Research methods and techniques in applied linguistics - AAA500180
Title: Research methods and techniques in applied linguistics
Guaranteed by: Institute of Linguistics (21-UL)
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Actual: from 2025
Semester: summer
Points: 0
E-Credits: 4
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/2, C [HT]
Capacity: unknown / unlimited (16)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences:  
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Level:  
Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=8739
Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D.
Teacher(s): doc. PhDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D.
Noticeboard   
Annotation -
The aim of the course is to present approaches to research in applied linguistics on a gnoseological basis and on
its basis to gradually introduce the basics of quantitatively and qualitatively oriented research in applied linguistics,
as well as relevant descriptive and inferential statistical methods.
Course participants will learn to choose appropriate research methods in applied linguistics and how these
methods are implemented. They will also understand the gnoseological basis of linguistic research and get
acquainted with the basics of descriptive and inferential statistical methods in applied-linguistic research.
Last update: Jiránková Lucie, PhDr., Ph.D. (17.12.2020)
Course completion requirements -

In-class presentations and a final test.

Last update: Jiránková Lucie, PhDr., Ph.D. (17.12.2020)
Literature -

Baker, P., & Egbert, J. (2018). Triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistic research.

Baayen, H. (2015). Analyzing linguistic data: a practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage publications

Given, L. M. (2008). The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Heigham, J. & & Croker, R. A. (2009). Qualitative research in applied linguistics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lowie, W., & Seton, B. (2013). Essential statistics for applied linguistics. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Tavakoli, H. (2013). A dictionary of research methodology and statistics in applied linguistics. Tehran: Rahnama.

Desagulier, G. (2017). Corpus Linguistics and Statistics with R: Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Linguistics. Springer.

Cantos Gómez, P. (2012). Statistical methods in language and linguistic research. Equinox Pub. Ltd.

Lüdeling, A., & Kytö, M. (2009). Corpus linguistics : an international handbook. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter.

O’Keeffe, A., & McCarthy, M. (2010). The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics. Routledge.

Last update: Jiránková Lucie, PhDr., Ph.D. (17.12.2020)
Syllabus -

Block I - Key Concepts of Research (4 seminars)
Seminar 1: Philosophy and research
Key components: inductive and deductive reasoning, philosophical frameworks for research in AL (epistemology, ontology, realism, positivism, social constructivism, pragmatism, phenomenology, modernism, postmodernism)
Seminar 2: Types of research
Key aspects: quantitative and qualitative research, basic and applied research, dealing with validity, reliability and practicality; hypotheses, research questions and „so what questions“
Seminar 3: Qualitative research methods
Key aspects: narrative inquiry, ethnographic research, case study research, phenomenological research, grounded research; evaluating research (coding, credibility, dependability, transferability)
Seminar 4: Critical reading: 3 sample studies related to the topic of this block (presented by the students)

Block II Quantitative Research - descriptive statistics and corpus methodology (4 seminars)
Key components: characteristics of data, ways of measuring, sampling, describing data, measures of central tendency, measures of frequency, measures of distribution, standard scores, visualising data (common and fancy graphs), common tools (Excel, web apps)
Seminar 1: The Dataset - finding and acquiring the data, processing texts and creating corpora or other datasets. Sampling the data.
Seminar 2: The Analysis - methods and techniques of measurement in linguistic data
Seminar 3: The Output - visualisation and visual exploration, tools and techniques
Seminar 4: Critical reading: 3 sample studies related to the topic of this block (presented by the students)

Block III Quantitative Research - inferential statistics (4 seminars)
Key components: experimental research, causal-comparative research, correlational research, inferential statistics, variables,
significance, effect size, correlation, regression, t-tests, ANOVA,
Seminar 1: Experimental research - numerical, categorical and ordinal variables, basic statistical principles of experimental design, basic assumptions for parametric analysis
Seminar 2: Running statistical tests - The logic of p-values and how to read them, understanding if variables are related using correlations and regression, understanding the difference between causation and correlation
Seminar 3: Comparing means - repeated measure t-test, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, ANCOVA
Seminar 4: Critical reading: 3 sample studies related to the topic of this block (presented by the students)

Last update: Tichý Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (22.01.2021)