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Thesis in English Applied Linguistics and Methodology


Thesis in English Applied Linguistics and Methodology

Department of English Applied Linguistics 

I. INTRODUCTION  

Preparing your thesis is the final phase of accomplishing your university studies. You will specialise in one particular area within either Literature, Linguistics, or Applied Linguistics. Each of the three respective departments will provide assistance in selecting a topic and your consultant. You will find general information in this chapter of the Course Catalogue, under "A szakz�r�s rendje az angol nyelv �s irodalom szakon". If you choose to write your thesis in English Applied Linguistics, please follow the basic principles outlined below.  
 

WHAT IS A THESIS? 

A thesis is intended to be a serious academic challenge in the form of an analytical piece of writing (research) as opposed to a purely summative/descriptive one. Research involves planned and systematic investigation of a particular phenomenon, in other words research seeks to describe, identify, and control relationships among phenomena in order to study them.

In your thesis you need to:

    * identify a research area you are interested in and formulate one or more specific research questions. The objective of the research question may be to discover or describe patterns of relationships in foreign language learning and teaching. The aim of the research question may also be to test specific hypotheses in the field to be investigated.

    * demonstrate your familiarity with the most important literature in the field

    * demonstrate your awareness of analytical tools and justify the use of the one(s) you are applying

    * collect or select a well-defined and justified set of materials you will base the analysis on (e.g. empirical quantitative data, corpus of texts, set of coursebooks or practical activities)

    * conduct an analysis by providing clear and convincing argumentation and presentation of results

    * draw well-founded conclusions, which consider possible alternative views and explanations, as well as practical implications

    * document all the sources you used properly and follow the APA format guidelines (described in Section IV).  

    NOTE: An analysis is essential for a successful thesis. If, for example, your work involves practical materials design, the actual materials/activities should form the appendix of your work, while the main body should contain the rationale for designing the materials the way you did, including the description of the scientific basis and supporting evidence. Your conclusion does not necessarily have to provide solutions to problems, but you are expected to demonstrate in it a deeper understanding of the selected issue.  

    For more specific topics and a list of potential consultants, see the section "Offers thesis supervision in the following areas" in the biographies of the teachers of the Department of English Applied Linguistics in the autumn edition of the Course Catalogue. You can also express your own interest and propose a topic, which you can then discuss with your supervisor.  

    THE ROLE OF YOUR CONSULTANT

    In preparing your thesis you will be aided by a consultant. For the procedures to select him/her and for a description of the ways he/she can help you, see Section II. Please note, however, that your consultant is not responsible for doing any part of the work for you; instead, he/she will make sure that the thesis is your original product.  

    ASSESSMENT

    The thesis will be read by your consultant and an independent reader, who will grade it according to the criteria described in Section III. 
     

    II. PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING A THESIS 

    APPLICATION

    To get you started on your thesis in a timely fashion, five steps need to be carried out before 1st October (if you want to submit your thesis in March) or before 1st May (if you want to submit your thesis in October):

      1. Contact the consultant you want to work with.

      2. Decide on your topic, how you intend to investigate the topic, and your title (for now, a general title is sufficient; a colon and subtitle can be added later to more accurately describe your work).

      3. Type an approximately two-page proposal (about 300-350 words) following this format:

      • Heading: your name, your consultant's name, the topic of your thesis, the title of the thesis
      • rationale for choosing the topic
      • intended approach of data collection and analysis
      • expected results

      4. Make and attach to the proposal an annotated bibliography of your preliminary readings consisting of at least four books or eight journal articles.

      5. Make three copies of the proposal. One is yours; give the second copy to your consultant and have him/her sign the third copy.

      6. Before 1st October (1st May), see the Head of the Applied Linguistics Department (Room 330) to have the Faculty Administration Office's Hungarian thesis form signed. You must present the third copy of your proposal in order to obtain a signature.

         6. The consultant should be consulted at least two weeks before the submission. 

NOTE: It is advisable to see the Head of Department well before the official submission date so that you have enough time to rewrite the proposal if necessary. Also, in accordance with our Department's rules, consultants cannot accept more than five students' proposals. If you do not submit your proposal early enough, you may not be able to work with the consultant you would like to.  

