Thesis in English Applied Linguistics and Methodology

Department of English Applied Linguistics

I. INTRODUCTION

Preparing your thesis is the final phase of accomplishing your university studies. You will specialise in
one particular area within either Literature, Linguistics, or Applied Linguistics. Each of the three
respective departments will provide assistance in selecting a topic and your consultant. You will find
general information in this chapter of the Course Catalogue, under "A szakzrs rendje az angol
nyelv s irodalom szakon". If you choose to write your thesis in English Applied Linguistics, please
follow the basic principles outlined below.

WHAT IS A THESIS?

A thesis is intended to be a serious academic challenge in the form of an analytical piece of writing
(research) as opposed to a purely summative/descriptive one. Research involves planned and
systematic investigation of a particular phenomenon, in other words research seeks to describe,
identify, and control relationships among phenomena in order to study them.
In your thesis you need to:
* identify a research area you are interested in and formulate one or more specific research
questions. The objective of the research question may be to discover or describe patterns of
relationships in foreign language learning and teaching. The aim of the research question may also
be to test specific hypotheses in the field to be investigated.
* demonstrate your familiarity with the most important literature in the field
* demonstrate your awareness of analytical tools and justify the use of the one(s) you are applying
* collect or select a well-defined and justified set of materials you will base the analysis on (e.g.
empirical quantitative data, corpus of texts, set of coursebooks or practical activities)
* conduct an analysis by providing clear and convincing argumentation and presentation of results
* draw well-founded conclusions, which consider possible alternative views and explanations, as
well as practical implications
* document all the sources you used properly and follow the APA format guidelines (described in
Section IV).

NOTE: An analysis is essential for a successful thesis. If, for example, your work involves practical
materials design, the actual materials/activities should form the appendix of your work, while the main
body should contain the rationale for designing the materials the way you did, including the description
of the scientific basis and supporting evidence. Your conclusion does not necessarily have to provide
solutions to problems, but you are expected to demonstrate in it a deeper understanding of the selected
issue.

For more specific topics and a list of potential consultants, see the section "Offers thesis supervision in
the following areas" in the biographies of the teachers of the Department of English Applied
Linguistics in the autumn edition of the Course Catalogue. You can also express your own interest and
propose a topic, which you can then discuss with your supervisor.
THE ROLE OF YOUR CONSULTANT
In preparing your thesis you will be aided by a consultant. For the procedures to select him/her and for
a description of the ways he/she can help you, see Section II. Please note, however, that your consultant
is not responsible for doing any part of the work for you; instead, he/she will make sure that the thesis
is your original product.

ASSESSMENT
The thesis will be read by your consultant and an independent reader, who will grade it according to the
criteria described in Section III.

II. PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING A THESIS

APPLICATION
To get you started on your thesis in a timely fashion, five steps need to be carried out before 1st
October (if you want to submit your thesis in March) or before 1st May (if you want to submit your
thesis in October):
1. Contact the consultant you want to work with.
2. Decide on your topic, how you intend to investigate the topic, and your title (for now, a general
title is sufficient; a colon and subtitle can be added later to more accurately describe your work).
3. Type an approximately two-page proposal (about 300-350 words) following this format:
Heading: your name, your consultant's name, the topic of your thesis, the title of the thesis
rationale for choosing the topic
intended approach of data collection and analysis
expected results
4. Make and attach to the proposal an annotated bibliography of your preliminary readings
consisting of at least four books or eight journal articles.
5. Make three copies of the proposal. One is yours; give the second copy to your consultant and
have him/her sign the third copy.
6. Before 1st October (1st May), see the Head of the Applied Linguistics Department (Room 330) to
have the Faculty Administration Office's Hungarian thesis form signed. You must present the third
copy of your proposal in order to obtain a signature.
6. The consultant should be consulted at least two weeks before the submission.
NOTE: It is advisable to see the Head of Department well before the official submission date so that
you have enough time to rewrite the proposal if necessary. Also, in accordance with our Department's
rules, consultants cannot accept more than five students' proposals. If you do not submit your proposal
early enough, you may not be able to work with the consultant you would like to.

CONSULTANTS
Students are given the academic freedom of selecting their consultant. However, if you are not sure
who you would like to work with, or if you have any problems, the Department Head will assist you in
finding a consultant according to your thesis topic. For information on the suggested topics and the
Applied Linguistics staff members' field of expertise see the biographical data of the staff of the
Department in the Academic Guide (Owl Book). Written appeals for changing the consultant will be
considered.

