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The Cambridge Introduction to Applied Linguistics

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25 I 1

Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics LYNN SANTELMANN

Having been introduced to a range of work in applied linguistics, and having worked through some activities that asked you to analyze language-related infor- mation, you are ready to begin exploring your own interests within the field of applied linguistics. Exploring your own interests requires a solid knowledge base of the research in your chosen area and the ability to communicate knowledge to others. In order to gain this knowledge and learn to communicate with others in the field, you need to learn the discipline-specific reading and writing skills used in applied linguistics. While acquiring these skills may seem daunting at first, under- standing why applied linguists write the way they do can help you read research articles more strategically and produce research papers that meet the expectations and needs of readers in applied linguistics. This chapter focuses on the structure of empirical research papers and gives tips for both reading and writing these kinds of papers in the field.

To start, it's useful to make sure you understand two terms central to this chapter. First is the term "empirical." Empirical is used to refer to work that is based on observations, investigations, or some other sort of data collection, rather than being based entirely on theory. In applied linguistics, the data might come from an experiment, where conditions are manipulated, but they might also be naturalistic, where data is collected from naturally occurring conditions. In other words, empir- ical is different from experimental. The second term that is central for this chapter is "primary literature," a general term for any texts that report original research, the most typical of which are research articles in journals. Primary literature stands in contrast to secondary literature, which summarizes and provides commentary on research that has already been published, as is typical in textbooks.

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How to Read Primary Literature

Students who are reading primary literature often struggle to make sense of what they are reading. Students who can successfully read textbooks can still be flum- moxed by the demands of reading research and professional articles. They fmd that

368 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

reading primary literature takes far longer than reading textbooks and often come away feeling as if they have understood only part of what they have read. Many of our students have confessed to giving up in frustration after trying to read assigned research articles. Furthermore, because they find reading these articles so difficult, they wonder how they could ever discuss or evaluate them. Why do many students fmd research and professional literature so difficult to read and discuss? How can students tackle the challenge of reading research articles? This section will first discuss the reasons students fmd primary literature challenging, namely, audience, motivation, structure, and text style. Then it will give some tips and strategies for first reading and then evaluating articles in the field.

Why is Reading Primary Literature Difficult? Audience and Motivation The first difficulty that primary literature presents to students is audience; it is not written for newcomers to the field. The target audience, other scholars in the field, is expected to begin reading with some background knowledge in the field. Thus, research articles often do not defme terms or provide background accessible to the novice reader. For example, a recent article on how bilinguals represent words, Wu and Juffs (2019), names four models of bilingual word representation in its first paragraph without any explanation of any of them. A beginner in the field may be no wiser after reading that first paragraph than they were before.

The target audience is also usually more well versed in the motivation or reasoning behind research articles than students are. Students are used to reading textbooks which provide factual information about major concepts and dearly spell out debates or issues. Research articles, on the other hand, usually start with a literature review that is perhaps best seen as persuasive writing intended to demon- strate how an author's work fits in with the context of previous work and to build an argument for the study. Thus, an individual article is a single move in a massively asynchronous discussion among experts in the field. For example, the Wu and Juffs (20 I 9) article starts by reminding other scholars of the major theories and issues in the area of bilingual word representation by referring to them by name. Someone versed in this area needs only to be reminded of the Revised Hierarchical Model or the Bilingual Interactive model to be up to speed in the conversation. If all the models were fully explained, the article would require a lengthy introduction which would make it harder to see the purpose of the paper. Introducing topics through references to previous work orients experienced readers and helps them home in on the important new information presented in the study. For students, reading a research article in a new area is like entering into the middle of the conversation. Having joined the conversation late, it's unrealistic to expect the other participants to stop everything and get you up to speed. Instead, student readers will need to work hard to understand parts of the conversation that came before.

How to Read Prim ary Literature 369

Text and Sentence Structure Another reason why research articles are difficult for novice readers is the structure of the text itself. Both the overall structure of the article and the structure of individual paragraphs and sentences may be difficult for students. In terms of overall structure, many empirical research articles follow the structure of Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (IMRD) as outlined in Figure 25.1. However, applied linguistics is a field with considerable variation in the structure of research articles. Some work clearly follows the IMRD structure while other work, particularly ethnographies and case studies, may take a more narrative approach with a different structure. Thus, it is crucial to examine articles before reading them to get a sense of the overall structure. Even if articles do not follow the traditional IMRD structure, most articles will have a general-to-specific- to-general structure that begins with general issues, moves to the specific issue or study, and then moves back to address general issues in the conclusion. This structure also helps experienced readers fmd key information quickly. If someone wants to fmd the purpose or research questions of a study, for example, an experi- enced reader will turn to the section just before the Methods, as that is the most common place this information is presented.

Along with the discourse structure of research articles, students must also become accustomed to a different style of text. Academic writing tends to be more formal than other genres. It rarely contains contractions, it uses subordination more than coordination, and contains more technical, discipline-specific vocabulary. Even though most applied linguistics editors accept the first person pronoun (I, we), most primary literature never uses the second person pronoun you. In addition, primary literature avoids reference to personal mental processes (I think, I believe), and vague or unspecific terms (sort of, things).

