Narrowing down a researchable topic

Posted on by Benjamin L. Stewart PhD
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See also problem statement

A practical problem vs. a researchable topic

A practical problem is typically one that relates to general topic (See Possible topics related to applied linguistics.), and can be a good start when narrowing down a topic. It’s also worth review the Steps to writing a literature review.

Benjamin L. Stewart

• Practical problem: Students are afraid to speak in class. – Too general.

• Researchable problem: How can I provide feedback to students so that they feel more confident speaking English with their peers?

• Researchable solution: Provide individual feedback when requested during the task, and group feedback once the task has been completed.

• Practical solution: Avoid overcorrection or providing too much feedback to students. – Too general. When moving from a practical problem and solution to a researchable problem and solution, consider the following questions:

1. Does the researchable solution (topics and related subtopics) pertain to Applied Linguistics or second language acquistion?

2. Can you relate to the researchable solution (topics and related subtopics)? Have you experience them either as a learner or instructor?

3. Are you interested in the researchable solution (topics and related subtopics)?

4. Can you find information on the researchable problem and solution (topics and related subtopics) in the literature?

5. Are there local context that support the researchable solution (topics and related subtopics)? Can you find participants that relate to such (sub)topics? ## Problem statement prompt (one sentence)

• Topic: I wish to learn more about…

• Indirect question: because I want to find out what/why/how etc….

• Significance: (Reflect on the reader’s point of view.): in order to… ## Problem statement explained > [!seealso] See also > Working towards a problem statement ### topic + indirect question + significance: I am studying teacher feedback [topic] because I want to find out when giving feedback allows students to feel more confident when speaking L2 with their peers [indirect question] in order to answer the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student’s oral production in class [significance, purpose, or objective]. Review Converting an indirect question to a direct overall research questions.

Condition and a cost or consequence

I am studying teacher feedback [topic] because I want to find out when giving feedback allows students to feel more confident when speaking L2 with their peers [condition] in order to answer the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student’s oral production in class [cost or consequence].

• The first (indirect) question, the condition, helps answer the second (indirect) question, the cost or consequence.

• Knowing when to give feedback that allows students to feel more confident when speaking with their peers (question #1 or condition) addresses the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student’s oral production in class (question #2 or cost/consequence). Here are additional tips when searching for a problem to research:

• Ask teachers, students, administrators, and other experts in the field about problems they face related to teaching and learning an additional language.

• Search primary research articles for related problems to find relevant examples.

• Begin with a problem at the onset of your research, but understand that research problems may morph or emerge in different forms as one conducts a study. # Situational questions to consider when narrowing down a researchable topic

• Participants

– Am I currently working (teaching)?

– Have I taught somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?

– Have I taken classes somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?

– Do I know anyone who is working somewhere that might be willing to accept my research proposal?

– Does my research objective relate to improving the BA in English language teaching at the UAA?

– Does my research objective relate to improving extension courses at the UAA?

– Does my research objective relate to improving foreign language courses at the UAA?

– Does my research objective relate to children, adults, or both?

• Data analysis

– What’s my unit of analysis?

– What are my points of comparison?

– Am I doing a case study?

– Is my research design qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method?

– What kind of data am I likely to collect?

– Which best apply to my research objectives: interviews, observations, document (content) analysis, focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, stimulated recall, etc.?

• Linguistic focus: The mistake many researchers make is to focus too broadly on a linguistic aspect. Be specific in your linguistic focus.

– Am I going to focus on speaking?

– Am I going to focus on writing?

– Am I going to focus on grammar teaching?

– Am I going to focus on pronunciation?

– Am I going to focus on vocabulary?

– Am I going to focus on material design? This could include adapting, reusing, repurposing, material, etc.

– Am I going to focus on information communication technologies (ICTs)?

– Am I going to focus on perceptions (opinions, beliefs, etc.) around a particular linguistic focus?

– Am I going to focus on teacher talk time versus student talk time?

– Am I going to focus on interactional patterns (social learning)?

– Am I going to focus on peer assessment?

– Am I going to focus on self-assessment?

