DAL02 2 The literature review

THE LITERATURE REVIEWas background for an empirical

study… typically in an MA dissertation or PhD thesis

What other sorts of ‘literature review’ are there?

WHEN SHOULD THE LITERATURE REVIEW BE DONE?

• Do you agree with this statement by a PhD student?

I will set aside the first year of my PhD to complete the Introduction and the Literature review. Then I can forget about that and concentrate on what data I am going to gather.

HOW LONG SHOULD IT BE?

• Not more than 1/3 of the whole text

WHAT SHOULD BE IN IT (1)?Range of topics to cover, compared with what

should be in other chapters • The data gathered by the researcher later is about

Japanese secondary school learners’ success in recognising and producing the English r/l distinction

• Which of the following should be in the lit review?

• If any of these should not be there, where should they be?

Description and discussion of previous research close to that of the researcher e.g. other studies of Japanese learners’ performance with r/l

Description of the wider research field into which the research area fits

e.g. acquisition of L2 phonology Description of the local context which the research is relevant to

e.g. the English teaching/learning situation in Japan at secondary level, especially with respect to pronunciation; what goes on in state school and juku; role of pronunciation in exams…

Discussion of theoretical background to the study, if there is one

e.g. contrastive analysis; theories of L1 transfer in L2 learning Definitions of key terms e.g. recognition, minimal pair The research questions and/or hypotheses of the study

e.g. Are Japanese learners able to recognise the English r/l distinction more or less successfully than they are able to produce it? References to how the researcher’s own study will be carried out

e.g. learners will be asked to read aloud pairs of words differing only in r/l, such as lack rack and the researcher will rate how well they make the distinction

WHAT SHOULD BE IN IT (2)?Relevant parts of the subject matter, compared

with what should be omitted• Some examiners take the ‘strong’ view that there

should be nothing covered in the lit review that is not referred to again when you have your own results. I.e. it must all be directly relevant.

• A more usual view is that some material should be there which concerns the wider research context in which the study is located, but is not directly relevant to the precise study being done.

• But at all costs avoid the ‘drunk under the streetlight’ syndrome.

• The researcher’s actual study is about the strategies/processes used by Arabic learners of English in Saudi Arabia writing both in Arabic and in English. It has a lit review (ch 2) divided into these four main subsections.

• Does it look as if the right topics are being covered? Or should topics be added or deleted?

2.1 Writing

2.2 Research on English L1 writing

2.3 Studies of ESL writing processes

2.4 Studies of EFL writing processes

• The study is of student attitudes to the effectiveness of two types of written error correction, ‘full’ and ‘partial’, given by the teacher writing on their scripts. Here are the lit review section headings:

IntroductionEarly researches on error correctionMore recent researches on error correctionTechnology mediated error correction

• Does it seem to cover the right areas?

• Is this the best way of starting the lit review chapter? The researcher’s study in fact is on the effect of prof level and age on guessing and dictionary use strategies

The current chapter aims at discussing the wide-ranging definitions and features of language learning strategies. Next, vocabulary learning strategies in L2 learning and some factors affecting the learner’s choice of a strategy will be examined. Furthermore, some studies related to the topic of this dissertation will be highlighted.

BALANCE and COMPLETENESS

• Give space evenly to each of a set of points?

• This is often said to be desirable, …

• A thesis on writing strategies of learners of English has a review of Studies on the sub-processes of writing, which states near the start:

The focus of much of the cognitive process research has been on individual sub-processes such as planning, generating, revising, and editing. Hence, this section presents a review of studies dealing with sub-process of writing...<There then follow one and a half pages on planning, half a page on generating, and two and a half on revising>

• Is there a problem with that?• How might the imbalance have arisen?

• When is it good not to be ‘complete’ or ‘balanced’?

– If your study is just about one area within a topic, no need to cover all areas in equal detail

– ….but tell the reader why you are doing that– You should be balanced and complete in relation

to your research focus, not in relation to ‘all that is there in the literature’

HOW SHOULD IT BE ORGANISED (1)?Overall structure types

• There should be a clear structure in the order in

which topics are covered

• From the above examples…. What two main ways of organising a literature review emerge as possible?