CONSULTANTS

Students are given the academic freedom of selecting their consultant. However, if you are not sure who you would like to work with, or if you have any problems, the Department Head will assist you in finding a consultant according to your thesis topic. For information on the suggested topics and the Applied Linguistics staff members' field of expertise see the biographical data of the staff of the Department in the Academic Guide (Owl Book). Written appeals for changing the consultant will be considered. 

Consultants can offer the following support:

  • a minimum of 4 office hours for consultation
  • clarification of appropriate research questions
  • suggestion of a reading list
  • advice on specifications of the approach to the analysis.
 

The consultant will not be expected to edit language, punctuation and spelling. The dissertation is supposed to demonstrate your academic abilities; therefore the quality of your thesis is exclusively your responsibility.  

SUBMISSION AND MARKING

Two copies (one bound in black) of the final draft are to be submitted to the Faculty Student Consultation Office (Di�ktan�csad�) not later than 30th March, or 30th October (for details, see "A szakz�r�s rendje"). The Head of Department will appoint the readers for all dissertations submitted in time. Readers and consultants will each receive a copy for marking.

Markers are required to assign a mark and submit a report of justification. The final mark of your thesis will be decided on at a formal Thesis Markers' Meeting chaired by the Head of the Applied Linguistics Department. The date of this meeting will be posted each term. Conflicting marks will be negotiated and reconciled. If necessary, a third reader will be appointed by the Head. You will be informed about the final mark and receive a copy of the reviews in the Administration Office (Room 330) after the meeting.

The readers' reports are normally 1-2 typed pages and include a detailed evaluation of the main aspects of the thesis following the marking criteria outlined in Section III. The mark approved by the Department is not subject to appeal.  

III. THESIS MARKING CRITERIA 

I. FORM (10 points - 40%)

Format (5 points)

    • Layout: Professional appearance (neatness, spacing, fonts, margins).
    • Structure: Division into main parts, clarity of organisation, subheadings, paragraphs.
    • APA reference and citation style.

Language (5 points)

    • Accuracy (grammar, punctuation, etc.).
    • Register (appropriate academic style, reader-friendliness).
    • Discourse (clarity of argumentation, cohesion within and transition between paragraphs)
 

 

II. CONTENT (15 points - 60%)

Review of the literature (5 points)

    • Clear relationship between the research question and the literature survey.
    • Familiarity with relevant literature and research results (placing the research topic within the development of the field).

Analysis (10 points)

    • Research question(s) and objectives: original and explicitly formulated.
    • Materials: a well-specified and justified set of materials ( e.g. empirical quantitative data, corpus of texts, set of coursebooks or practical activities).
    • Originality: proof of original and independent use of academic research tools, providing new approach to the area researched.
    • Procedures: (of data collection, data analysis and interpretation) clearly and systematically presented with convincing arguments/justification.
    • Results: clearly presented (e.g. in tables, figures, charts or graphs if necessary) and interpreted.
    • Conclusion: well-supported, convincingly related to the study as a whole, includes consideration of alternative interpretations and views, draws practical implications from the study (where appropriate).
 
 

IV. GUIDELINES ON THE CONTENT, structure

AND FORM OF THE THESIS 

CONTENT 

Thesis papers may be of two types: theoretical or empirical. A theoretical paper usually focuses on an ambiguous problem. In this case, the main aim of the thesis is to show various treatments of the particular problem in the field and provide a synthesis of literature and original solution of the problem. The paper starts with the comparison of what different authors say about the same topic, that is, a survey of the relevant literature arranged into some logical framework invented by the writer. The overview should be critical, and should be followed by an argumentative proposal of the writer’s own opinion and solution of the problem.

     Writing an empirical thesis paper in applied linguistics and language pedagogy is more common than theoretical papers. A research paper should also investigate a problem and is argumentative in nature, but unlike in the theoretical paper, the writer uses empirical data to support his/her hypotheses. Empirical research has two types: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research studies an individual case or a limited number of cases closely with the purpose of understanding the particular phenomenon/phenomena from the perspective of the participants. Quantitative studies usually take an outsider's perspective and involve a sufficient number of participants so that the findings could be generalizable for the behaviour of the population investigated. 