Consultants can offer the following support:

a minimum of 4 office hours for consultation
clarification of appropriate research questions
suggestion of a reading list
advice on specifications of the approach to the analysis.

The consultant will not be expected to edit language, punctuation and spelling. The dissertation is
supposed to demonstrate your academic abilities; therefore the quality of your thesis is exclusively your
responsibility.

SUBMISSION AND MARKING

Two copies (one bound in black) of the final draft are to be submitted to the Faculty Student
Consultation Office (Diktancsad) not later than 30th March, or 30th October (for details, see "A
szakzrs rendje"). The Head of Department will appoint the readers for all dissertations submitted in
time. Readers and consultants will each receive a copy for marking.
Markers are required to assign a mark and submit a report of justification. The final mark of your thesis
will be decided on at a formal Thesis Markers' Meeting chaired by the Head of the Applied Linguistics
Department. The date of this meeting will be posted each term. Conflicting marks will be negotiated
and reconciled. If necessary, a third reader will be appointed by the Head. You will be informed about
the final mark and receive a copy of the reviews in the Administration Office (Room 330) after the
meeting.
The readers' reports are normally 1-2 typed pages and include a detailed evaluation of the main aspects
of the thesis following the marking criteria outlined in Section III. The mark approved by the
Department is not subject to appeal.
 III. THESIS MARKING CRITERIA
I. FORM (10 points - 40%)
Format (5 points)
Layout: Professional appearance (neatness, spacing, fonts, margins).
Structure: Division into main parts, clarity of organisation, subheadings, paragraphs.
APA reference and citation style.
Language (5 points)
Accuracy (grammar, punctuation, etc.).
Register (appropriate academic style, reader-friendliness).
Discourse (clarity of argumentation, cohesion within and transition between
paragraphs)

II. CONTENT (15 points - 60%)

Review of the literature (5 points)
Clear relationship between the research question and the literature survey.
Familiarity with relevant literature and research results (placing the research topic
within the development of the field).
Analysis (10 points)
Research question(s) and objectives: original and explicitly formulated.
Materials: a well-specified and justified set of materials ( e.g. empirical quantitative
data, corpus of texts, set of coursebooks or practical activities).
Originality: proof of original and independent use of academic research tools,
providing new approach to the area researched.
Procedures: (of data collection, data analysis and interpretation) clearly and
systematically presented with convincing arguments/justification.
Results: clearly presented (e.g. in tables, figures, charts or graphs if necessary) and
interpreted.
Conclusion: well-supported, convincingly related to the study as a whole, includes
consideration of alternative interpretations and views, draws practical implications
from the study (where appropriate).

IV. GUIDELINES ON THE CONTENT, STRUCTURE

AND FORM OF THE THESIS
CONTENT

Thesis papers may be of two types: theoretical or empirical. A theoretical paper

usually focuses on an ambiguous problem. In this case, the main aim of the thesis is to
show various treatments of the particular problem in the field and provide a synthesis
of literature and original solution of the problem. The paper starts with the
comparison of what different authors say about the same topic, that is, a survey of the
relevant literature arranged into some logical framework invented by the writer. The
overview should be critical, and should be followed by an argumentative proposal of
the writers own opinion and solution of the problem.
Writing an empirical thesis paper in applied linguistics and language pedagogy
is more common than theoretical papers. A research paper should also investigate a
problem and is argumentative in nature, but unlike in the theoretical paper, the writer
uses empirical data to support his/her hypotheses. Empirical research has two types:
qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research studies an individual case or a
limited number of cases closely with the purpose of understanding the particular
phenomenon/phenomena from the perspective of the participants. Quantitative studies
usually take an outsider's perspective and involve a sufficient number of participants
so that the findings could be generalizable for the behaviour of the population
investigated.
The topic of empirical thesis papers in this field can be the following:
Learning in the foreign language classroom
Learner characteristics
Teacher characteristics
Learner performance, language testing
Materials analysis and design
Curricula, syllabi, lesson plans
Teaching methods
The psychology of language learning and teaching
Classroom research
Sociolinguistics (e.g. language and gender)
Pragmatics
Discourse analysis
Communicative competence
any other topic approved of by the consultant

An empirical thesis paper can apply various research tools, preferably a combination
of the following:
Questionnaires
Interview
Textbook analysis
Observation
Text analysis
Spoken interaction analysis
Verbal reports
Analysis of methods, experiments
Diary
Tests

STRUCTURE

The structure of a theoretical thesis paper

Theoretical thesis papers usually follow an argumentative pattern and are organised around the solution
of a problem. Questions that are normally addressed in such papers include:

What is the point/topic of the study?

