Classroom (and language) research design

Professor Sabine Mendes Moura, Dn.Issues in Research Methodology II

PUC-Rio

Language(-based) research

• Language as a concept (Linguistics);• Language as a system/structure (Linguistics);• Language as a means of solving real world

problems or understanding social practices (Applied Linguistics);

Problems with the word ‘language’...

• Language needs language to be studied;• Language can be understood as a meaning-

making system or a communicative system, but...

• It can also be understood as non-divided (divisible) from meaning, communication, etc.

Problems with the word language led to...

• Discourse,• Interaction,• Performance,• Genre,

Trending topics - AILA

Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with practical problems of language and communication that can be identified, analysed or solved by applying available theories, methods and results of Linguistics or by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in Linguistics to work on these problems. Applied Linguistics differs from Linguistics in general mainly with respect to its explicit orientation towards practical, everyday problems related to language and communication.

The problems Applied Linguistics deals with range from aspects of the linguistic and communicative competence of the individual such as first or second language acquisition, literacy, language disorders, etc. to language and communication related problems in and between societies such as e.g. language variation and linguistic discrimination, multilingualism, language conflict, language policy and language planning.

Educational research• (Cobb, Confrey, Di Sessa, Lehrer and Schauble) –

design experiments and the metaphor of an ecology.

• Intermediate theoretical scope (diSessa, 1991 – glocal).

• purpose + rationale + context• variety of data sources• challenge: retrospective analysis and working

systematically and extensively at the same time.

Classroom(-based/centred) research

• The classroom is the crucible (the classroom as a co-produced interactional event) vs. a focus on inputs from the classroom (the syllabus, the teaching material) and outputs from the classroom (test scores) – ALLWRIGHT and BAILEY, 2004

Translation Studies (Lörscher, 1993)

• SL (source language) – TL (target language)

Translation as a product

Translation as a competence Translation as a

process

Translation Studies (Lörscher, 1993)

Translation Studies (Lörscher, 1993)

• Natural translation• Bilingualism is considered necessary, but not

sufficient when it comes to developing translating abilities.

• The study of translation strategies

Translation studies development

• Sociolinguistic approach – Political approach • The translator’s invisibility (Venuti)• Theory of Meaning (Semantics)• The “literary mind” – “metaphoric mind” • The “computacional mind”• Literature and Translation (Style)

Playing with a study case...

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBxgtYfDgwM

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulEMWj3sVA

Defining basic beliefs...

• What do we think about...

- Language;- Education;- The classroom or other professional practices;- Research – objectives, contributions, etc.