Mixed Methods in L2 Pragmatics Research

Abstract

This chapter presents the primary features of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. It outlines the potential for a research strategy initiated with a discovery phase followed by an empirical testing phase utilizing sequential mixed methods in second language (L2) pragmatics research. The chapter explores an intervention study exemplifying how a sequential mixed methods approach can be undertaken. It discusses a hypothetical study evolving originally from a casual observation of oral proficiency interview interaction in which a recurring pattern of first language listener responses did not align to the register of the interlocutor in L2 English. Mixed methods, an approach which integrates qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, are increasingly common in research designs. Research in L2 pragmatics tends to use a mix of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, frequently in the form of tabulations of frequencies, although researchers often do not explicitly describe the design of their study as using mixed methods.