Summarizing how to narrow down a topic
(Booth, Colomb, & Williams, 2008)
Reflect on your topic-to-question statement:
- Topic: I wish to learn more about...
- Indirect question: because I want to find out what/why/how etc....
- Significance: (Reflect on the reader's point of view.): in order to...
First, distinguish between a practical problem and a research problem...
- Practical problem: Students are afraid to speak in class.
- Research problem: How can I provide feedback to students so that they feel more confident speaking English with their peers?
- Research solution: Provide individual feedback when requested during the task, and group feedback once the task has been completed.
- Practical solution: Avoid overcorrection or providing too much feedback to students.
The structure of a problem statement
One way to look at a problem: A problem consists of a topic + indirect question + significance
- I am studying teacher feedback [topic] because I want to find out when giving feedback allows students to feel more confident when speaking L2 with their peers [indirect question] in order to answer the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student's oral production in class [significance, purpose, or objective].
Another way to look at a problem: A problem consists of a condition and a cost or consequence.
- I am studying teacher feedback [topic] because I want to find out when giving feedback allows students to feel more confident when speaking L2 with their peers [condition] in order to answer the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student's oral production in class [cost or consequence].
- The first (indirect) question, the condition, helps answer the second (indirect) question, the cost or consequence.
Example: Knowing when to give feedback that allows students to feel more confident when speaking with their peers (question #1 or condition) addresses the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student's oral production in class (question #2 or cost/consequence).
Here are additional tips when searching for a problem to research:
- Ask teachers, students, administrators, and other experts in the field about problems they face related to teaching and learning an additional language.
- Search primary research articles for related problems to find relevant examples.
- Begin with a problem at the onset of your research, but understand that research problems may morph or emerge in different forms as one conducts a study.
Six steps to writing a literature review
-
- Select a topic. (See above.)
- Search the literature.
- Develop an argument.
- Survey the literature.
- Critique the literature.
- Write the review (Machi & McEvoy, 2016)
Situational Questions
Consider the following groups of questions when trying to narrow down your focus.
Participants
- Am I currently working (teaching)?
- Have I taught somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?
- Have I taken classes somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?
- Do I know anyone who is working somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?
- Does my research objective relate to improving the BA in English language teaching at the UAA?
- Does my research objective relate to improving extension courses at the UAA?
- Does my research objective relate to improving foreign language courses at the UAA?
- Does my research objective relate to children, adults, or both?
Data analysis
- What's my unit of analysis?
- What are my points of comparison?
- Am I doing a case study?
- Is my research design qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method?
- What kind of data am I likely to collect?
- Which best apply to my research objectives: interviews, observations, document (content) analysis, focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, stimulated recall, etc.?
Linguistic focus
The mistake many researchers make is to focus too broadly on a linguistic aspect. Be specific in your linguistic focus.
- Am I going to focus on speaking?
- Am I going to focus on writing?
- Am I going to focus on grammar teaching?
- Am I going to focus on pronunciation?
- Am I going to focus on vocabulary?
- Am I going to focus on material design? This could include adapting, reusing, repurposing, material, etc.
- Am I going to focus on information communication technologies (ICTs)?
- Am I going to focus on perceptions (opinions, beliefs, etc.) around a particular linguistic focus?
- Am I going to focus on teacher talk time versus student talk time?
- Am I going to focus on interactional patterns (social learning)?
- Am I going to focus on peer assessment?
- Am I going to focus on self-assessment?
- Am I going to focus on expert assessment? Expert assessment falls under a variety of areas: teacher feedback, expert feedback, formative/summative assessment, recasts, etc.
- Am I going to focus on learning strategies?
- Communicative strategies, writing strategies, critical thinking, etc.?
- Am I going to focus on motivation? Motivation itself is too broad of a topic, but you may begin here to narrow down a topic on the idea of motivation.
- Am I going to focus on cognitive development?
Possible topics related to the English language learning classroom
As you are narrowing down a researchable topic, consider the list below as a good place to start as one begins the process of narrowing down a researchable topic in the field of applied linguistics. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What problems or issues have I faced in the classroom or some other educational setting that relate to the learning process?
- What problems or issues have I faced in the classroom or some other educational setting that relate to the teaching process?
- What problems related to the classroom or some other educational context do researchers discuss when publishing peer-reviewed journal articles?
- Are there enough studies from the literature to support my argument?
- What are some keywords that relate to the answers to the aforementioned questions?
- Who is my intended target audience? Who would benefit the most from having read my academic text?
Possible topics...
- Grammar
- Bilingual education
- Classroom discourse
- Corpus linguistics
- Cognitive linguistics
- Discourse analysis
- Grice and Implicatures: Understanding Discourse part 1, part 2, & part 3.
- Flipped learning; flex classes, hybrid classes, etc.
- L1 use in language teaching
- L2 transfer
- Learner autonomy
- Interactive/collaborative language learning.
- Task-based learning
- Problem-based learning
- Performance-based learning
- Language learning strategies
- Language exchanges (Links to an external site.)
- English for Academic Purposes
- English for Specific Purposes
- Generative grammar
- Language and culture
- Language and Gender
- Language and Identity
- Language Emergence as a complex adaptive system
- Language learning and technology
- Language teacher education: Professional development or professional learning among (English language), in-service educators
- Professional development or professional learning among (English language), pre-service educators
- Language testing: Formative assessment in the language classroom
- Formative vs. summative assessment in the language classroom
- Dynamic assessment in the language classroom
- Language exchanges
- Task-based learning
- Problem-based learning
- Performance-based learning
- Lexis
- Linguistic Imperialism
- Multilingualism
- Phonetics and phonology
- Systemic functional linguistics
- Multimodality
- Psycholinguistics
- Sociocultural theories
- Sociolinguistics: Motivation (Be careful to not choose motivation if narrowing down the topic becomes a challenge.)
- Translation
Other helpful websites include Choosing and Refining Topics and Writing a Thesis Statement.
Next...
Once you have narrowed down a searchable topic, create a skeleton outline.
References
Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. (2008). *The craft of research* (Links to an external site.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Machi, L. & McEvoy, B. (2009). The literature review: Six steps to success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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