Showing posts with label second language research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label second language research. Show all posts

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Stephen D Krashen "Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning"

This book is concerned with what has been called the "Monitor Theory" of adult second language acquisition. Monitor Theory hypothesizes that adults have two independent systems for developing ability in second languages, subconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning, and that these systems are interrelated in a definite way: subconscious acquisition appears to be far more important.


Saturday, April 23, 2011

Questionnaires in Second Language Research

One of the most common methods of data collection in second language
(L2) research is to use questionnaires of various kinds. The popularity of questionnaires is due to the fact that they are easy to construct, extremely versatile, and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of information quickly in a form that is readily processable. In spite of the wide application of questionnaires in the L2 field, there does not seem to be sufficient awareness in the profession about the theory of questionnaire design and processing. Although questionnaire design, and more generally, survey research, has a substantial literature in the social sciences, this has not been sufficiently reflected in L2 methodology texts. The structure of the book is straightforward. After an initial chapter that discusses the nature, the merits, and the shortcomings of questionnaires, separate chapters cover the construction and the administration of the questionnaire, as well as the processing of questionnaire data. The book is concluded by a detailed checklist that summarizes the main principles and recommendations.


A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research Using SPSS

This valuable book shows second language researchers how to use the statistical program SPSS to conduct statistical tests frequently done in SLA research. Using data sets from real SLA studies, A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research Using SPSS shows newcomers to both statistics and SPSS how to generate descriptive statistics, how to choose a statistical test, and how to conduct and interpret a variety of basic statistical tests. The author covers the statistical tests that are most commonly used in second language research, including chi-square, t-tests, correlation, multiple regression, ANOVA, and non-parametric analogs to these tests. The text is abundantly illustrated with graphs and tables depicting actual data sets, and exercises throughout the book help readers understand concepts (such as the difference between independent and dependent variables) and work out statistical analyses. Answers to all exercises are provided on the book’s companion website, along with sample data sets and other supplementary material. Jenifer Larson-Hall is Assistant


Click here to download this book