     The topic of empirical thesis papers in this field can be the following:

  • Learning in the foreign language classroom
  • Learner characteristics
  • Teacher characteristics
  • Learner performance, language testing
  • Materials analysis and design
  • Curricula, syllabi, lesson plans
  • Teaching methods
  • The psychology of language learning and teaching
  • Classroom research
  • Sociolinguistics (e.g. language and gender)
  • Pragmatics
  • Discourse analysis
  • Communicative competence
  • any other topic approved of by the consultant
 

An empirical thesis paper can apply various research tools, preferably a combination of the following:

  • Questionnaires
  • Interview
  • Textbook analysis
  • Observation
  • Text analysis
  • Spoken interaction analysis
  • Verbal reports
  • Analysis of methods, experiments
  • Diary
  • Tests
 

STRUCTURE 

The structure of a theoretical thesis paper 

Theoretical thesis papers usually follow an argumentative pattern and are organised around the solution of a problem. Questions that are normally addressed in such papers include: 

  • What is the point/topic of the study?
  • Why is this topic interesting/relevant?
  • What has been done in the field so far?
  • Is there any problem with what has been done/said so far?
  • What is the problem with what has been done/said?
  • What solution may be offered?
  • Why is this solution good, or not so good?
 

Depending on the nature of the problem, such papers may be structured in different ways. A typical pattern of organisation is presented below: 

Preliminary pages: These will normally include a title page (according to the format specified in "A szakz�r�s rendje"), and a table of contents, which includes the chapters of the paper and also the materials in the Appendices.  

Abstract:

A short summary of the topic and the main findings (100-150 words). 

Introduction:

The introduction normally starts by introducing the subject of the paper and its relevance, that is, the reason why it is considered as an interesting issue to explore. This is followed by the statement of the problem related to the issue (i.e. the situation presented) and the author’s position regarding the solution of this problem. The exact aim of the paper and the main research question(s) should be clearly formulated. (In theoretical papers, research questions relate to finding possible solutions to the problem.) The introduction generally ends with a brief overview of the analytical approach/strategy to be pursued and the outline of the thesis. 

Review of literature:

The aim of the literature review is to provide theoretical background to the solution of the problem anticipated in the introduction. It offers a critical review of the various treatments of the problem under investigation, enumerating arguments representing the body of literature both opposing and supporting the author’s position. The survey should be organized into a logical framework invented by the writer. 

Analysis (Solution):

The analysis (i.e. solution) section offers a thorough and disciplined presentation of the possible solution(s) as envisaged by the writer. It should build upon the work of other researchers in the field, but authors are expected to come up with an original solution. All arguments/claims put forward by the author must be accompanied by some form of supporting evidence (e.g., examples, figures, facts, views of other researchers). This section ends with an evaluation of the proposed solution(s), showing that it is (or these are) exempt from the weaknesses identified in the opposing view(s). 

Conclusion:

Theoretical papers normally end by a restatement of the problem under investigation and a brief summary of the proposed solution(s) discussed. In the conclusion section, authors may indicate in what ways the study contributes to current achievements in the field, refer to the limitations of the paper, and point to possible areas for further investigation. 

References: See empirical research papers. 

Appendices: See empirical research papers. 

(based on Swales, J.M. & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Ann Arbour: The University of Michigan Press.) 
 

The structure of an empirical research paper 

Preliminary pages: These will normally include a title page (according to the format specified in "A szakz�r�s rendje"), and a table of contents, which includes the chapters of the paper and also the materials in the Appendices.  

Abstract:

A short summary of the topic and the main findings (100-150 words).

Introduction: This should introduce the reader to the specific issue under analysis and describe the research approach/strategy. Questions that are normally addressed include:  

  • What is the point/topic of the study?
  • Why is the topic interesting/relevant?
  • How does the analysis relate to the problem?
  • What are the exact research questions/hypotheses?
  • How is the thesis structured?
  • How does the study relate to previous work in the field? (See `Review of the literature' below.)
 

 

Review of the literature: This section can either be part of the Introduction or can come under a separate heading (or headings) which specify the main aspects of the review (e.g. "The history of motivation research"). The purpose of the review is to develop the background, that is, to discuss the relevant literature in order to give the reader knowledge of the field (specifically relating to the research question) which the writer is researching. 

A literature review should be a very thorough and well-structured overview, presented on the basis of an original organising principle. That is, the writer has to make a unique presentation of the existing literature on the topic. This means, for instance, that simply presenting a summary on what D�rnyei said about learner motivation, and then elaborating what Gardner said about the same topic, does not qualify for a proper review of the literature. A good overview is relevant, looks at all the aspects of the given topic, uses a minimum of 15 serious sources, and presents the topic in a new light. As regards materials downloaded from the Internet, only sources that have an author and can be traced even after the submission of the thesis can be accepted. 