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Figure 25.1 Structure of research articles (adapted from Hill, Soppelsa, & West, 1982)

370 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

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Sentence and information structure in academic writing is also a challenge to many students. Fang (2004) notes that academic articles contain more content words per sentence than non-academic texts along with technical, discipline- specific vocabulary. Academic writers also use more extended noun phrases such as in the following example from Jeffrey Reaser in Chapter 12. Here he produces a twenty-five-word noun phrase beginning with "effects":

To put it more generally, applied linguistics in educational contexts seeks to examine [effects of variation in all levels of language across all language modalities both within a language (dialects, registers, etc.) and between and among different languages].

This noun phrase contains six prepositional phrases and ten nouns. While this sentence is relatively easy to comprehend, the number of prepositional phrases and density of noun phrases makes it more difficult than spoken language or narrative fiction. Why not just simplify the language, though? One reason is that academic language requires specificity in order to make the ideas clear. If the author had just referred to variation, the reader might assume that it meant just pronunci- ation, rather than the author's intended meaning of variation in syntax, vocabulary, pronunciation in speaking and writing. To make sure that the participants in this asynchronous conversation are discussing the same issues in the same way, these specific, extended noun phrases are essential.

In addition to density, academic texts also have a tendency for abstraction or nominalization, turning words that could be expressed by verbs or adjectives into nouns. An example of this can be seen in Chapter 18 where John Hellermann and Steve Thorne write "In this sense, the presumed 'thing' of language is perhaps better described as an action - 'languaging' (Becker, 1984)." In other words, they argue that language should be used as a verb, as in We are languaging rather than We speak a language. However, later they need to turn languaging into a noun to discuss it as a concept: "The communicative action of languaging as well as processes of cognition and second language development, are situated in ... ". Making this verb into a noun also allows writers to condense information into relatively few words. Finally, nominalizing languaging here makes the text flow better, because the sentence then has two coordinated noun phrases with parallel structures: "The communicative action of languaging" and "processes of cognition and second language development." The preponderance of abstract nouns in aca- demic writing serves a purpose, but it makes the text more difficult for newcomers to the field.

Strategies for Reading Research Articles Given the number of reasons that reading research articles is difficult for students (audience, text organization, text structure, abstract vocabulary), what can students

How to Read Prim ary Literature 371

do? The following strategies, gleaned from expert readers and findings in cognitive psychology, may help you get through reading the literature.

Recognize the Structure Begin your reading by looking at the structure of the article. Read the abstract, which gives a summary of the major parts of the article, and then look at the main section headings. Does the article use the classic research article structure of Introduction-Methods-Results-Discussion (IMRD}, or does it have a different structure? Knowing this will help you locate crucial information. Remember that most articles use the general-to-specific-to-general structure. If you are getting lost in details, go to the introduction or conclusion to get a sense of the big picture to guide you through the details.

Read Actively Read actively, not passively: ask yourself questions about the text and look for answers. Posing questions and seeking answers helps you better understand the text, helps you retain more information, and keeps you from getting overwhelmed with new information. Table 25.1 gives some sample questions to guide you through each section.

Read Selectively, not Sequentially Expert readers read selectively, not sequen- tially. They do not start with the introduction and plow through without pause to the conclusion. Follow their lead: search out the information you need. Start with the abstract and section headings to give you an overview, continue with the major arguments or reason for the research article (including the research questions, if any}, and then the sections that make the most sense for your needs. Do not plunge into careful reading from the first word. Skim first, then read for detail.

Figure 25.2 gives an example of how one expert reader tackled an article. Your takeaway from Figure 25.2 is not that you should follow this path, but that non- sequential reading based on your goals and motivation for reading the article is encouraged. The reader in Figure 25.2 was familiar with the topic, background, and method of the article. She was most interested in the major findings. For this reason, the reader started with the abstract, then went to the research questions ( 1), skipped to the figures and tables in the results (2), and then went on to the discussion and conclusion (3) to understand the major findings and implications. The second reading of the paper moved from the discussion back to the results (4) to see how the two were related. The reader then looked briefly at the methods (5) to check to see if the authors made any changes to this well-known method, and then moved back to the research questions (6) to see how the methods addressed the research questions. The third pass then went from the research questions to a detailed reading of the discussion (7) to see how the research questions were answered, and then went back to the literature review (8) to relate the discussion to the literature review. The reader fmally con- cluded with re-reading the discussion (9) for the major implications.

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372 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

Figure 25.2 Example reading pattern of one expert reader when reading a research article when she was primarily interested in the results

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It is important to emphasize that there is not one path through an article. Your path should be determined by your purpose in reading. A reader who is interested in the methods used to address a question may start with the research questions and move directly into a careful reading of the methods, then continue on to see what results those methods produced. Another reader might be most interested in how the researchers got to their research question and begin with a detailed reading of the introduction and literature review, and then move into the methods to see how the authors went about addressing the research question. The path you take will depend on your current knowledge in that particular area and your purpose in reading.

