Syntactic transfer studies in L3A.
Description Systematic Review Dissertation Proposal (1925 – 2200 words, excluding references) A systematic review of syntactic transfer studies in third language acquisition Outline 1. Proposed title 2. Introduction This section sets the stage and frames your project and research question(s) 3. Preminary literature review It is critical that your literature supports your research question(s), and the aims and goals of your project. This is not a book report. All literature used must clearly tie into your project. It should show that you are familiar with the key works in the area. Explain how the currect literature addresses the issue you have identified, give summary of recent debates in the area and explain the current shortcomings in the existing scholarship. 4. Motivation Justification of project on theoretical and practical grounds and in terms of personal interest. Explain how your research will address the gap or shortcomings in knowledge, why it is original and why further research in the area is important. 5. Research questions – that the review is intended to answer 6. Proposed methodology – systematic review of literature 7. Search strategy for identification of studies – specify the search terms that you used to find articles. * see attached example flow chart * Specify how you went from articles searched in databases, first review of papers to how many papers remain (expecting around 10 relevent studies). 8. Materials Specify where you searched for articles e.g. journal databases, library catalogue, subject specific professional websites, newspapers database, etc. Methods of identifying potentially relevant studies – Searching multiple bibliographic databases – Scanning references lists of existing reviews and eligible studies – Scanning conference proceedings – Hand-searching key journals – Forward citation searching of seminal articles – Contacting scholars in the area – Searching the internet Criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies in the review – specify the criteria that were used to determine which studies are included in, or excluded from, a systematic review. Common inclusion criteria: set timeframe or publication date range, language or national context, main focus of the paper, explicit methodology, outcome measurements. Reasons for inclusion/exclusion criteria to be recorded 9. Procedure Method to extract data – define how the information required from each primary study will be obtained. If the data require manipulation or assumptions and inferences to be made, the protocol should specify an appropriate validation process. Method to synthesise the extracted data – define the synthesis strategy for combining the results of studies. This should clarify whether or not a formal meta-analysis is intended and if so what techniques will be used. If no meta-analysis is to be conducted, give reason. 10. Proposed data analysis The discussion should follow the basic format. What are the similarities and key differences between the articles in terms of methods, findings, results and conclusions? Are there any emergent themes? If yes, what are they? If not, why not? Do any idiosyncratic issues appear? If not, are all the articles harmonious with respect to conclusions and outcomes? If not, why not? Could be due to methodology, research questions, depth, type of data, etc. The goal is to think critically about the batch of articles that you have chosen and to systematically review them. This is not a book report where each article is a separate and complete paragraph, but an integrated systematic discussion. The key to writing a good critical review of literature paper is to identify and discuss common themes and or threads between the papers as well as critical differences. 11. Limitations – describe any anticipated limitations 12. Ethical Issues How information was obtained – must be obtained lawfully Accurate reporting of information – must be reported accurately Confidentiality – it may be necessary to protect the identity of people / organisations that you discuss 13. Reference page – Harvard referencing style only 14. Word count How will my proposal be evaluated? Organisation and presentation, style, referencing, etc. Writing style, spelling and grammar Followed formatting and departmental referencing guidelines Please cite and reference all resources used in the dissertation proposal.