ERIC Number: EJ718487
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0026-7902
EISSN: N/A
Conditions and Challenges in Developing School-Based SLA Research Programs
Spada, Nina
Modern Language Journal, v89 n3 p328-338 Aut 2005
In this article, I explore some of the epistemological, technical, and ethical challenges in doing research on instructed second language (L2) learning in Canadian school settings. I examine these challenges from the viewpoint of classroom research that has been influenced by cognitive-interactionist theories of learning. This includes my own classroom research program and similar programs developed by other Canadian researchers across a variety of school-based L2 curricula. I examine epistemological challenges in terms of the ecological validity of doing research in classrooms versus laboratories and the value of sequencing descriptive phases prior to experimental components of a research cycle. I also discuss the extent to which different research contexts and goals can influence epistemological choice. In addition, I consider technical challenges in relation to doing research in intact classrooms and to the conditions necessary for the development of sustained research programs in schools. Lastly, I address ethical challenges: the relevance of research for pedagogical practice and suggestions about how to support researchers and teachers in making these links more meaningful.
Descriptors: Researchers, Second Language Learning, Learning Theories, Language Laboratories, Ethics, Classroom Research, Language Research, Research Methodology, Foreign Countries, Epistemology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A