Why is this topic interesting/relevant?
What has been done in the field so far?
Is there any problem with what has been done/said so far?
What is the problem with what has been done/said?
What solution may be offered?
Why is this solution good, or not so good?

Depending on the nature of the problem, such papers may be structured in different ways. A typical
pattern of organisation is presented below:

Preliminary pages: These will normally include a title page (according to the format specified in "A
szakzrs rendje"), and a table of contents, which includes the chapters of the paper and also the
materials in the Appendices.

Abstract:
A short summary of the topic and the main findings (100-150 words).

Introduction:
The introduction normally starts by introducing the subject of the paper and its relevance, that is, the
reason why it is considered as an interesting issue to explore. This is followed by the statement of the
problem related to the issue (i.e. the situation presented) and the authors position regarding the
solution of this problem. The exact aim of the paper and the main research question(s) should be clearly
formulated. (In theoretical papers, research questions relate to finding possible solutions to the
problem.) The introduction generally ends with a brief overview of the analytical approach/strategy to
be pursued and the outline of the thesis.

Review of literature:
The aim of the literature review is to provide theoretical background to the solution of the problem
anticipated in the introduction. It offers a critical review of the various treatments of the problem under
investigation, enumerating arguments representing the body of literature both opposing and supporting
the authors position. The survey should be organized into a logical framework invented by the writer.

Analysis (Solution):
The analysis (i.e. solution) section offers a thorough and disciplined presentation of the possible
solution(s) as envisaged by the writer. It should build upon the work of other researchers in the field,
but authors are expected to come up with an original solution. All arguments/claims put forward by the
author must be accompanied by some form of supporting evidence (e.g., examples, figures, facts, views
of other researchers). This section ends with an evaluation of the proposed solution(s), showing that it
is (or these are) exempt from the weaknesses identified in the opposing view(s).

Conclusion:
Theoretical papers normally end by a restatement of the problem under investigation and a brief
summary of the proposed solution(s) discussed. In the conclusion section, authors may indicate in what
ways the study contributes to current achievements in the field, refer to the limitations of the paper, and
point to possible areas for further investigation.

References: See empirical research papers.

Appendices: See empirical research papers.

(based on Swales, J.M. & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Ann Arbour:
The University of Michigan Press.)

The structure of an empirical research paper

Preliminary pages: These will normally include a title page (according to the format specified in "A
szakzrs rendje"), and a table of contents, which includes the chapters of the paper and also the
materials in the Appendices.

Abstract:
A short summary of the topic and the main findings (100-150 words).
Introduction: This should introduce the reader to the specific issue under analysis and describe the
research approach/strategy. Questions that are normally addressed include:

What is the point/topic of the study?

Why is the topic interesting/relevant?
How does the analysis relate to the problem?
What are the exact research questions/hypotheses?
How is the thesis structured?
How does the study relate to previous work in the field? (See `Review of the literature' below.)

Review of the literature: This section can either be part of the Introduction or can come under a
separate heading (or headings) which specify the main aspects of the review (e.g. "The history of
motivation research"). The purpose of the review is to develop the background, that is, to discuss the
relevant literature in order to give the reader knowledge of the field (specifically relating to the research
question) which the writer is researching.

A literature review should be a very thorough and well-structured overview, presented

on the basis of an original organising principle. That is, the writer has to make a
unique presentation of the existing literature on the topic. This means, for instance,
that simply presenting a summary on what Drnyei said about learner motivation, and
then elaborating what Gardner said about the same topic, does not qualify for a proper
review of the literature. A good overview is relevant, looks at all the aspects of the
given topic, uses a minimum of 15 serious sources, and presents the topic in a new
light. As regards materials downloaded from the Internet, only sources that have an
author and can be traced even after the submission of the thesis can be accepted.
Research design and method: The Introduction and the Review of the literature are typically followed
by a section in which the writer describes in detail how the analysis was conducted, that is, the
technical aspects of the study. Depending on the type of analysis, this may involve the explicit
description of the participants (if data were collected), the instruments (tests, questionnaires), the data
collecting and processing procedures, the set of coursebooks or activities examined, the corpus
analysed, the list of sources with a rationale for selecting them (when preparing a synthesis of some
sort), or any other subheading appropriate for the topic. The use of the particular method must be
justified.