Budget Enough Time You may have noticed that while reading a paper non- sequentially, the reader's process described in Figure 25.2 also required more than one reading. Reading research articles takes more time than reading general non- fiction or even textbooks. The text is dense, it contains more information, and it must be processed. Novice readers of research often fail to budget enough time and then get frustrated because they cannot understand the text quickly. No one, not even seasoned scholars with years of experience reading research, can understand everything on the first read-through. One difference between experts and novices is that experts have given up the expectation that they will understand everything the first time.

Read Reading is one of those skills that truly does get better with practice. Read research articles when they are assigned or when you're interested in the topic. Reading research articles will improve your understanding of academic work, even

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How to Read Primary Literature 373

if you fmd the articles difficult. In addition, reading academic articles will improve your writing because you will gain an implicit understanding of the structure, syntax, and vocabulary of the field.

In addition, read for pleasure outside of academic reading. The best thing for increasing reading speed and improving vocabulary is reading things that are new to you. The good news is that you don't have to read James Joyce's Ulysses or Tolstoy's War and Peace to get the benefits from reading. For example, I recently read a delightful mystery series set in India by British writer Vasneem Khan. These mysteries, featuring Inspector Chopra and his elephant side-kick, are interesting, funny, and easy to read. They also contain low-frequency words such as vulpine and inscrutable that will improve your vocabulary as well as numerous words from Indian English such as tiffin, dhoti, haveli, and kurta. Adding vocabulary and practicing reading need not be a chore.

Evaluate Articles Finally, when reading research articles, you may be asked to discuss or critique the article. Many students' first response when being given this task runs something like this "I'm a beginner in this field. How can I possibly have anything useful to say about something an experienced scholar wrote?!" Don't panic. Though the task may seem daunting, you can use skills you already have and your growing knowledge of the field to make your evaluation. Evaluation is a crucial skill for any information you want to use, regardless of the source. Because the internet and social media have made information (and disinformation) easy to spread and nearly instantaneous to access, everyone needs to be able to evaluate what they read. This holds true whether you are reading opinion pieces on the internet or rigorously reviewed academic articles.

Evaluating an article does require you to read the article thoroughly, more than once. Concerns or questions you have upon first reading may be resolved after you've taken time to understand an article more thoroughly. As a reader, it's important to try to understand why researchers made certain choices or how they supported certain claims before leveling criticisms. At the same time, a second or third reading may reveal flaws or concerns that you didn't notice in your first read- through. While many newcomers to a field are hesitant to raise any critique, if something isn't clear after careful study, that is a problem with the paper. Some- times newer scholars bring fresh perspectives to the field that more senior scholars need to hear.

Table 25.1 presents some of the questions to ask when reading a research article. These questions are divided into information and evaluation. The information questions will help you understand the details of the article and will provide the evidence that you will need to evaluate the article. The evaluation questions will help you create a reasonable, evidence-based assessment of the article.

I

374 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

Table 25.1 Questions to ask for understanding and evaluating research articles

Information Questions Evaluation Questions

Introduction and Literature Review • Where is the article published? ls the

journal peer reviewed, meaning that other researchers have reviewed and commented on it before it was published?

• What is the author's purpose in writing the article?

• What research gap is being addressed or what research tradition is being extended in this article?

• Who is the target audience for the article and what would they hope to get out of it?

• What is the date of the article? • Who does the author cite for setting up

their argument? • What are the research questions or what is

the statement of purpose? • Does the author state which theories they

are working with or what frameworks inform their research? What are they?

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Met/rods • Who or what is the author studying? • How is the study set up? What did the

participants do? • How were the data collected? What

materials or instruments did the author use? Where can you find them?

• How are the data analyzed?

Results • What are the major results? • What information is in the tables and

figures? Can you interpret those tables or figures?

Introduction and Literature Review • Does the author introduce sufficient

background information from previous research so that their target audience can understand the purpose of the article and the reason for the research questions?

• Is the article current or out of date? If it's over a decade old, is it a "classic" or have the findings been superseded by subsequent research?

• Do the references back up the author's claims?

• Are there references to different authors or does one author/set of authors predominate? If one author predominates, is this because the author is using a particular theory or because few other people have researched this area?

• Does the author make a clear argument for why this research is important and why the reader should care?

Methods • Does the article present sufficient detail so

that you could replicate the study if you chose to?

• Is the population or are the texts that the author is studying appropriate to the research questions? ls there any bias to who/what is being studied?

• Is the analysis that the author uses appropriate for the kind of data they collected?

• Does the article present enough information about the data analysis that someone could undertake a similar analysis?

Results • Does the author present the Findings

clearly and in an orderly fashion? • Do the authors provide evidence for the

claims they make in the results? • Are the tables and figures clear? Easy to

understand?

Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics 375

Table 25.1 (cont.)

Information Questions Evaluation Questions

Discussion and Conclusion • What are the major claims of the article? • How do the findings address the research

question(s) or purpose of the article? • What is the significance of the claims? • What limitations does the author note, if

any? • How do the findings link to the previous

research introduced in the introduction?

• Are tables/figures missing any major parts (are the axes on charts clearly labeled, for example)? Do the numbers in the table make sense and add up?

• Are the tables and figures relevant to the topic at hand?

• Are the interpretations of the results reasonable based on the information presented? Can you think of other reasonable interpretations?

Discussion and Co11clusio11 • How does the work contribute to

understanding? • Is the paper convincing? • Does the author adequately address or

acknowledge any limitations or flaws? • Does the author address other potential

interpretations or counter-arguments? • Do the results support or other contradict

articles and does the paper discuss this? • Does the discussion overgeneralize

(extending the findings to contexts that were not part of the study or could not be reasonably inferred from the study)?

• Does the article have a subjective or objective tone? Is that tone appropriate for this type of article?

• What contributions does the paper make, despite any flaws it might have?

Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics

This section will focus on one type of writing that often is difficult for students starting out in the field: writing research papers using empirical data. Many students find this challenging because they have not had to write papers using data before. In addition, data in the field can vary from quantitative, experimental studies to descriptive, qualitative ethnographic studies. Furthermore, because the field is diverse and interdisciplinary, the structure of published articles can vary both within and across journals (e.g., Yang Et Allison, 2004). Despite this variation, we can give

376 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

some general tips for writing and some generalizations about structures for empir- ical research articles. This section will first discuss general tips and then move on to generalizations about structures.

General tips for writing One important skill in becoming proficient at writing in any field is understanding the discourse structure of the genre that you are learning. This is one reason why reading research articles in the field is so important if you want to write research. Reading in the field helps you develop an implicit understanding of the flow of information, the vocabulary, the tone of the text, and the types of sentence structures used. In addition, an explicit understanding of the genre can be helpful. The next section will discuss key features of empirical papers in applied linguistics to help you develop an explicit understanding of the expectations of the field.

One important aspect of skilled writing is determining your audience so you can write with your audience in mind. If you do not understand your audience, you are likely to provide too little (or too much) information. Many students who are writing for courses assume, quite logically, that their instructor is their audience and thus write with the classroom context in mind. However, that assumption often leads students to omit crucial information or to misunderstand the writing task. When students write for a classroom context, they tend to write with the shared, oral context of the course in mind. In a classroom discussion, students don't need to define terms or make shared information obvious. Instructors, however, are reading from a professional context. They are looking for students to explicitly use information covered in class or the readings and to make clear connections between ideas in their writing.

Assuming a shared, discussion-like context in writing can be dangerous, and an analogy might make these dangers clear. When you're in the kitchen getting ready to drain noodles, if you have someone standing next to you, you can say "Get me that thing," waving a hand in the general direction of the object you need. If, however, the person who is helping you isn't in the kitchen, you'd need to say, "Please come get the colander down from the top shelf for me." Writing should always be approached as if your reader is not in the kitchen with you. As a writer, you need to make explicit information that could be assumed in spoken language or due to shared context.

How then, do you determine how much information to give your reader if you don't assume a shared context? A good rule of thumb is to assume that you are writing for an intelligent peer who is not in the metaphorical kitchen with you. You could assume that an intelligent peer understands some of the basics of cooking. Thus, you wouldn't have to explain what noodles are, where the kitchen is, or why a colander is needed. But even an intelligent peer with some information needs more than "Get me that thing" if they don't know the context. Imagining an intelligent peer who shares the basics but not the details of your context will usually help you provide enough context to satisfy instructors and later, if you go on to further

,- Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics 377

education, enough context for thesis advisors or journal editors. Your peers may change over time, but the concept still holds.

How do you know if you've provided enough context? The only way to fmd out is to get feedback from readers and to take the feedback you get seriously. Getting feedback is uncomfortable because it is face-threatening, that is, it raises the possi- bility that your work is not liked. Writers of all levels of experience can feel defensive when receiving feedback. However, if you can view feedback as an opportunity to make your ideas and your writing stronger, you will become a better writer.

The necessity of feedback raises another important factor in writing: Write multiple drafts. No one produces great drafts the first time around. Teachers, advisors, and journal editors can usually sniff out a first draft after a few para- graphs. Instructors may let a first draft pass (though without a top mark), but thesis advisors and journal editors won't be so kind. The first draft helps the author get the ideas out and think about the topic. As a result, it's what's called writer-based prose - written to meet the needs of the writer (Flower, 1993; Flower 8: Hayes, 1981). But if you stop there, your audience may never understand those ideas. The second (and subsequent) drafts should be undertaken to make the text reader-based prose - text that makes sense to a reader (Flower, 1993). Writers achieve reader- friendly text by providing examples, making connections between ideas explicit, providing transitions between paragraphs and sections, and taking out extraneous information. Surface features such as spelling, punctuation, and formatting should be edited only after several drafts with content and organization revisions. While writing multiple drafts is important, it's also important not to agonize over your writing forever. The perfect paper or journal article has never been written, nor will it ever be. There's always room for improvement even after several drafts. At some point in time, you need to submit it with all its imperfections. Even major scholars in the field need to revise their papers after they have submitted them for publication. Sometimes the best paper is indeed a fmished paper.

