studies is vital as the language itself is ever-changing and teaching practices now evolve more often than ever before. As I am a strong advocate for lifelong learning, I am glad I was able to engage in research in applied linguistics and build the necessary skills to become a better educator. The classes in the LTS program provided an overview of vital theories and concepts necessary to conduct research and various opportunities for hands-on learning, including tasks such as writing an article critique, a research proposal, and a research brief article. I was also glad to expand my horizons and learn the basics of the R programming language used for statistical computing and data visualization in quantitative research and the Dedoose web application for qualitative research. Being able to navigate these web applications is a vital skill in academia and research in general and I am planning to continue mastering it in the future as I would like to pursue my PhD in educational linguistics/applied linguistics.
Article Critique #1 SLA (1).pdfIn my LING 544 Second Language Acquisition class, I wrote an article critique on Kosyakova et al. (2022) “The dynamics of recent refugees’ language acquisition: how do their pathways compare to those of other new immigrants?” article published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. That was my first experience of writing an article critique and it was a challenging yet fascinating task. As I am professionally interested in community ESL programs, especially in the context of displaced learners, I was glad to learn more about experiences of teaching foreign languages and also include my views on the context by utilizing the theoretical knowledge from the scientific field of Second Language Acquisition. I agree with the authors that educators should analyze the context and be better aware of who their learners are. For example, the important stage of exposure to the language, which is pre-migration exposure, is not always an opportunity that displaced persons can have in their home country due to lack of education or due to the forced nature of immigration as displaced persons “frequently have to leave their countries on short notice” (Chiswick & Miller, 2001, p. 394).
In my LING 530 Research Methods in Applied Linguistics class, I was able to develop skills in writing a research proposal. I focused on “Language Play in the L2 Classroom: To Use or Not To Use” where I first provided an overview of language play and context and moved to a review of literature. The review of pertinent literature included the works of Bell and Pomerantz (2014), Cook (1997), and Lantz-Andersson (2018) — important scholars in the field of language play. In the actual research, I would use a qualitative method and conduct an ethnographic study (Wei, 2020), as I would conduct interviews and collect responses from both learners and instructors. For research, I will make sure the procedures will follow the three main ethical principles: (1) Beneficence, (2) Justice, and (3) Respect for Persons outlined in the Belmont Report (1979). For the research, I will take an emic approach as language play in ESL classes is a context I am interested in professionally. In the research proposal, I also outlined the possible future implications for conducting research and the importance of professional development for language educators, especially language development courses for ESL instructors as their L2. Another possible implication of this study is to help students and instructors build awareness of their language play use in their L1 and L2.
Final Research Proposal_Outline.pdfWe Don't Talk About Anxiety Enough.pdfIn LT 611 Master’s Project class, Ezdahi Lopez and I worked on a research brief article titled “We Don’t Talk About Anxiety Enough: The Impact On Foreign Language Learners.” For conducting this small-scale research, Ezdahi and I adapted Horwitz et al. (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and used Google Forms to collect responses from University of Oregon students learning a foreign language. The survey was conducted anonymously to ensure the safety of our participants and eliminate potential risks. The participants were able to self-reflect on their foreign language learning experience and self-assess their anxiety levels. In the survey, we presented statements such as “I think that the other students are better at language than I am.” We used the Likert scale with options for the statements from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Study findings revealed that anxiety levels were present in learners when dealing with unprepared speech, interacting with “native” speakers, fear of making mistakes, and error correction techniques used by instructors. We also outlined a need for future research by conducting a longitudinal study and testing the correlation between anxiety and language teaching methods.
References
Bell, N., & Pomerantz, A. (2014). Reconsidering language teaching through a focus on humor. E-journALL, 1(1), 31–47. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.1.15
Chiswick, B. R., & Miller P. W. (2001). A model of destination-language acquisition: application to male immigrants in Canada, Demography, 38 (3), 391–409. doi:10.2307/3088354.
Cook, G. (1997). Language play, language learning. ELT Journal, 51(3), 224–231. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/51.3.224
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132. https://doi.org/10.2307/327317
Kosyakova, Y., Kristen, C. & Spörlein, C. (2022). The dynamics of recent refugees’ language acquisition: how do their pathways compare to those of other new immigrants?, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48:5, 989-1012, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1988845
Lantz-Andersson, A. (2018). Language play in a second language: Social media as contexts for emerging Sociopragmatic competence. Education and Information Technologies, 23(2), 705–724. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9631-0
National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html
Wei, L. (2020). J. McKinley, & H. Rose (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics. Routledge.