A good method section describes the procedures in such a detailed way that anyone
wishing to replicate the study would be able to do so. All the data collection materials
(e.g. questionnaires, interview protocols, tasks, observation sheets) need to be
exemplified in the appendix. The method section should also describe the procedures
used for the quantitative or qualitative analysis of the data.
Results and discussion: The Results section will normally contain the results of the analysis, which
will detail and justify the conclusion. This section is often merged together with the discussion section,
which includes the writer's discussion of the results with respect to the original questions/hypotheses
and the consequence of the results.

Conclusion: This section briefly summarizes the main findings of the analysis, discusses possible
alternative interpretations and views, examines the practical implications (where appropriate), mentions
the limitations of the research and proposes directions for future investigations. All the conclusions
have to be drawn on the basis of the data, and not subjective speculations.
References: In this section the writer lists all the references that were cited in the texts (and only
those!). See Section V for details.

Appendices: The following materials are appropriate for an appendix: scales, tests, questionnaires,
handouts, teaching materials used or designed, raw data, visual aids, less important tables or figures,
practical examples of classroom activities, or other kinds of illustrative materials. The appendix needs
to contain a short sample of the data (e.g. filled in questionnaires, parts of texts produced by the
participants). If it is in Hungarian, it also has to be translated into English. All the other data has to be
made available to anybody interested.

FORM
The text of your thesis must be type-written double spaced on one side only of A4 paper. The left-hand
margin should be 1.5 inches wide and the other three margins 1 inch wide. The body of the thesis
(without the notes, references and appendices) should be at least 40 pages long and should normally not
exceed 55-60 pages. Your thesis should follow the APA format.

V. CITATION
In-text citation
The APA format documents a paper's sources by both citing them in the text and describing them
bibliographically in the paper's References list.
When the author is named in the actual text, the publication date always follows in
parentheses. The only exception is when you refer to the same work within the same
paragraph more than once, where you need to include the publication date only at the first
reference.
E.g. Alderson (1991) pointed out that TEST is a four-letter word. However, Alderson also...
When you refer to an author's ideas but the author is not named in the actual text, cite the
name parenthetically, followed by a comma and the year of the work's publication. E.g.
Conflicts are believed to be prerequisites for subsequent increases in cohesion and cooperation
within a group (Wheelan and McKeage, 1993).
Citing works by the same author published the same year: use a, b, c, etc. E.g. (Tyukodi,
1989a). Do the same thing in the References section as well.
Citing works by two authors: use both names in every citation, e.g. Tarone and Yule (1989).
Citing works by more than two authors: mention all the names in the first reference,
afterwards give only the first name followed by `et al.' and the year. E.g. Kis, Nagy and
Legnagyobb (1995), then Kis et al. (1995).
Direct quotation: Cite word by word, use quotation marks, and indicate the exact location of
the citation in the original text. This can be done in three ways: (1) As Larsen-Freeman (1990)
points out, "In the second language teaching field there is no interdependence among theory,
practice and research" (p. 261). (2) As Larsen-Freeman (1990, p. 261) points out, "In the
second language teaching field there is no interdependence among theory, practice and
research." (3) "In the second language teaching field there is no interdependence among
theory, practice and research" (Larsen-Freeman, 1990, p. 261).
Long quotations: Longer quotations (usually those of 40 words or more) should be indented 5
spaces from the left margin, without using quotation marks. The indented quotation does not
have to be double-spaced but can be 1.5 or single-spaced. Place the page number of the source
in parentheses after the period ending the quotation. E.g.:

There are those who believe that second language acquisition research is still at such a
preliminary stage that it is premature to base any proposals for language teaching upon it
yet. There are others, among whom I count myself, who believe that it is the task of the
applied linguist to make practical use of whatever knowledge is available at the time. We
cannot constantly be waiting to see what is round the corner. We must be prepared to stick
our necks out. (Corder, 1984, p. 58)