Writing each section of an empirical paper In addition to using general tips for writing, applying an explicit understanding of the structure of empirical papers will help improve your writing. The IMRD structure of most empirical papers in the field has already been covered in the previous section on how to read in the field. This is the basic structure we recommend for writing empirical papers in the field, although your instructors may guide you in some adaptations of this structure, depending on the approach and methods of your study. IMRD is a well-known structure that can apply to multiple disciplines and it can be easily adjusted to fit the needs of many kinds of papers. Within each section of the research paper, there are usually expected discourse moves and sentence structures. A good general resource for writing empirical research papers is Swales and Feak's (2012) textbook Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Although aimed at second language speakers of English entering graduate school, it provides

378 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

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a readable description of academic writing suitable for many students. Another useful resource is Morley's (2018) Academic Phrasebank. This website provides typical phrases and sentence frames used in academic writing. These phrases have been drawn from a corpus of academic content, and can be explored either by sections of a research paper (e.g., introduction, describing methods, discussing findings] or by general language functions (e.g., being critical, comparing and contrasting, describing trends). The phrases provide a model for framing your ideas while remaining short and general enough that you cannot be accused of plagiarism.

A considerable number of articles have focused on the structure of empirical research papers after the pioneering work of Swales ( 1990). As you may recall from Chapter 9, Swales conducted a genre analysis of academic writing. Swales's original study focused mainly on introductions, and introductions remain perhaps the best- studied section of research papers. Work on methods, results, and discussion sections has been added by others, allowing us to present an overview of the rhetorical structure of each of the sections of an empirical research paper (e.g., Amnuai ft: Wannaruk, 2013; Peacock, 2011; Swales, 1990; Wannaruk ft: Amnuai, 2016; Yang ft: Allison, 2003). The structure of each section is discussed briefly below.

While these sections are presented in the order they appear in the fmal paper, it's important for students to know that papers are rarely written in this order. For example, the introduction is often the last section of a paper to be fmalized. Most research begins with a purpose and research questions, and scholars work both backward and forward from there. Note too that many research projects in applied linguistics are driven by a purpose and research questions and not hypotheses. It is not necessary to have a hypothesis to test to have a purpose for research as you saw from the many examples in Part B of this textbook. Working backward from a purpose requires the researchers to fmd previous literature to establish the import- ance of the issue, as well as appropriate methods for investigating it. Working forward leads the researchers to refme their purpose, operationalize their research questions, and think carefully about what exactly they are investigating. Often, exploring previous research or trying to operationalize a question leads to refine- ment/reworking of the question itself. Refmement of the question will then require additional background or tweaks in the methodology. Even after data are collected, the earlier parts of the paper are often revised. Researchers may have findings that require them to address new issues in the introduction or they may uncover new implications in the discussion that require additional background earlier in the paper. They may realize that they altered the methodology slightly from what they had originally proposed and need to clarify what they did. Writing and revising is an iterative process, and revisions in one section often have cascading effects on other sections. Don't despair when this happens. It's a normal part of the process.

Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics 379

Introduction Introductions are often the most difficult section for students to write because the task seems intimidating: introduce the topic, why it is important, and what's already known about it. The last requirement can sometimes send students diving into the pool of previous research to fmd everything that's ever been written on the subject. When students try to do this, they quickly drown in previous literature. Alternatively, students are afraid to move on from the introduc- tion because they fear they may have missed a study on the topic. However, introductions do not require an author to report everything that has been previously published about a topic. Instead, the purpose is to build an argument as to why the research topic is needed or interesting.

Overall, the introduction should move from general to specific, either making the case for the research to be undertaken or explaining the task the student has been assigned. Swales's (1990) well-known schema for research paper introductions determined that introductions consist of several predictable discourse moves that present the context and past literature; show gaps, or the necessity for current research; and describe how the paper will address those gaps. Swales called these moves: Create a Research Space (CARS). The major discourse moves of the CARS model, as introduced by Swales and Feak (2012) are:

Move 1: Establishing a research territory Move 2: Establishing a niche Move 3: Occupying the niche

The first move introduces the topic and often explains why it is important, interesting, or problematic. The obligatory part of the first move reviews previous work in the research territory. Move 2 can establish the niche by indicating a gap in the literature, raising a question, or extending previous knowledge. Finally, Move 3 outlines the purpose or states the nature of the present research, explaining how it is addressing the niche. Move 3 may also optionally outline a research hypothesis, announce major findings, state the value of the research, or give an overview of the structure. The use of these optional moves depends on the field. Applied linguistics papers rarely announce major findings in the introduction, for example, but often state the value or give an overview.