HOW SHOULD IT BE ORGANISED (2)?Sequencing and grouping of sections

• There should be a clear structure in the subgrouping by which topics are covered

• Section numbering should be logical and not too complex

• A study of Greeks learning the English article. Below are the headings of literature review sections in Ch2

• Suggest a suitable numbering for them, showing sensible groupings of the sections

• Introduction to the chapter• Second language acquisition• Theories of second language acquisition• Syntax in second language acquisition• Role of mother tongue syntax• Models of syntactic acquisition research• Syntactic theories of the article• The syntax of the English article• The syntax of the Greek article• Studies of article acquisition• Article acquisition by Greek EFL learners • Research questions and hypotheses• Chapter conclusion

2.1 Introduction to the chapter2.2 Second language acquisition2.2.1 Theories of second language acquisition2.2.2 Syntax in second language acquisition2.2.2.1 Role of mother tongue syntax2.2.2.2 Models of syntactic acquisition research2.3 Syntactic theories of the article2.3.1 The syntax of the English article2.3.2 The syntax of the Greek article2.4 Studies of article acquisition2.4.1 Article acquisition by Greek EFL learners 2.5 Research questions and hypotheses2.6 Chapter conclusion

• This is the index to a literature review of a study of the ways in which teachers give feedback on grammar errors in Saudi learners’ L2 English writing

• Some of the section headings are not satisfactory. Say why and suggest improvements

• The sequence of sections 2.2 to 2.15 does not really cover 14 topics that are equally distinct from each other. Some belong together in subgroups. Suggest which sections might be put together because they share a common overall theme.

2.1 Introduction2.2 Teaching writing to Saudi learners2.3 What is a L2 learner grammatical error?2.4 Grammar problems encountered by Saudi/Arab students2.5 Definition of feedback2.6 The significance of feedback in the EFL context2.7 Feedback in Saudi secondary schools 2.8 Teacher’s self-evaluation2.9 The significance of written feedback on grammatical errors2.10 The importance of written feedback on grammatical errors2.11 Types of written feedback2.12 Teachers’ grammatical feedback2.13 Feedback and marks2.14 The language of feedback2.15 Teachers’ methods of providing feedback2.16 Research questions

• The thesis is about dictionary use by university level learners of English, and the later questionnaire asks them about how often they use this and that type of dictionary. Section 2.4.2.2 reviews Different types of dictionary in terms of medium, and is subdivided as follows:

• Are the sections suited to the topic?• Is the numbering suitable?• Is the last paragraph appropriate?

2.4.2.2.1 Print dictionary

2.4.2.2.2 Hand-held electronic dictionary

2.4.2.2.3 CD, Internet, PC-based dictionaries

<... last paragraph of that third subsection runs...> To sum up, we have seen that different types of dictionary have different features. Print dictionaries are widely used and contain a lot of information. Handheld electronic dictionaries may not have so much information and may not be available to all students because of their high price. The CD, Internet and PC-based dictionaries have enough information but access to these dictionaries depends on availability of a computer. In our study, we will investigate all these types of dictionaries to see which type our students prefer, and use more frequently

SOURCESHow many?

• Almost everything in a lit review needs to be referenced… including – theoretical ideas – terminological definitions – results other people got– methods other people used…

• How many source references needed? – At least 100 for a PhD normally– Remember to ensure that all sources mentioned in the text are

in the list of references at the end– … and not to inflate that list with references not cited in the

text!

SOURCESWhich are appropriate?

• Clearly the sources chosen need to be good ones connected with the topics that need to be covered.

• They need to represent the key figures who have contributed to the field.

• They need to be up to date (e.g. not stop three years before the thesis is submitted).

• I am not here going to cover how to look for suitable sources to reference.

SOURCESCommon mistakes to spot: Authority of the

source• In a thesis on motivation, naturally the definition of

the term is covered:Motivation is defined as ‘the activation or energization of goal-oriented behavior’ (Wikipedia, accessed 18/1/10)

• In a thesis on the learning of idioms, the term ‘idiom’ is defined:The Oxford dictionary defines an idiom as ‘A form of expression, grammatical construction, phrase, etc., peculiar to a language’

• Talking about guessing the meanings of unknown words from context (two errors here):According to Scholfield (lectures Spring 2011), a problem with this strategy is that many contexts do not supply enough information to guess from with any success.