– Am I going to focus on expert assessment? Expert assessment falls under a variety of areas: teacher feedback, expert feedback, Summative vs formative assessment, Recasts, etc.

– Am I going to focus on learning strategies?

– Communicative strategies, writing strategies, critical thinking, etc.?

– Am I going to focus on motivation? Motivation itself is too broad of a topic, but you may begin here to narrow down a topic on the idea of motivation.

– Am I going to focus on cognitive development?

• As you are narrowing down a researchable topic, consider the list below as a good place to start as one begins the process of narrowing down a researchable topic in the field of applied linguistics. Ask yourself the following questions:

– What problems or issues have I faced in the classroom or some other educational setting that relate to the learning process?

– What problems or issues have I faced in the classroom or some other educational setting that relate to the teaching process?

– What problems related to the classroom or some other educational context do researchers discuss when publishing peer-reviewed journal articles?

– Are there enough studies from the literature to support my argument?

– What are some keywords that relate to the answers to the aforementioned questions?

– Who is my intended target audience? Who would benefit the most from having read my academic text?

References

• Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. (2008). *The craft of research* (Links to an external site.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

• Machi, L. & McEvoy, B. (2009). The literature review: Six steps to success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Additional information

Selecting a topic (handout): Move from an everyday problem that you would like to investigate (stage 1) to defining a specific subject, perspective, and vantage point that defines your research topic (stage 2).  The final stage (stage 3) is to remove yourself from the personal domain of refining the topic of interest to the formal world of academia.  In this final stage, switch from everyday language to technical terminology used in a particular academic discipline (e.g., applied linguistics). See list of possible research topics in applied linguistics below as a guide. Source: The Literature Review

Merge your topic with an area of linguistic focus: a) individual skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening, speaking), b) grammar, c) vocabulary, d) or some combination of the aforementioned (e.g., reading and writing, listening and speaking, speaking and vocabulary, etc.). 

Moving from a topic to questions (Booth, Colomb, & Williams, 2008)

Brainstorm a set of questions from a variety of perspectives, beginning with asking who, what, when, where, but focusing on how, and why.  Then continue brainstorming through the following types of questions:

  • Topic history
    • Ask questions about developmental context.  How has this problem, technique, method, material, etc. changed over the years?  Why has it changed over the years? etc. 
  • Structure and composition
    • How does your topic relate to a bigger context?  What is the composition of your topic?  How do the pieces fit together?
  • Categorization
    • How can your topic be grouped together?  How does your topic compare and contrast with topics within the same or similar category.
  • Positive to negative questions
    • Turn positive questions to negative questions.  Why have wikis not become a prevalent web tool in today’s language classroom?
  • What if… questions
    • What if all language teachers had to use wikis with their learners?
  • Questions from sources
    • Search primary research articles and find questions for further research.  Or tailor research questions from primary research articles to local research topic interests.  Find questions from outside sources that allow you to fill the literature gap so that what you investigate adds to the body of knowledge that currently makes up the field.

Moving from questions to a problem

To move a question to its significance, try using the following prompts:

  • I wish to learn more about…(a topic).

Here are some examples with key words (nouns deriving from verbs) italicized…

  • I am studying teachers’ beliefs about formative assessments and related teaching techniques.
  • I am working on why students are reluctant to speak English in class.
  • I am trying to learn about teaching covert grammar and how students feel about different related teaching techniques.

Add an indirect question (in bold) to your topic to indicate what you don’t know or would like to understand better…

    • Example: I wish to learn more about _________ because I want to find out who/what/when/where/whether/why/how _________.
    • I am studying teachers’ beliefs about formative assessment because I want to find out how students feel about related teaching techniques. 
    • I am working on why students are reluctant to speak English in class because I want to find out what authentic materials I might use to promote better interaction among students. 
    • etc.

Build research questions specifically around the indirect question (bold text) that you have created above.

So what?

Your topic must be interesting to you, the researcher, but must also be interesting to others in the field.  Add to your topic and indirect question the significance of your research.

