LNG310 Applied Linguistics
Semester 2, 2023-2024 Academic Year
Assignment 02: Essay
Date of submission: 17:00 am, 24th May 2024
Submission method: Essay via the LM (no print copy required) and supplementary files (if any, e.g., mp3) via file transfer
Length: 2500-3000 words (excluding appendices and references)
Referencing: APA 7th
Weighting: 70% of the module grade
Produce an analysis of original data to account for your own research into the topic introduced in your presentation. The essay should include an introduction to the topic, the scholarship that informed your investigation, an outline of your methodology, your findings and a conclusion section discussing the significance of the research.
Important note:
1. Please use original data specifically collected for this project, which means you should NOT use data of which you have conducted analysis for your FYP, or data that have already been analysed in other published or unpublished works (including your own previous coursework).
2. If your project will involve human subjects (for example, conducting interviews or surveys with human subjects), you will need to obtain ethics clearance from the University before you can launch it. Please refer to the university policy on Ethics for more specifics or contact [email protected] for additional guidance and support. For this module, the module leader is going to apply for group clearance. If you believe your project requires ethics clearance, please send your study plan (including research aims, research instruments such as survey questions or interview questions, and the target research group characteristics) to the module leader before Week 7. You should also state the implications of including human subjects and what measures have been taken to ensure that adequate protections are in place.
It is recommended that you structure your essay according to the following plan:
· Title (and subtitle)
o Draft a title that sums up what the paper is about, using key words and indicating your research question/data if possible
· Introduction
o Brief background of your research topic (what gives rise to this project)
o Brief overview of what you intend to do – aims/objectives
o Set out the reasons/justification for your research
o Present the research question(s) towards the end of the section.
o Final paragraph: indicate how you have structured the paper – structure/ signposting.
· Literature review
o This section mainly explores:
– Current theoretical perspectives on the topic you have chosen (what we know).
– Previous studies that have investigated the same topic from the same perspective but have come to different conclusions (the inconsistency in results can be your research niche);
– Previous studies that have investigated the same topic from a different perspective, and you believe their findings can be enriched from a different perspective (the perspective you have chosen, and this can also be your research niche);
– Previous studies that have investigated a different topic, but their findings can inform. your research design (for example, using their findings to explain why you have decided to include a certain variable in your design).
– Whatever you use in your discussion to explain/interpret your results/findings
o How your study fits the research gap; position yourself.
o What you may expect to find (hypotheses) if appropriate
· Methodology and data collection
o Research design/strategy:
– Justify the choice of methods, explaining why alternatives were not chosen.
– If several methods, explain how they complement each other.
o Methods (interview, survey, observation, discourse analysis, etc.)
– Describe the content of the method: readers may not know it.
o Data collection
– How was the data collected?
– Argue for the criteria used to pick your sample and its size and be precise in describing it. Why this data set and not alternatives? What were the variations within the sample?
– Describe how you handled your data (transcription, coding, grouping, etc.)
– Show that the method has been used systematically, on the whole data set. If you use only a part of your total data, describe the rest of the data briefly.
– Describe the analysis step by step.
· Findings/analysis
o Your analysis needs to ‘tell a story’:
– Only report relevant findings.
– Graphs and tables only if they add to understanding.
o Write down your sub-headings (max = 4), perhaps relating to themes in the analysis, e.g. format: 4., 4.1, 4.1.1., etc.
o Make it easily readable:
– Link back to research question, theory and methods.
– Present your data systematically, e.g. quotations should be easy to identify, refer to appendices clearly, only use data or concepts which were introduced previously.
o There is no one correct way to present your analysis. Some ways could be:
– Address each of your hypotheses, research questions.
– By research method or analytical category.
– By participant (interviews).
· Discussion
o Refer back to the context (e.g., literature review), re-interpreted in the light of the data.
o Implications:
– How do your findings relate to earlier research? Do your findings change the picture and understanding of anything? How can the results be generalised to other situations?
o Shortcomings/limitations:
– Did method/data limit ability to answer research question? What data or methods could possibly have complemented it?
o Future research; possible future questions/directions if appropriate
· Conclusion: summarise key findings/answer to the research question.
· References
o Bibliography of sources cited in the essay
· Appendices (if appropriate)
o Transcripts of data cited in the essay
o Reference to information in audio format or another medium
Grading Criteria
The following set of criteria will be used to assess the essay.
Knowledge and Understanding
· Coverage of task set, particularly in planning, conducting and completing a research project with clearly-stated research questions
· Grounding in relevant concepts and literature, particularly in Applied Linguistics
Intellectual Skills
· Critical reflection and analysis, particularly regarding the design and evaluation of the research
· Well-argued conclusions, particularly in situating findings within the existing literature
· Creativity and imagination, particularly in the development and employment of field techniques
Transferrable Skills
· Appropriate exposition, particularly in the development of an independent and convincing account of the research
· Logical structure, particularly in ensuring coherence between different sections of the essay
· Quality of presentation, particularly in laying out information by means such as charts, figures, illustrations and tables in the body of the essay as well as in the appendices
By applying the above criteria to this assignment, it is possible to describe the quality of a very good essay as compared with a very poorly written essay.
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Superior essays tend to…
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Inferior essays tend to…
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Show multiple connections between the topic and existing literature.
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Present the topic as entirely unrelated to existing literature.
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Articulate the topic clearly as a specific set of related research questions.
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Pose research questions which could be matched to a variety of topics.
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Document precisely the conduct of the research to allow replication and critique.
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Record only some of the details necessary for replication or critique of the research.
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Offer in-depth analysis of data in relation to research questions and any new questions arising from the project.
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Show mere descriptions of data, or display analysis of little relevance to the research questions.
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Interpret the completed research within Applied Linguistics and highlight possible contributions.
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Evaluate the findings of the research only in relation to the project itself.
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