The language used in these moves is generally in the active voice - for example, Several studies have investigated - and in simple present or present perfect tense - for example, Data from several studies suggest... or This paper compares ... (Swales, 1990). These tendencies can be seen in typical phrases from the Academic Phrasebank (Morley, 2018) in Table 25.2.

Methods Student writers should know that methods sections in published articles often present less detail than is ideal. Published articles are subject to length restrictions and methods sections are one place where writers rely on their audience

380 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

Table 25.2 Discourse moves in introductions in applied linguistics articles with sample phrases.

Move Sample phrases from Morley (2018), adapted for applied linguistics contexts.

Establishing a Motivation is a major area of interest within the field of second language ...

To date there has been little agreement on how to define bilingualism ...

While Krashen (1985) focuses on input, Swain (1985) is more concerned with output. ..

To date, numerous studies have investigated the use ofmodals in legal writing ...

Establishing a niche Previous studies of college language teaching have not dealt with the impact of ADA accommodations on ...

Few studies have investigated the use of augmentative communication devices outside school settings .

Presenting the This paper explores how second language writers . present work This paper compares the different ways in which language policy

affects ...

territory

The specific objective of this study was to demonstrate how language, art, and identity intersect. ..

to fill in details from a shared background. Thus, commonly used methods or procedures such as survey design or data analysis are frequently reduced to a sentence or two. This reduction often leaves little detail to fully replicate the study. Students, on the other hand, should aim for enough detail in their methods that someone reading the paper should be able to faithfully replicate the study.

According to data from Peacock (2011), methods in language and linguistics articles have two obligatory moves and several optional moves, which arc shown in Table 25.3. Obligatory moves arc moves that arc found in all articles, while optional moves (shown in italics) arc used if they fit the needs or the purpose of the study. The obligatory move Subjects/Materials describes the participants in a study or the materials (literature, corpus) used in the analysis. Procedures, as the name suggests, describes in detail how the data were collected. Data Analysis is a very frequent third move and describes how the data were analyzed, including any coding deci- sions. Context/Location, describing the physical context of the research, is another frequent move in this field. Other, less frequent moves that can be placed before, after, or between these moves arc: Overview, Research Questions/Aims, and Limitations.

Methods sections arc generally written in the past tense, and this is the section of the paper where the most passive voice is found, e.g., Ouatitative and quantitative

Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics 381

Table 25.3 Summary of discourse moves in methods sections in applied linguistics articles with sample phrases. Moves in italics are optional; moves in regular type are obligatory.

Move Sample phrases from Morley (2018), adapted for applied linguistics contexts

Overview This study was exploratory and interpretative in nature. Qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted to

provide ... This paper uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to

investigate ... A quantitative approach was employed to examine processing

speed for ... Research Aims/ This paper discusses how developmental language disorders ...

Questions/Hypotheses Two primary aims of this study were to document how literacy and technology ...

Subjects/Materials Forty-seven students studying English at the university level were recruited for this study.

Two groups of subjects were interviewed, students who had studied abroad and those who had not. ..

Context/Location

Research Instruments

Procedure

Data Analysis

Primary inclusion criteria for the participants were exposure to a second language after the age of ten ...

Five students were excluded from the study for failure to follow directions ...

We recruited participants from 15 programs across ... covering urban and rural areas ...

137 participants from an intcnncdiatc level class were recruited ...

There are a number of instruments a,milablc for measuring motivation ...

Standardized tests (e.q., TOEFL) and self-report arc currently the most popular measures for ascertaining language lcuc! ...

The design of the questionnaires was based 011 ... The questionnaire was designed to measure the fol/0111i11g . To measure frequency of language use, a question asking was

used. For questions on attitudes about dialects, a Likert scale was used. We gathered data from multiple sources at three points during

the term ... After training, participants were told that. .. The data were recorded on a digital audio recorder and

transcribed using a ... Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version

20). Themes were identified using grounded theory ... Transcripts were coded for ...

382 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

research designs were adopted ... or Forty-seven individuals were recruited ... How- ever, when active voice is used, the use of the first person pronoun (I/we) has become increasingly well accepted in research articles in recent years, especially in social science research - for example, We interviewed fifteen participants after the lessons ... Further sample sentence frames and phrases for each of these moves are given in Table 25.3.