  • Example: I wish to learn more about __________ because I want to find out who/what/when/where/whether/why/how _________ in order to __________.
    • I am studying teachers’ beliefs about formative assessment because I want to find out how students feel about related teaching techniques in order to demonstrate the role of formative assessment in the English language classroom. 
    • I am working on why students are reluctant to speak English in class because I want to find out what authentic materials I might use to promote better interaction among students in order to place less emphasis on the coursebook as a syllabus. 
  • etc.

Moving from a topic to questions involves a three-part process: 1) stating what you want to learn more about, 2) tagging an indirect question to your topic (beginning with a because clause), and 3) concluding with the significance of your research (an in order to clause).

Moving from questions to a problem

Reflect on your topic-to-question statement:

    • Topic: I wish to learn more about…
    • Question: because I want to find out what/why/how etc….
  • Significance: (Reflect on the reader’s point of view.): in order to…

First, distinguish between a practical problem and a research problem…

    • Practical problem: Students are afraid to speak in class.
    • Research problem: How can I provide feedback to students in such a way that they feel more confident to speak English with their peers?
    • Research solution:  Provide individual feedback when requested during the task, and group feedback once the task has been completed.
  • Practical solution:  Avoid overcorrection or providing too much feedback to students.

A problem consists of a condition and a cost or consequence.

  • (topic) I am studying teacher feedback (question #1 & condition) because I want to find out when giving feedback allows students to feel more confident when speaking L2 with their peers (significance, question #2, & cost or consequence ) in order to answer the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student’s oral production in class.

The first question (the condition) helps answer the second question (the cost or consequence).

Example: Knowing when to give feedback that allows students to feel more confident when speaking with their peers (question #1 or condition) addresses the bigger question of how teacher intervention can either promote or discourage student’s oral production in class (question #2 or cost/consequence). 

Here are additional tips when searching for a problem to research:

    • Ask teachers, students, administrators, and other experts in the field about problems they face related to teaching and learning an additional language.
    • Search primary research articles for related problems to find relevant examples.
  • Begin with a problem at the onset of your research, but understand that research problems may morph or emerge in different forms as one conducts a study.

Unit of Analysis

Lesson 1-5 Units of analysis
—— 
Possible Research Topics in Applied Linguistics 

    • Grammar
        • Overt/cover
        • Implicit/explicit
        • Chomsky’s Universal Grammar
    • Bilingual education
    • Classroom discourse
    • Corpus linguistics
    • Cognitive linguistics
    • Discourse analysis
      • Grice and Implicatures (part 1, part 2, & part 3)
      • L1 use in language teaching
      • L2 transfer
      • Learner autonomy
      • Interactive/collaboraitve language learning.
      • Task-based learning
      • Problem-based learning
      • Performance-based learning
      • Language learning strategies
    • Language exchanges
    • English for Academic Purposes
    • English for Specific Purposes
    • Generative grammar
    • Chomsky’s Universal Grammar
    • Innatism
    • Krashen’s monitor model
    • Language and culture
    • Language and Gender
    • Language and Identity
    • Language Emergence as a complex adaptive system
    • Language learning and technology
    • Language teacher education
    • Professional development or professional learning among (English language), in-service educators
    • Professional development or professional learning among (English language), pre-service educators
    • Language testing
      • Formative assessment in the language classroom
      • Formative vs. summative assessment in the language classroom
      • Dynamic assessment in the language classroom
      • Language exchanges
      • Task-based learning
      • Problem-based learning
      • Performance-based learning
  • Lexis
  • Linguistic Imperialism
  • Multilingualism
  • Phonetics and phonology
  • Systemic functional linguistics
  • Multimodality
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Sociocultural theories
  • Sociolinguistics
    • Motivation
  • Translation

Additional reading

Six steps for conducting a literature review (Machi & McEvoy, 2009)

  1. Select a topic.
    Search the literature.
  2. Develop an argument.
  3. Survey the literature.
  4. Critique the literature.
  5. Write the review.

Referencee

Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. (2008). The craft of research. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Machi, L. & McEvoy, B. (2009). The literature review: Six steps to success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

 

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