UTPL Escuela de Ciencias de la Educación mencion Ingles Lic Alba Vargas Periodo Abril - Agosto / 2009 www.utpl.edu.ec

1. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
ESCUELA: CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACION
MENCION INGLES
NOMBRES Lic. Alba Vargas Saritama
abvargas@utpl.edu.ec
FECHA: ABRIL – AGOSTO 2009
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2. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH II
FIRST BIMESTER
What is our goal?
 Identify and describe the major steps
and components involved in a
research.
 Differentiate each one of the steps to
design a research project
 Select a topic and design a research
project or proposal.

3. Didactic materials
 Printed didactic materials
Guide
 Technological didactic materials
EVA
e-mail
videoconference
telephone
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4. What is What is
educational
Research?
research?
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5. RESEARCH
Research Gay & Airasian (2003)
 Cn
Research ----- way of finding out
ANSWERS to ---Questions?????
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6. Educational research
Systematic application of the scientific method
for addressing
Educational issues topics
problems
(phenomena)
Information(general /specific conclusion or to
make predictions) 6

7. RESEARCH PROCESS: basic steps
Gay & Anderson (2003)
2.Recognize and identify a topic to study
3.Describe and execute procedures to
collect information about the topic being
studied
4.Analyze the collected data
5.State the results or implication based on
analysis of the data.
6.Write the report
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8. CHARACTERISTICS OF
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
 Attempts to solve a problem.
 Involves gathering new data from
primary or first-hand sources or
using existing data
 It is based upon accurate
observable or empirical
evidence.

9.  Employs carefully designed
procedures, methodologies and
rigorous analysis.
 Enhances knowledge and
education
 Objective ----validate procedures.
 Recorded and reported
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10. 10

11. Stage 1: Plan the research
Identification of the problem
 Is there a relationship between
language learning and culture?
 Do we have to include culture in the
English programs?
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12.  The lack of awareness of cultural
aspects, when learning to speak a
foreign language, affects effective
communication.
 Why do students in our public schools
fail to learn English?
 How do adults learn a language?
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13. Start to plan the research proposal
Why do we need a research proposal or project?
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14. Project or Proposal
6. Theoretical
background or
2. Title
literature review
3. Statement of
7. Methodology
the problem
8. Working calendar
4. Justification
4. Resources (budget)
5. Objectives
10. References
6. Hypotheses
Alvear Jannett (2009))
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15. 1. The title/topic
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16. The title/topic
The name of the specific research
problem or issue
Function:
- To differentiate the proposal/ project
from other ones.
- To announce the content of the
proposal or project
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17. How to narrow a research topic?
English language learning
English learning as a foreign language in
Ecuador
Factors that influence on the learning of
English as a foreign language in Ecuador
The influence of the native language
on learning English in
public high schools
in the city of Quito
Narrow topic
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18. 2. STATEMENT OF
THE PROBLEM
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19. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
CONTEXTUALIZATION
ACCESSING THE PROBLEM
 Description of the problem
 Description of the background of the problem
- Explain
- Analyze
- Grounded in theory
- Narrow the topic
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20. 3.Justification
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21. Justification
Why is the
 Reasons proposal
important?
Highlight the relevance
Who will benefit from the project?
Expectations in the society,
institution, community …
Feasibility and possibility
Time and resources
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22. 4. Objectives
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23. Objectives
Aims or objectives the researcher attempts to achieve
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24. 24

25. Examples
 Determine the most common Spanish
grammatical structures which interfere
in the learning of English grammatical
structures
 Identify the level of influence of the
native language on the verbal
performance of speakers of English as a
foreign language.
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26. 5.Theoretical background or
Literature review
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27. Definition
 John Creswell (2008) “a written
summary of journals articles, books
and other documents that describes
the past and current state of
information; organizes the literature
into topics; and documents a need
for a proposal study”.
 Document how your study adds to the
existing information. 27