• In a thesis about acquisition of the English article system we read (two errors here):According to Krashen (cited in Ellis 1997), learners need comprehensible input in order to acquire language.

Common mistakes to spot: Who is the source?

• Any comment on the references here?Richards (2008) argues that the contrast between training and development has been replaced by a reconsideration of the nature of teacher learning, which is viewed as a form of socialisation into the professional thinking and practices of a community of practice. Similarly, according to Lantolf (2000), teacher education is now also influenced by perspectives drawn from sociocultural theory and the field of teacher cognition (Borg 2006) as cited by Richards in his paper and thus he says: ‘Becoming an English language teacher means becoming part of a world-wide community of professionals with shared goals, values, discourse, and practices but one with a self-critical view of its own practices and a commitment to a transformative approach to its own role’ (2008:161).

• What is the ambiguity here, which should be avoided?Bialystok (1987) feels that learning strategies are means to exploit available knowledge to improve learning. Hence it is important to teach students such strategies.

• And what may well be missing here?Considerable studies on the relationship between strategy use and language test performance have provided useful descriptions and generated taxonomies; however, most of them are neither supported by a firm theory of cognition nor based on powerful statistical methods of analysis (Purpura, 1997)

Common mistakes to spot: Recency

• In a dissertation on vocabulary teaching we read:The neglect of vocabulary in language study is borne out by Wilkins who comments that "linguists have had remarkably little to say about vocabulary and one can find very few studies which could be of any practical interest to language teachers" (1972:109)

• Talking about the interactive model of reading:This model is quite a recent one, which is proposed by Rayner and Pollatsek (1989).

PRESENTING INFORMATION FROM SOURCESWhere the source got the information from

• It needs to be clear whether what a quoted source says is: (a) based on theory, or (b) giving evidence from someone’s experience/opinion, or (c) a report of empirical research.

• These different origins give the information different weight in an argument. Here are some reports of what various sources say about vocabulary learning and group work.

• What status (a,b,c) would each statement below have, do you think? Which are not clear?

• What methods of reporting what sources say seem to indicate which status?

• Swain (1985) proposes that when learners are required to produce language through speech or writing, and receive feedback from peers, their language proficiency may be increased.

• Caulk (1994) concludes that the suggestions made by 85% of college ESL students for writing revision are effective.

• Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991) maintain that students can reach their learning goals only if others in the group reach theirs.

• Rewarding high-achieving students in a group may result in students either working hard or having feelings of hostility towards the winners (Johnson and Johnson 1994).

• Studies show that positive interdependence in a group promotes learning (Gabbert et al. 1986).

• According to Harkins and Petty (1982), when individual accountability is not included in group work, some individuals may contribute little effort.

• By exchanging knowledge in group work, individual’s learning is promoted (Johnson and Johnson 1994).

• Webb (2007) states that when help-givers give detailed explanations in a collaborative learning group, they benefit from clarifying their own ideas.

• It was found that a cooperative group with teacher and student processing performs the best (Johnson et al. 1990).

• Beck et al. (1987) suggest that a minimum of 12 exposures is required for learners to

be able use a word accurately.

• Craik and Lockhart’s (1972) depth of processing hypothesis assumes that the more attention learners give to new words, the greater the chance they will remember them.

• Two grade 8 learners of French worked together on a writing task and it emerged that learners’ language proficiency may be enhanced through discussion of word forms (Pica et al. 1989).

• According to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, cognitive functions are developed in the social environment though interaction (Vygotsky 1978).

• Gal’perin (1967) argues that after an interaction is internalised, it becomes mental activity.

• Research indicates that if students do not respond within one second, teachers may

repeat or rephrase the question (Rowe 1974).

• Every student has his/her own favoured ways of obtaining and processing information (Reid 1995).

• As Donato and Lantolf (1990) pointed out, learner’s knowledge building can be observed directly when speakers do problem solving tasks.

• Vocabulary learning is heavily influenced by personality differences and a host of other variables (Kojic-Sabo and Lightbown 1999).

• Stice (1987) indicates that students can retain 90% of what they say as they do something.

PRESENTING INFORMATION FROM SOURCES

THAT REPORT EMPIRICAL STUDIES What to mention about each study?

