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2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Purpose?

Steps?

Modes of organisation?

Strategies for literature searches?

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Purpose: A literature review is essential in order to establish that your research is worth doing, that it is feasible, and that you what what you are doing. This may be done in several ways.

A. Outlining theory, and listing hypotheses which arise from it.

B. Describing previous research on a question, and identifying questions poorly answered, or unanswered.

C. Identifying disagreements among the findings of previous studies with a view to resolving them.

D. Noting methodological faults in previous studies, and making improvements.

E. Establishing that the question is thought by others to be important.

F. Outlining the nature of a practical problem which needs to be solved.

G. Outlining the philosophical basis, or view of business, upon which your proposed solution to a problem us based.

H. Taking up recommendations for future research.

I. Reorganising the literature; identifying trends and patterns.

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One of the early activities in the research process is the review of the research literature – the body of research information related to the research problem. After the problem has been identified, at least tentatively, information is needed about the problem so that it can be put in the proper context and the research can proceed effectively. (Wiersma, 1991, p. 45).

What is the value of a review of the literature?

Besides providing a context for the research study, the review may be useful in any or all of the following:

1. More specifically limiting and identifying the research problem and possible hypotheses.

2. Informing the researcher of what has already done in the area.

3. Providing possible research design and methodological procedures that may be used in the research study.

4. Providing suggestions for possible modifications in the research to avoid unanticipated difficulties.

5. Identifying possible gaps in the research.

6. Providing a backdrop for interpreting the results of the research study. (ibid., p. 50)

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Review of the literatureThis section should be a discussion of the

previous research that is relevant to the study.

Such a discussion should, at a minimum, provide

(1) the background or rationale for the study,(2) a demonstration of how previous research

is related to the study,(3) a frame work for reviewing the study.However, an author who is broaching an

unexplored area of research cannot cite previous works. (Brown, 1988, p. 46)

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Review of the literature A survey of the most important and recent

work of relevance to your field of study. Not usually sufficient to list key texts and

state the contents. Among the approaches you might pursue

are:+ to identify where writers differ;+ how the literature has changed over time.

One of the aims of the literature review is to demonstrate your ability to engage in reasoned argument and critical evaluation of the relevant literature. (HUFS, 1996, p. 14)

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Three important steps:

Presentation of theory

Significance

Implication

Modes of organisation:

Chronological

Thematic

04/12/2023 7(McCarthy, 2001, p. 114)

04/12/2023 8(Nyyssonen, 1995, pp. 159-160)

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For some applied linguists, there have existed several ways to define a task as follows:

Crookes (1986, p. 1): A task is ‘a piece of work or an activity, usually with a specified objective, undertaken as part of an educational course or at at work.’

Prabhu (1987, p. 24): A task is ‘an activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process.’

Nunan (1989, p. 10): A communicative task is ‘a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right.’

Skehan (1998, p. 95): A task is ‘an activity in which: meaning is primary; there is some sort of relationship to the real world; task completion has some priority; and the assessment of task performance is in term of task outcome.’.

Bygate, Skehan, and Swain (2001): A task ‘is an activity which requires learners to use language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective.’

In general, these definitions focus on various aspects of a language task. They all refer to the learner’s target language use combining his/her own experiences meaningfully to develop his/her communicative competence.

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• Branching – following up references cited in recent research articles

• Using a citation index – start from a key research study and see who has cited it

• Published indexes (eg Resources in Business) or abstracts (eg Dissertation Abstracts)

• Computer searchers – through the library or via Internet

Strategies for literature searches