Results Results sections present the results. In terms of content, results sections sometimes contain just a description of the results and sometimes contain a com- bination of results and discussion. Quantitative studies tend to separate the two; qualitative studies often include discussion and interpretation along with a presen- tation of the results. Table 25.4 presents the major moves in results sections according to Yang and Allison (2003), who analyzed results and discussions sections of journal articles in applied linguistics. Reporting Results is the most common and the only obligatory move in these sections. Reporting Results presents the evidence, with appropriate statistical or qualitative examples for support. Often these results are accompanied by a summary device such as a table or figure to illustrate the results. Whenever possible, this summary device should be placed after the description of the important information. Always tell your reader what to look

Table 25.4 Summary of discourse moves in results sections in applied linguistics articles with sample phrases. Moves in italics are optional; moves in regular type are obligatory

Move Sample phrases from Morley (2018), adapted for applied linguistics contexts

Preparatory Information

Reporting Results

Commenting on Results

Summarizing Results

The first set of questions aimed to . The purpose of Experiment 3 was to . Strong evidence of the influence of anxiety was found when ... The difference between the study abroad and stay-at-home groups was/

was not significant. The themes identified in these responses are presented in Table I. .. As shown in Figure I ... The differences between language use at home and school are

highlighted in Table 4. From the chart, it can be seen that by far the greatest demand is for ... One participant commented:' .. .' Surprisingly, only a minority of respondents ... The correlation between time spent gaming and language proficiency is

interesting because ... In summary, these results show that ... Together these results provide important insights into ...

Writing about Data in the Field of Applied Linguistics 383

for when examining a table or a figure so they know what important information is contained there.

The other three moves in this section are optional. Preparatory Information is sometimes used to set up the structure for Reporting Results. Commenting on Results indicates the significance of the results. This commenting can be accom- plished in several ways: interpreting the results, comparing the results with the literature, or accounting for the results. The other two moves provide a transition into or out of the results section. One note on Commenting on Results: comparing the results with the literature is more common in papers that combine Results and Discussion sections. Papers that separate the two sections are more likely to inter- pret results in the Results section and save the comparison to the literature for the Discussion section. Summarizing the Results is just that: a summary.

Results sections are almost exclusively written in simple past tense, as they are describing a specific study that has ended - for example, Three themes were identified from the interviews ... Additionally, they tend to use the active voice more than passive voice, though both are found - for example, Figure 1 demonstrates ... or Strong evidence was found ... Sample sentence frames and phrases for reporting results, commenting on results, and evaluating results are given in Table 25.4.

Discussion The discussion section is perhaps the second-most difficult section for students to write, often because they are not sure what exactly is supposed to go into this section. Discussion sections move from specific to general and should, after discussing the importance of the results, link up to the themes and ideas raised in the introduction. Furthermore, they are a place where the author is free to give their own opinion, as long as it can be supported by the data.

The major discourse moves in the discussion section overlap to some extent with the results section (Yang Et Allison, 2003). These moves are given in Table 25.5, with optional moves in italics. The only obligatory move found in all articles is Com- menting on Results. This commentary could include interpreting results, comparing results with the literature, accounting for results (especially with unexpected find- ings), and evaluating results. The large number of other optional discourse moves shows that discussion sections are rather variable in their structure. These optional discourse moves are: Background Information, which are usually statements related to research questions or aims of the study, or theoretical background; Reporting or Summarizing the Results, which usually sets the stage for the commentary; Evaluating the Study, which includes stating the value and acknowledging the limitations of the study and its methodology; and Deductions from the Research, which usually consists of making recommendations either for pedagogy or for future research.

Discussion sections, like introductions, contain both simple present and simple past, and mostly active sentences - for example, The current study found ... , These

384 Reading and Writing Empirical Papers in Applied Linguistics

Table 25.5 Summary of discourse moves in the discussion section of applied linguistics articles. Moves in italics are optional; moves in regular type are obligatory.

Move Sample phrases from Morley (2018) adapted for applied linguistics contexts

Background Information

Reporting or Summarizing Results

Commenting on Results

Evaluating the Study

J Deductions from

Research

As mentioned in the literature review ... The first question in this study sought to determine ... The current study found that ... Another important finding was that ... The most prominent finding to emerge from the analysis is that ... One unanticipated finding was that interaction declined ... Contrary to my hypothesis, this study did not find a significant

relationship between proficiency and motivation ... This finding is consistent with that of Smith (2000) who ... This finding is contrary to previous studies which have suggested

that heritage language learners ... A possible explanation for this might be that socialization

affected ... It is difficult to explain this result, but it might be related to ... The study contributes to our understanding of writing ... The present results are significant in at least two major respects. However, these results were not very encouraging for explicit

instruction A limitation of this study is that only one class was studied ... In spite of its limitations, the study adds to our understanding of .. It can thus be suggested that automated analysis of .. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that ... These findings may help us to reach students who . There are still many unanswered questions about . Further research should be undertaken to investigate ...

results support previous work ... , or One possible explanation for these results is ... Further examples of the types of sentences used can be found in Table 25.5. Discussion sections end with a brief conclusion (often a paragraph) that gives the major findings and any take-home messages the authors want to impart.