• Except in purely theoretical research, much of a literature review describes and discusses relevant previous empirical (i.e. data gathering) studies.

• This inevitably involves giving mini summaries of each study. But what should be in those summaries?

• A student is reviewing studies of planning and reviewing for her study of Saudi university level females writing in English. Primarily she wants to report what they found about planning and reviewing. Here are some studies she includes and how she describes them:

• Graves and Murray (1980) found that planning includes making notes.... • Flower and Hayes (1981b) found that planning activities occurred when

writers paused... • Sommers (1980) randomly chose forty writers, twenty experienced and

twenty freshmen or upper-level writers. Four revision operations have been identified… <These are then described>

• Stallard (1974) compared the writing strategies of fifteen good senior high school student writers with those of fifteen average writers.... and categorised revisions... <Revision types are then described>

• The basic information given about each study varies. What information minimally needs to be given about each study, in addition to what the study found?

TALKING ABOUT SOURCES The problem of ‘undercooking’

• You need to not just list what a lot of sources say about the same topic, but at the very least point out where they agree, where they differ, what the consensus is….

• In a dissertation about anxiety experienced by learners of languages, there is the following review of what causes it:

• Any comment?

2.5 The sources of language anxietyKitano (2001) categorises the sources of foreign language anxiety as: …

<6 are listed> However, Ganschow and Sparks (1996) narrow the sources of foreign

language anxiety to components of oral performance anxiety… <3 given>In addition Greer (1996) presents seven types of foreign language anxiety

sources that prevent FL learners from performing orally in front of their peers……. What causes language anxiety?.... It appears that it can be provoked by

both academic and social contexts.There are several sources that can cause language anxiety; for instance….

<4 listed>Writing on the topic, Horwitz et al. (1986 p127) draw attention to three

sources of foreign language anxiety…. At last, it seems that communication apprehension, test anxiety, self

perception of language ability and fear of negative evaluation are the most common sources of language anxiety. Thus these sources will be discussed in depth. <2.5.1…2.5.4 then cover those four in more detail>

• The above example avoided just listing what different sources said because…

• It provided a synthesis, stating the consensus.• But… what more could it do to be really ‘critical’?

TALKING ABOUT SOURCESCoherence and logic

• One point should follow on from another, there should not be contradictions, unacknowledged repetition etc.

• For each of these examples, say what the coherence problem is

• How might it have arisen?• How can one solve it?

• In a thesis on dictionary use:Hand held electronic (HHE) dictionaries are more portable than a dictionary-sized book and can supply many items and a large quantity of information. Furthermore they can provide antonyms, idioms, synonyms, as well as store dictionaries for several languages (Kent, 2001). <13 lines later in the same paragraph...>Zaher, Gupta and Olohan (1994) criticised HHE dictionaries because they do not exploit fully the computer’s ability to process and display lexical information .... They cannot be modified and offer only limited facilities, usually translations. Another shortcoming is that their small size makes operation difficult,....

• In a dissertation on the strategies used by university level learners of English writing both in L1 and in English we read: In a study of six EFL Chinese-speaking graduate students, Arndt (1987) observed that the writing processes of the subjects in L1, Chinese, were similar to those used in L2, English. Each subject wrote one essay in Chinese and one essay in English for the study. .... Arndt's study is very relevant to ours as it compares L1 writing and EFL writing. ..... Arndt found differences between L1 and L2 writing processes for each subject, particularly in the area of vocabulary. She found that the subjects "revised for word choice more in the L2 task than in the L1 task...." (p265).

• In a lit review about dictionaries:

Barlow (1996) claims that dictionaries do not have enough context to be of any value to language learners.

<nine pages later> Wichmann (1995) used corpora to teach German. She did this because, in her opinion, dictionaries do not give enough contextual meaning.

<43 pages later> Dictionaries may lack a sufficient amount of context to be of any real use to L2 learners. Barlow (1996) claims that dictionaries do not have a context that is rich enough.

Coherence with common sense expectation

• Sometimes a reader who is not a specialist, but brings only general knowledge to the dissertation, finds strange things said

• Do the following make sense?

• Can they be reworded to make better sense?

Hand held electronic dictionaries are helpful in occasions requiring speed like a test situation.

