Research Methods in Foreign/Second Language Didactics

Abstract

This article provides an analytical overview of relevant research methods in applied linguistics significant to teaching practitioners. In the canon of language teaching literature, there are numerous volumes presenting insightful analyses of research into English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) context. This article seeks to familiarize English language practitioners with comprehensive, practical, and straightforward coverage of applied linguistics research within the three research paradigms of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. The twenty-first centurychallenges societies and systems with new demands and approaches, with schools and teachers being agents of those changes, responsible for their presentation, implementation and often evaluation. Teachers must have a good understanding of such changes and should be prepared to put new knowledge into practice. This can be achieved when a teacher becomes a researcher, engaging themselves in various activities that lead to a better understanding of the processes, to reflection upon teaching, and finally, to the implementation of new practices: becoming researchers intheir own right.