Academic Skills for the Graduate Students of TEFL

1. A Journey to MA Life
Taken by
Mehrasa Parisa
Alizadeh Mehran

2. A Journey to MA Life
Taken by
Parisa Mehran
Mehrasa Alizadeh
(PhD students of TEFL)
I have already been through the path.
And I am familiar with the ups and downs ;-)
Come and listen to my stories!
You can find me:
At the multimedia room (no. 101)
On Thursday, the 16th
of Aban
Everybody most welcome! :-)

3. A Workshop on (Re)search Skills
for MA Students of Applied Linguistics
Presented by
Parisa Mehran
Mehrasa Alizadeh
The followings are some of the issues that will be
discussed:
 How to find a good research topic
 How to do a search on the internet
 Websites for downloading free e-books and articles
 How to use databases
 How to take notes
 Research Methodology
 etc.
Thursday, Aban 16th
, 1392, 8 am - 3 pm
Venue: Multimedia room (n. 101), 1st
Floor, Faculty of
Literature and Foreign Languages, Alzahra University

4. A Journey to MA Life
Taken by
Parisa Mehrasa
Mehran Alizadeh
PhD students of TEFL
Alzahra University
parisa_mehran@yahoo.com
mehrasa.alizadeh@yahoo.com
Spring 2013
How to find a good research topic?
 Relating personal ideas to a scholarly
problem
 Talking with others to refine your
topic
 Using the internet to refine your
topic
 Using electronic databases
 Using our library
 Reading related theses and
Dissertations
 Further research sections
 You can also check these links:
http://www.tirfonline.org/resources/ref
erences/
www.carla.umn.edu
 Read and read and read!
Replacement for databases:
www.abooneh.org
paper.download@yahoo.com
Iranian databases:
http://www.sid.ir/
http://www.noormags.com/view/fa/de
fault

5. Outstanding TEFL Journals
 ELT Journal
 TESOL Quarterly
 The Modern Language Journal
 RELC Journal
 Studies in Second Language
Acquisition
 Language Learning
 Language Teaching
 Applied Linguistics
 Language Testing
 Language Teaching Research
 System …
Academic phrase bank:
http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
Oddcast:
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts
/tts_example.php
Some good research books:
General:
Second Language Research by
Mackey and Gass
Research Methods in Applied
Linguistics by Dornyei
Introduction to Research in
Education by Ary et al.
Quantitative:
Statistics without Math for
Psychology by Dancey and Reidy
The Research Manual: Design and
Statistics for Applied Linguistics
by Hatch and Lazaraton
SPSS: Survival Manual by Pallant
SPSS for Introductory Statistics by Mor-
gan et al.
SPSS for Intermediate Statistics by
Leech et al.
Qualitative:
Qualitative Research Design: An
Interactive Approach by Maxwell
The Coding Manual for Qualitative
Researchers by Saldana
Interviewing as Qualitative
Research by Seidman
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
Here is some advice about doing good-quality research:
Do identify a clear purpose for the study.
Do look for and read studies on your topic which already exist.
Do read some general educational research textbooks.
Do write down specific questions that you want to seek
answers to.
Do decide how to collect the information you need to answer
these questions.
Do get advice or feedback on your plans from others.
Do be realistic and considerate in what you expect the
participants in your study to do.
Do try out your plans on a small scale initially to see if they
work.
Don’t decide what your conclusions will be before you do the
study.
Don’t start collecting information before you are clear about
the purpose of your study.
Don’t do your study without reading about how to research.
Don’t expect your participants to give up hours of their time
to help with your research.
Don’t jump to conclusions for which you have no evidence.
And many more dos and don’ts that you will learn gradually and
insha’Allah share them with others and with us ;-)