Research design and method: The Introduction and the Review of the literature are typically followed by a section in which the writer describes in detail how the analysis was conducted, that is, the technical aspects of the study. Depending on the type of analysis, this may involve the explicit description of the participants (if data were collected), the instruments (tests, questionnaires), the data collecting and processing procedures, the set of coursebooks or activities examined, the corpus analysed, the list of sources with a rationale for selecting them (when preparing a synthesis of some sort), or any other subheading appropriate for the topic. The use of the particular method must be justified. 

A good method section describes the procedures in such a detailed way that anyone wishing to replicate the study would be able to do so. All the data collection materials (e.g. questionnaires, interview protocols, tasks, observation sheets) need to be exemplified in the appendix. The method section should also describe the procedures used for the quantitative or qualitative analysis of the data.  

Results and discussion: The Results section will normally contain the results of the analysis, which will detail and justify the conclusion. This section is often merged together with the discussion section, which includes the writer's discussion of the results with respect to the original questions/hypotheses and the consequence of the results. 

Conclusion: This section briefly summarizes the main findings of the analysis, discusses possible alternative interpretations and views, examines the practical implications (where appropriate), mentions the limitations of the research and proposes directions for future investigations. All the conclusions have to be drawn on the basis of the data, and not subjective speculations.

References: In this section the writer lists all the references that were cited in the texts (and only those!). See Section V for details. 

Appendices: The following materials are appropriate for an appendix: scales, tests, questionnaires, handouts, teaching materials used or designed, raw data, visual aids, less important tables or figures, practical examples of classroom activities, or other kinds of illustrative materials. The appendix needs to contain a short sample of the data (e.g. filled in questionnaires, parts of texts produced by the participants). If it is in Hungarian, it also has to be translated into English. All the other data has to be made available to anybody interested.  
 

FORM

The text of your thesis must be type-written double spaced on one side only of A4 paper. The left-hand margin should be 1.5 inches wide and the other three margins 1 inch wide. The body of the thesis (without the notes, references and appendices) should be at least 40 pages long and should normally not exceed 55-60 pages. Your thesis should follow the APA format. 
 

V. CITATION 

In-text citation

The APA format documents a paper's sources by both citing them in the text and describing them bibliographically in the paper's References list.

  • When the author is named in the actual text, the publication date always follows in parentheses. The only exception is when you refer to the same work within the same paragraph more than once, where you need to include the publication date only at the first reference.

    E.g. Alderson (1991) pointed out that TEST is a four-letter word. However, Alderson also...

  • When you refer to an author's ideas but the author is not named in the actual text, cite the name parenthetically, followed by a comma and the year of the work's publication. E.g. Conflicts are believed to be prerequisites for subsequent increases in cohesion and cooperation within a group (Wheelan and McKeage, 1993).
  • Citing works by the same author published the same year: use a, b, c, etc. E.g. (Tyukodi, 1989a). Do the same thing in the References section as well.
  • Citing works by two authors: use both names in every citation, e.g. Tarone and Yule (1989).
  • Citing works by more than two authors: mention all the names in the first reference, afterwards give only the first name followed by `et al.' and the year. E.g. Kis, Nagy and Legnagyobb (1995), then Kis et al. (1995).
  • Direct quotation: Cite word by word, use quotation marks, and indicate the exact location of the citation in the original text. This can be done in three ways: (1) As Larsen-Freeman (1990) points out, "In the second language teaching field there is no interdependence among theory, practice and research" (p. 261). (2) As Larsen-Freeman (1990, p. 261) points out, "In the second language teaching field there is no interdependence among theory, practice and research." (3) "In the second language teaching field there is no interdependence among theory, practice and research" (Larsen-Freeman, 1990, p. 261).
  • Long quotations: Longer quotations (usually those of 40 words or more) should be indented 5 spaces from the left margin, without using quotation marks. The indented quotation does not have to be double-spaced but can be 1.5 or single-spaced. Place the page number of the source in parentheses after the period ending the quotation. E.g.:
 

      There are those who believe that second language acquisition research is still at such a preliminary stage that it is premature to base any proposals for language teaching upon it yet. There are others, among whom I count myself, who believe that it is the task of the applied linguist to make practical use of whatever knowledge is available at the time. We cannot constantly be waiting to see what is round the corner. We must be prepared to stick our necks out. (Corder, 1984, p. 58)  

      When to quote?