...the L1's role in L2 writing was viewed as a primary source of content and vocabulary...

The students are tested on reading comprehension, recitation of poems, dictation, writing skills, grammar and translation. There is no testing of speaking and listening skills.

TALKING ABOUT SOURCES:Cohesion using overt markers

• There are connecters in each of these that seem to convey a meaning that does not make sense. Explain each one.

• What would be a better connecter?

• The thesis on dictionary use:

Most of ESL students prefer to use electronic dictionaries because it is fast, portable and easy to use. It saves time and effort. ........ On the other hand, translation students mainly use HHE dictionaries because it is fast, easy to use, portable, and saves time.....

• And again:

The study <Tono 1984> found that these users tend to choose the first definition of an entry. Only if the information in the dictionary indicated the inappropriacy of the first definition did they move to the next one. When the second one was also inadequate, they moved to the third one and so forth. .... Furthermore, the subjects seem not to read whole entries but would rather stop searching for the required meaning as soon as possible.

• Thesis on learners writing in English, talking about the role of L1 in the writing process:As this section will show, the studies that deal with the writing strategies of EFL students as they write in the native language and English are very few. Hence, researchers have found evidence of the transfer of first language writing skills and strategies to the second language.

• Why does the second sentence not quite follow the first?Many studies have shown that readers vary in their awareness of the structural properties of texts (e.g. narrative, expository) and that this affects their comprehension of texts. Another variable that affects readers’ strategic processing of narrative and expository texts is the assigned goals or purposes for reading the texts.

• Defining ‘culture’:Robert Lado (1957), a famous linguist, defines cultures as “structured systems of patterned behaviour”. Similarly , Spradley (1980:10), a well known ethnographer, states that culture involves three fundamental aspects of human experience: cultural behaviour (what people do), cultural knowledge (what people know), and cultural artifacts (what things people make and use). Therefore, culture is “the knowledge that people have learnt as members of a group.” Byram (1989) sees culture as the way of life of the foreign country, including its arts, philosophy and ‘high culture’ in general.

TALKING ABOUT SOURCESShowing reasons

• A very important kind of connector in a thesis is the sort that connects the reason for something to what is explained.

• In the examples below, what reason is given for what?

• Are the reasons good reasons?

Foreign language anxiety can be defined as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors … arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (Horwitz et al. 1986 p128). Therefore it seems that anxiety influences language learning.

Second language learners can use corpora through a

concordancing program because corpora provide authentic data.

RELEVANCE:Showing connection with your own study

• Definition of a literature review on the WWWA literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic. It gives an overview of what has been said, who the key writers are, what are the prevailing theories and hypotheses, what questions are being asked, and what methods and methodologies are appropriate and useful. As such, it is not in itself primary research, but rather it reports on other findings.

• Do you agree?• One may deal with sources properly in all the ways we

mentioned above but still fail to write a good lit review because relevance is left too much to the reader to guess at

RELEVANCEMake it explicit: Use ‘signposts’

• A study evaluating a primary school English program

• What needs to be said next at the end of this?

There are two different categories of purposes of evaluation. The first is specific purposes, which are various because they are topic-related purposes. The second category is general purposes (Rea-Dickins and Germaine 1992), which will be discussed in this section. Kiely and Rea-Dickins (2005) identify two different general purposes, evaluation for ‘program accountability’ and evaluation for ‘program development’. In addition Rea-Dickins and Germaine (1992) suggest three general purposes, namely evaluation for ‘accountability’, evaluation for ‘teacher development’ and evaluation for ‘curriculum development’.

• Signpost your purpose, otherwise the reader wonders why you are saying all this

• A study of teacher feedback on writing

• What needs to be said next at the end of this short subsection?2.15.3 Comprehensive vs selective error feedbackA prominent challenge to writing teachers is whether they provide comprehensive or selective marking. To avoid fossilisation, some teachers prefer to give comprehensive marking to their students (e.g. Lee 2004; Lalande 1982), while others would rather use the selective method, which they believe is easier for students to handle (Ferris 1995b; Hendricson 1978). Huang (2006) argued that selective marking has some advantages, such as helping students to focus on specific patterns of mistakes and make codes much simpler for students to understand.

