Phonetics and Phonology in SLA Essay Paper Linguistics Course TESOL – Sample essay draft outline –
What you should consider before you start writing your essay paper?
In general, the successful composition of your essay is an important qualification you are supposed to achieve in this linguistics course.
Make sure you select a topic related to the core areas of applied linguistics which we have covered in class. This essay must demonstrate knowledge of the following points:
Ï You should have acquired a certain amount of expertise in a particular subfield of linguistics so that you know your way around basic concepts, research interests and debates in the field
Ï You should be able to collect relevant academic literature on a particular topic in this fie and independent manner
Ï Be able to identify (for your particular topic area) a problem or question worth researching
Ï You can read and understand previous research on this question conducted by professional linguists
Ï Should be able to write a coherent piece of text in which you discuss a manageable selection of this research from a particular perspective (i.e. with a certain goal in mind that you pursue systematically and consistently throughout the paper)
Ï Your writing should adhere to certain formal standards of academic discourse (i.e. clear and register adequate English, text formatting, conventional ways of citation and referencing, sensible structuring of the paper, and a reader-directed way of making your goals, methodology, analyses and results transparent)
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?
ïHow is the thesis structured?
ïHow 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 organizing 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 Dˆrnyei 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 course books or activities examined, the corpus analyzed, 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).
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
