METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO RESEARCH IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

The learning of second languages, like any educational undertaking, is subject ta such a complexity of influences that the strategies of research cannot afford to confine themselves merely to those inquiry procedures that precedent alone has sanctioned. Bialystok and Swain, laying down three criteria to be used in selecting an appropriate methodology for any intended inquiry, review with examples the respective attributes and limitations of case study research, evaluative research, and experimental studies, by way of establishing that each has its necessary and complementary role in arriving at firm conclusions about language-learning.