• Signpost your research question

• The study is evaluating a primary school English program (age 10 or so) in Saudi Arabia. There is a review of evaluation studies regarded as relevant.

• Which should be signposted as most relevant? Why? Could some be omitted?

• What would be the best order to follow in dealing with them?

Many evaluation studies of programs have been carried out round the world. The researcher will now present some studies conducted in countries where English is taught as a foreign language….

Obeidat (1985) evaluated the EFL program used at community colleges in Jordan (accessing 105 students with an average age of 22)….

Magableh (1991) attempted to find out student perspectives of an EFL program taught at the High College for Teachers’ Qualifications in Irbid….

Wang and Hui (1996) evaluated the English program at Fong-Shin Senior High School in Taiwan…

Al-Jarrah (1987) conducted a study to evaluate the course book used by fifth and sixth grade students in public schools in Jordan…

Al Nafisah (2001) conducted a study to evaluate the methodology and curriculum of English in the secondary and intermediate stages of public schools in Saudi Arabia…

Al-Shammari (2005) conducted a study evaluating textbooks of the first and second intermediate grades in Hail city in KSA….

• A student is reviewing research studies in preparation for her own study of vocabulary strategies of university level learners of English in Taiwan.

• Which of these are most relevant? Which are least relevant?

• How could these statements be improved to show their relevance in this respect better?

Studies show that matching teaching and learning style can enhance achievement at the college level (Brown 1978)….

Gu and Johnson (1996) found that the strategy of visual repetition was the strongest negative predictor of learning outcome. ….

Stice (1987) indicates that students can retain 90% of what they say as they do something….

Cohen and Aphek (1980) find that students of Hebrew who used paired associations have better performance than those who don’t….

Schmitt’s (1997) survey of first and fourth year Japanese learners of English showed differences in use of learning strategies….

New words used in productive exercises lead to better retention than those used in receptive ones (Ellis and He 1999)….

The keyword method has been shown to be effective: for example, the Russian word for battleship is ‘linkor’, and American learners can use the key word ‘Lincoln’ to help remember it (Schmitt and McCarthy 1997)….

• So….

• Signpost which studies have results that might provide expectations for your study (aka hypotheses), which not

• Lack of signposts is one problem, but signposts may be included and still be unsatisfactory

• Here a writer is trying to connect with his own study, but is the reasoning clear in each case?

Research by Shepard (1992) and Goring-Kepner (1990) found that there is not any constructive result from teacher error correction. However, students who received content feedback demonstrated notably correct grammar. It is worth mentioning that the feedback on form has several types such as grammar, spelling and punctuation. Therefore, the study will be focused on grammatical feedback.

The above model does not suit our purpose so we will merge it with the next one.

RELEVANCEReview methods as well as findings

• It is often a good idea to review methods other people used, as well as what results they obtained

• ….but of course again links need to be made to your own study

• Has the writer effectively signposted what method he will be using and why?

2.8 Ways to measure foreign language anxietyCasado and Dereshiwsky (2001:540) hypothesise that foreign language anxiety can be measured in three ways. The first is from observation of participants’ behaviour. Second is by self reports by L2 learners about their feelings. The third measure is clinical tests whereby heartbeat, pulse and blood pressure are taken. These researchers claim that observation and self reports might not be as effective as clinical tests. Nevertheless, they are more accurate in measuring foreign language anxiety than the clinical tests which measure physical symptoms related indirectly to such a concept.

• What more does the researcher need to say?

The evaluation process may be carried out by internal evaluators such as teachers, or external evaluators such as a group of professional evaluators, or both (Bazergan et al 1995). Allison (1999) argues that both types of evaluator have their advantages and drawbacks. He adds that a combination of both will lead to a deeper investigation that will help in making judgments and decisions. In this study, only the researcher will evaluate the program, which means it will be evaluated by an internal evaluation.

• Is a good reason given for the researcher’s choice for her own study?

Perceptual (sensory) learning stylesThis learning styles model is named differently by researchers, for example, Tamblin and Ward (2006) call it VAKT (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Tactile) and Dornyei (2005) calls them 'Sensory Preferences'. However, this study will consider kinaesthetic and tactile learners linked, because the instrument used to measure the participants' sensory preference does not distinguish between the two.