28. Steps
Identify key terms
Locate different literature sources
Critically evaluate
Organize the literature
Write a literature review
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29. Why literature review?
 Know more about the topic
 Base the research on concepts
 Evidence
 How other researchers composed their
studies
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30. Important!!!!!
 Follow a standard documentation
style when citing sources and writing
your bibliography
 Social sciences follow American
Psychological Association (APA)
standards
 Humanities follow Modern Language
Association (MLA) standards
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31. Plagiarism
Is the unfair use of someone else's words or
ideas.
To avoid plagiarism you must Summarize, use
quotations, and paraphrase the information
that you take from other authors. That is, you
must properly integrate and credit all quotes and
paraphrases by citing authors or sources in
paragraphs. In addition, you must include a
reference list at the end of your written work.
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32.  Summarizing: express the main ideas
into your own words
 Quotation: “exact information, match
the source document word for word
and must be attributed to the original
author” (author / year /page)
 Paraphrasing: putting a passage from
source material into your own words
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33. Examples of in-text citation:
 Cheung ( 2009) suggests that the Internet is a
useful research tool.
 Gao ( 2009) argues that the Internet is a useful
research tool.
 Naomi Klein (2000, p. 3) notes that some
management theorists suggest, “that successful
corporations must primarily produce brands, as
opposed to products”
Verbs: state, argue, reports, suggests, claims

34. Example (paraphrasing)
McKay (2003) argues that culture influences
language teaching in two ways: linguistic and
pedagogical. Linguistically, it affects the semantic,
pragmatic, and discourse levels of the language.
Pedagogically, it influences the choice of the language
materials because cultural content of the language
materials and the cultural basis of the teaching
methodology are to be taken into consideration while
deciding upon the language materials. For example,
while some textbooks provide examples from the
target culture, some others use source culture
materials.
Bilal Genc & Erdogan Bada (2005)
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35. 6. Hypotheses
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36. Definition
A hypothesis is a tentative theory or
supposition provisionally stated by the
researcher to explain certain facts, and to
guide the investigation.
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37. Title of the Problem:
The inappropriate use of supplementary material
for EFL teaching in high school students causes
low achievement
Hypothesis:
Teachers do not use supplementary material
considering the characteristics of students
Title of a Topic:
Anglicisms in business signs banners and
builders
(no hyphothesis) 37

38. Types of hyphotheses
 Inductive hypotheses
Inductive reasoning
 Deductive Hypotheses
deductive reasoning
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40. Examples
Variables:
Dependent variable: low achievement
Independent variable: Supplementary
material
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41. INDICATORS
Measurable indicators provide a basis for
collecting evidence that is valid and
reliable for the intended uses.
Example:
- Teaching cards
- Handouts
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42. 7. Methodological
design
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43. HOW THE RESEARCH WILL BE
CONDUCTED?
Decide the Population or sample
Determine the methods
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44. Methodological design
 Methods : Descriptive, deductive,
bibliographical, comparative, historical
etc.
 Techniques: surveys, note-taking,
interview
 Instruments: direct observation,
questionnaires, cards
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45. 8. WORKING CALENDAR
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46. Working Calendar
The purpose is to help to :
 Organize activities
 Set time for each one of the activities
 Plan the whole research
 Guide the researcher to meet
deadlines
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47. Working calendar
DATE ACTIVITIES
April 24 – May 26 Plan and write a research
proposal or project
May 26 – June 30
…
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48. Activities April May June July
Plan and write a x x x
research x x x
proposal or
project
Literature x x x x x x
review x x x x x x
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49. 9. RESOURCES
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50. RESOURCES
 List of human resources
 List of material resources
 Budget (financial sources)
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51. 10. References or
bibliography
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52. Include all the sources reviewed
 Books
 Journals
 Magazines
 Electronic sources, etc
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53. Suggestions for
REFERENCE/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Use the style adopted by the institution
or the APA style which is
internationally approved.
Write the references in alphabetical
order
Be careful, the information must come
from a reliable source.
Use updated bibliography (5 years )
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54. Example
- Belenky, M.F (1986). A woman´s way of
knowing: The development of self, voice
and mind. New York: Basic Books.
- Schulz, R. (2001). Cultural differences
in student and teacher perceptions
concerning the role of grammar
instruction. The Modern Language
Journal, 85, 244–58.
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55. 55

56. Stage 2: research (field research)
Stage 3: Write and organize your
research report
Stage 2: research (field
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57. QUESTIONS?????
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58. THANKS
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