When to quote?
Beginner researchers typically overuse direct quotations. Only use direct quotation if
it is a definition,
it communicates a controversial issue and you want to make sure that you are not
misinterpreting anything,
something is extremely well formulated and you cannot or do not want to word it another way.
In all other cases summarise the author's ideas in your own words and indicate your source very clearly
by including the author's name and the publication date in parentheses.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using another person's language or ideas without acknowledgement. This also applies to
unpublished materials (e.g. student theses, lectures, lecture handouts, internet pages). If you want to
quote from such materials, document the source explicitly. Intentional or not, all plagiarism is theft;
therefore, it will result in the immediate rejection of your thesis.

References
References should be placed at the end of the paper, in the References section, listing each source cited
in the text alphabetically by the author's name (or by a work's title when no author is given). For
details, see the examples below. All the works or authors listed in the Reference section must be
referred to in the text.
EXAMPLES OF ITEMS IN THE REFERENCES SECTION

Book/single author Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Book/single author/2nd edition Popham, J. W. (1990). Modern educational measurement (2nd ed.).
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Book/joint authors O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in

second language acquisition. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Edited book Phillipson, R., Kellerman, E., Selinker, L., Sharwood Smith, M., &
Swain, M. (Eds.). (1991). Foreign/second language
pedagogy research: A commemorative volume for Claus
Frch. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Journal article/single author Medgyes, P. (1993). The national L2 curriculum in Hungary.

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 24-36.

Journal article/joint authors Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of
communicative approaches to second language teaching and
testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.

Journal article/multiple Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest
authors systematics for the organization of turn-taking for
conversation. Language, 50, 696-735.

Magazine article (each issue Rinvolucri, M. (1988, June). A light on the wall. Practical English
starts with Page 1) Teaching, pp. 15-16.

Chapter/article in Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1991). Cooperative learning and

an edited book classroom and school climate. In: B. J. Fraser, & H. J.
Walberg (Eds.), Educational environments (pp. 55-74).
Oxford: Pergamon.

Paper presented at Ndasdy, . (1993, April). The right accent: Pronunciation and
a conference tradition in TESOL. Paper presented at the 27 th Annual
TESOL Convention, Atlanta, GA.

Unpublished doctoral Duff, P. A. (1993). Changing times, changing minds: Language

dissertation socialization in Hungarian-English Schools. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.

Unpublished thesis Kossuth, L. (1995). Freedom in the buffet: An analysis of student

interaction and eating habits. Unpublished thesis, Etvs
University, Budapest.

With multiple works by the same author, arrange the items in the order of their publication. If the year
of publication happens to be the same, use small letters (a, b, c,...) to distinguish between the works. If
the References contain a work written by a particular author and another work co-authored by the same
author, the single-author's work should come first regardless of the publication dates.

Referring to electronically available materials:

APA - style of documenting WWW (World Wide Web) resources

Reference to on-line information

Author/editor, I. (date). Title of the article. [On-line]. Available: Specify path
Example:
Pritzker, T. J. (1995). An Early fragment from central Nepal [Online]. Available:
http://www.ingress.com/~astanart/pritzker/pritzker.html
Author/editor, I., & Author/editor, I. (date). Title of chapter. In Title of full work [On-line]. Available:
Specify path
Example:
Daniel, R. T. (1995). The history of Western music. In Britannica online: Macropaedia
[Online].
bin/g:DocF=macro/5004/45/0.html

Author, I. (date). Title of the article. Name of the periodical [On-line serial] Volume Number. Available:
Specify path
Example:
Funder, D.C. (1994).Judgemental process and content. Psychology [online serial] , 5.
Avalaible: http: www.cup.com/~psychology.html

Reference to information on CD-ROM

Author, I. (date). Title of the article [CD-ROM]. Title of the journal, Volume number, page numbers,
Abstract from: Source and retrieval number
Example:
Meyer, S. S., & Bock, K. (1992). The tip of the tongue phenomenon [CD-ROM]. Memory &
Cognition, 20, 715-726. Abstract from: Silver Platter File: PsychLit Item: 80-16531

Reference to computer program

Author, I. (date). Name of the program [Computer software]. Place of publication: Publisher.
Example: Miller, M. E. (1993). The interactive tester [Computer software]. Westminster, CA:
Psytek Services.