Going Further

Now that you have some strategies for reading and writing empirical research, we hope that you'll continue to explore your interests in the field. There are a few different places where you can begin your search. If your library subscribes to any academic databases that publish research in applied linguistics, these are the best

,, Discussion Questions 385

place to get started. Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) is one useful database that will allow you to focus your search on articles that are directly relevant to applied linguistics, and your professor or a librarian at your institution can help you identify other good databases and ways to access them. If you don't have access to databases like this, you can use Google Scholar (www.scholar.google .com) or academic file sharing sites like Research Gate (www.researchgate.net) to search for research articles. While these search methods are less efficient than using a field-specific database, they may still help you to fmd articles on the topics that you're interested in. If you come across an interesting article that you can't access directly, it's also worthwhile to think about contacting the author. Most authors are happy to share an article that they've authored with you individually if you aren't able to access it through your library or elsewhere online.

The IMRD format that we've provided in this chapter can be adapted to most assignments for which you're required to write about your own data analysis. If you continue taking coursework in applied linguistics, you'll probably also be asked to write other genres as well, such as an annotated bibliography to help you get an overview of existing research in a given area. You will also get more practice writing literature reviews, which typically form part of the introduction section of a research article. A literature review goes a step beyond an annotated bibliography by not just summarizing existing research but instead synthesizing the research in this area in order to make an argument about possible gaps or next steps in the field. No matter what genre you're writing, though, keep in mind the needs of your audience. What information do they need in order to understand the context you're describing? Make sure to get feedback and write multiple drafts to ensure that you're producing reader-based prose.

Discussion Questions

1. Look back at one of the chapters in Part B that you read. Identify a passage (paragraph or series of sentences) about research that you found difficult to comprehend in that chapter. a. Examine the sentences for text/sentence structure, extended noun phrases,

and vocabulary (especially abstract nouns or nominalizations) to determine what aspect of the text made that passage difficult.

b. Rewrite the passage in language that is easier to comprehend, keeping in mind the functions of academic writing. What functions of academic writing did you have difficulty maintaining while re-writing the text? Have a peer compare the original passage and your rewrite. Did the meaning change or was there meaning lost in your rewrite?

r

386 Reading and W riting Em pirical Papers in Applied Li nguistic s

2. Look back at the list of Further Readings in one of the chapters in Part B that you read. Find a journal article listed in one of those chapters and look at the structure of the article. a. Examine the article for overall rhetorical structure. What structure does it

use? Is this structure explicit (with headings) or implicit (no headings)? Does it use the IMRD structure? A variation on this structure? Or some- thing completely different? How is the structure related to the content?

b. Choose one section of the article and look for the discourse moves listed in the tables in this chapter. Which of the discourse moves for that section does the paper use? Mark the beginning and end of each move you identify. Does it use all the obligatory moves? How many optional moves can you fmd? Is there any repetition?

3. In this chapter, we said that students who are writing in applied linguistics "should aim for enough detail in their methods that someone reading the paper would be able to faithfully replicate the study." Take a look at the details below. For each detail below, indicate whether or not you think it would need to be included in a methods section for readers who want to replicate the study. If there are any details below that may be relevant for one type of study but not for another, mention this. Explain the rationale behind each of your responses. a. The ages of the participants in the study. b. The specific colors that the researcher used to mark different categories while

coding the data. c. The categories that were included in the coding scheme. d. Information about data that was initially collected but excluded from the

fmal analysis. e. The fact that the researcher reviewed the data multiple times. f. The length of the data samples. g. A list of the questions that were included in a survey. h. Information about how texts or participants were selected for the study.

REFERENCES Amnuai, W., ft Wannaruk, A. (2013). A move-based analysis of the conclusion sections of

research articles published in international and Thai journals. The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, J 9(2), 53-63.

Fang, Z. (2004). Scientific literacy: A systemic functional linguistics perspective. Science Education, 89(2), 335-347.

Flower, L. ( 1993). Problem-solving strategies for writing (4th edn). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Discussion Questions 387

Flower, L., Et Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365-387.

Hill, S., Soppelsa, B., Et Watt, G. (1982). Teaching ESL students to read and write experimental research papers. TESOL Quarterly, J 6(3), 333-347. https://doi.org/ 10 .2307 /3586633

Morley, J. (2018). The Academic Phrasebank. Retrieved from www.phrasebank.manchester .ac.uk/

Peacock, M. (2011). The structure of the methods section in research articles across eight disciplines. Asian ESP Journal, 7(2), 97-124.

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. M., Et Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (3rd edn). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Wannaruk, A., Et Amnuai, W. (2016). A comparison of rhetorical move structure of applied linguistics research articles published in international and national Thai journals. RELC Journal, 47(2), 193-211. https://doi.org/ 10.1177 /0033688215609230

Wu, Z., Et Juffs, A. (2019). Revisiting the Revised Hierarchical Model: Evidence for concept mediation in backward translation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22(2), 285-299. https://doi.org/ 10.1017 /S 1366728917000748

Yang, R., Et Allison, D. (2003). Research articles in applied linguistics: Moving from results to conclusions. English for Specific Purposes, 22(4), 365-385.

(2004). Research articles in applied linguistics: Structures from a functional perspective. English for Specific Purposes, 23(3), 264-279.