      Beginner researchers typically overuse direct quotations. Only use direct quotation if

      • it is a definition,
      • it communicates a controversial issue and you want to make sure that you are not misinterpreting anything,
      • something is extremely well formulated and you cannot or do not want to word it another way.

      In all other cases summarise the author's ideas in your own words and indicate your source very clearly by including the author's name and the publication date in parentheses. 

      Plagiarism

      Plagiarism is using another person's language or ideas without acknowledgement. This also applies to unpublished materials (e.g. student theses, lectures, lecture handouts, internet pages). If you want to quote from such materials, document the source explicitly. Intentional or not, all plagiarism is theft; therefore, it will result in the immediate rejection of your thesis.  

      References

      References should be placed at the end of the paper, in the References section, listing each source cited in the text alphabetically by the author's name (or by a work's title when no author is given). For details, see the examples below. All the works or authors listed in the Reference section must be referred to in the text. 
       

      EXAMPLES OF ITEMS IN THE REFERENCES SECTION  


      Book/single author
        Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
      Book/single author/2nd edition
        Popham, J. W. (1990). Modern educational measurement (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
      Book/joint authors
        O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
      Edited book
        Phillipson, R., Kellerman, E., Selinker, L., Sharwood Smith, M., & Swain, M. (Eds.). (1991). Foreign/second language pedagogy research: A commemorative volume for Claus Fćrch. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
      Journal article/single author
        Medgyes, P. (1993). The national L2 curriculum in Hungary. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 24-36.
      Journal article/joint authors
        Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.
      Journal article/multiple

      authors

        Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50, 696-735.
      Magazine article (each issue

      starts with Page 1)

        Rinvolucri, M. (1988, June). A light on the wall. Practical English Teaching, pp. 15-16.
      Chapter/article in

      an edited book  

        Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1991). Cooperative learning and classroom and school climate. In: B. J. Fraser, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Educational environments (pp. 55-74). Oxford: Pergamon.
      Paper presented at

      a conference

        N�dasdy, �. (1993, April). The right accent: Pronunciation and tradition in TESOL. Paper presented at the 27th Annual TESOL Convention, Atlanta, GA.
      Unpublished doctoral

      dissertation

        Duff, P. A. (1993). Changing times, changing minds: Language socialization in Hungarian-English Schools. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
      Unpublished thesis
        Kossuth, L. (1995). Freedom in the buffet: An analysis of student interaction and eating habits. Unpublished thesis, E�tv�s University, Budapest.
       

      With multiple works by the same author, arrange the items in the order of their publication. If the year of publication happens to be the same, use small letters (a, b, c,...) to distinguish between the works. If the References contain a work written by a particular author and another work co-authored by the same author, the single-author's work should come first regardless of the publication dates. 

      Referring to electronically available materials:

      APA - style of documenting WWW (World Wide Web) resources 

      Reference to on-line information

      Author/editor, I. (date). Title of the article. [On-line]. Available: Specify path

        Example:

        Pritzker, T. J. (1995). An Early fragment from central Nepal [Online]. Available:

             http://www.ingress.com/~astanart/pritzker/pritzker.html

      Author/editor, I., & Author/editor, I. (date). Title of chapter. In Title of full work [On-line]. Available: Specify path

        Example:

        Daniel, R. T. (1995). The history of Western music. In Britannica online: Macropaedia [Online].

        bin/g:DocF=macro/5004/45/0.html  

      Author, I. (date). Title of the article. Name of the periodical [On-line serial] Volume Number. Available: Specify path

        Example:

        Funder, D.C. (1994).Judgemental process and content. Psychology [online serial] , 5. Avalaible: http: www.cup.com/~psychology.html 

        Reference to information on CD-ROM 

        Author, I. (date). Title of the article [CD-ROM]. Title of the journal, Volume number, page numbers, Abstract from: Source and retrieval number

          Example:

          Meyer, S. S., & Bock, K. (1992). The tip of the tongue phenomenon [CD-ROM]. Memory & Cognition, 20, 715-726. Abstract from: Silver Platter File: PsychLit Item: 80-16531 

          Reference to computer program 

          Author, I. (date). Name of the program [Computer software]. Place of publication: Publisher.

            Example: Miller, M. E. (1993). The interactive tester [Computer software]. Westminster, CA: Psytek Services.

           


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