RELEVANCEBe selective

• When talking about other people's studies, it is important NOT necessarily to summarise everything in every study, but to pick out the bits that are relevant to your own project and say how they are relevant. It is a matter of who is in charge of what is talked about in your review...

• You, and the interests of your research• OR• The authors of the studies you are talking about, and

the interests of their research?

• A student reviewing a study wrote:

The other tasks in the study are irrelevant to us. They consist of... <10 lines of description of these tasks follow>

• A student reviewing causes of learner anxiety writes this. Is it all relevant, or does the paragraph ‘wander off’?

Sato (2003) summarizes some causes of anxiety. The first is the nature or type of teaching. That is to say the huge number of students in the classroom limits their ability to participate and makes them passive learners. Thus classrooms become teacher centred. Furthermore, classes with over 40 students will produce noise and chaos for both the teacher and students.

• The study is of what sort of English tourism workers in Mexico need to read in their jobs. Has she said enough?Jasso-Aguilar (1999) found out that maids at a Hotel in Waikiki “identified their daily room assignment as reading and writing needs for the job”. (Jasso-Aguilar, 1999: 44). This is related to the present research since the subjects also belong to the field of tourism and are likely to deal with tourists and to perform activities related to tourism matters although their range of activities may be different, also because one of the expressed needs of these subjects is that of reading comprehension in the field of tourism which is one of the variables in the present study.

• The study is of students and teachers in a Saudi university: availability to them of computers, their use of and attitudes to computers for learning English.

The meta-analysis study of Chua, Chen, & Wong (1999) stressed that computer anxiety is strongly related to computer experience. Their study suggested that the more computer experience the students have, the less computer anxiety they show and vice versa. Igbaria & Chakrabarti (1990) assessed 187 graduate students to examine the effect of computer experience on computer anxiety. They concluded that computer training decreased students’ computer anxiety and indirectly played a role in students’ attitude toward computers. ………

•

....... Similar findings by Al Shammari’s study (2007) which investigated the effects of computer knowledge and experience on the attitude of EFL learners at IPA in Saudi Arabia .Computer knowledge of IPA learners was defined by combination of four dimensions: computer ownership, years of computer experience, hours of daily use, and self-evaluation of computer experience. The results revealed that computer knowledge was a key feature in the formation of the learners' attitudes toward CALL. Particularly, hours of daily computer use and self evaluation of computer experience were the highly significant components of the computer knowledge variable which means the more daily exposure to computers the learners have and the higher they consider their computer level, the more the positive attitudes toward CALL they hold.

RELEVANCEAvoid ‘garden path’ statements

• A good lit review will highlight gaps in the research area which the researcher’s study will fill… BUT

• ‘Garden path’ statements are statements that lead the reader to expect that your own study later may be about something which it is not actually about.

• In each of these, what is the false expectation created? What could the writer say to make the path of what is said lead to his/her own thesis topic?

• The thesis is about the vocabulary learning strategies that learners use.Studies have shown differing results about the effectiveness of strategy instruction, pointing to the need for further studies in this area.

• A thesis about reading comprehension strategies used by Saudi university students. In most English departments in Saudi Arabian universities, critical reading skills are integral for fulfilling course requirements and assessment criteria

• The thesis is about the nature and effectiveness of teacher training in PakistanThe poor proficiency in English of students in Pakistan can be attributed to a number of factors, primarily the difficult literary texts in the required syllabus, the length of the syllabus, large classes, an examination system which encourages rote learning, and so forth.

• A student who later does a study of low proficiency learners using a corpus of English writes this:Context becomes an issue when learners’ proficiency is too low to guess the meaning of words from context. In this case using a parallel corpus could be a solution (St John 2001).

RELEVANCEObserve the logical order of events in your

thesis/dissertation

• Relevant…. but why is this a No No in the lit review?!

Raimes reports that low proficiency writers do less planning, but our study does not confirm this finding.

FINALLY

• Avoid statements which sound good but are basically vacuous

The ability to read and write is always at the heart of many countries’ efforts towards literacy development.

This research endeavors to answer the questions raised by the research topic and to shed light on factors associated with the research.

• .... And try to avoid purely language problems such as– Typo malapropisms– Needless repetition of words– Unsophisticated / nonacademic wording– Poor collocations– Poor lexico-dependent grammar