Article published in:

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 171:1 (2020) ► pp. 62–89

Statistical knowledge and training in second language acquisition

The case of doctoral students

Talip Gonulal | Erzincan Binali Yildirim University

The present study investigated second language acquisition (SLA) doctoral students’ statistical training and knowledge of statistics. One hundred and twenty SLA doctoral students in North America took a comprehensive statistics survey, and 16 of them participated in follow-up interviews. The results showed that doctoral students were well trained in basic descriptive statistics, while their training in inferential statistics, particularly advanced statistics, was limited. When looking at their statistical knowledge, the results indicated that SLA doctoral students were good at understanding descriptive and inferential statistics, but they found it hard to interpret statistical analyses related to inferential statistics that are commonly encountered in SLA research. Several suggestions directed toward improving statistical literacy in SLA were provided.

Keywords: Statistical literacy, quantitative research methods, statistical training, second language acquisition

Published online: 02 April 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.18031.gon

References

Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Millsap, R. E.

(2008) Doctoral training in statistics, measurement, and methodology in psychology: Replication and extension of Aiken, West, Sechrest, and Reno’s (1990) survey of PhD programs in North America. American Psychologist, 63(1), 32–50.

Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., Sechrest, L., & Reno, R. R.

(1990) Graduate training in statistics, methodology, and measurement in psychology: A survey of PhD programs in North America. American Psychologist, 45(6), 721–734.

Borders, L. D., Wester, K. L., Fickling, M. J., & Adamson, N. A.

(2014) Research training in doctoral programs accredited by the council for accreditation of counseling and related educational programs. Counselor Education and Supervision, 53(2), 145–160.

Brown, J. D.

(2004) Resources on quantitative/statistical research for applied linguists. Second Language Research, 20(4), 372–393.

(2013) Teaching statistics in language testing courses. Language Assessment Quarterly, 10(3), 351–369.

(2015) Why bother learning advanced quantitative methods in L2 research? In L. Plonsky (Ed), Advancing quantitative methods in second language research. New York: Routledge.

Brown, J. D., & Bailey, K. M.

(2008) Language testing courses: What are they in 2007? Language Testing, 25(3), 349–383.

Capraro, R. M., & Thompson, B.

(2008) The educational researcher defined: What will future researchers be trained to do? The Journal of Educational Research, 101(4), 247–253.

Chaudron, C.

(2001) Progress in language classroom research: Evidence from The Modern Language Journal, 1916–2000. Modern Language Journal, 85, 57–76.

Creswell, J. W.

(2013) Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P.

(2011) Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

Cunnings, I.

(2012) An overview of mixed-effects statistical models for second language researchers. Second Language Research, 28(3), 369–382.

Curtis, D. A., & Harwell, M.

(1998) Training doctoral students in educational statistics in the United States: A national survey. Journal of Statistics Education, 6(1), 1–23.

Field, A.

(2013) Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. London: SAGE.

Finney, S. & Schraw, G.

(2003) Self-efficacy beliefs in college statistics courses. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28, 161–186.

Gass, S.

(2009) A survey of SLA research. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 3–28). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Golinski, C., & Cribbie, R. A.

(2009) The expanding role of quantitative methodologists in advancing psychology. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 50(2), 83–90.

Gonulal, T.

(2016) Statistical literacy among second language acquisition graduate students. Unpublished dissertation. Michigan State University, East Lansing.

(2018) An investigation of the predictors of statistical literacy in second language acquisition. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 49–70.

(2019) Missing data management practices in L2 research: The good, the bad and the ugly. Erzincan University Education Faculty Journal, 21(1), 1–18.

Gonulal, T., Loewen, S., & Plonsky, L.

(2017) The development of statistical literacy in applied linguistics graduate students. ITL – International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 168(1), 4–32.

Henson, R. K., Hull, D. M., & Williams, C. S.

(2010) Methodology in our education research culture toward a stronger collective quantitative proficiency. Educational Researcher, 39(3), 229–240.

Jones, M.

(2013) Issues in doctoral studies – Forty years of journal discussion: Where have we been and where are we going? International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 8, 83–104.

Kline, P.

(1999) The handbook of psychological testing. London: Routledge.

Larson-Hall, J.

(2015) A guide to doing statistics in second language research using SPSS and R (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Larson-Hall, J., & Herrington, R.

(2010) Improving data analysis in second language acquisition by utilizing modern developments in applied statistics. Applied Linguistics, 31(3), 368–390.

Larson-Hall, J., & Plonsky, L.

(2015) Reporting and interpreting quantitative research findings: What gets reported and recommendations for the field. Language Learning, 65(S1), 127–159.

Lazaraton, A.

(2000) Current trends in research methodology and statistics in applied linguistics. TESOL Quarterly, 34(1), 175–181.

(2005) Quantitative research methods. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 109–224). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Lazaraton, A., Riggenbach, H., & Ediger, A.

(1987) Forming a discipline: Applied linguists’ literacy in research methodology and statistics. TESOL Quarterly, 21(2), 263–277.

Leech, N. L., & Goodwin, L. D.

(2008) Building a methodological foundation: Doctoral-level methods courses in colleges of education. Research in the Schools, 15(1), 1–8.

Loewen, S., Gonulal, T., Isbell, D. R., Ballard, L., Crowther, D., Lim, J., Maloney, J., & Tigchelaar, M.

(forthcoming). How knowledgeable are SLA researchers about basic statistics? Data from North America and Europe. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Loewen, S., & Gass, S.

(2009) Research timeline: The use of statistics in L2 acquisition research. Language Teaching, 42(2), 181–196.

Loewen, S., & Gonulal, T.

(2015) Exploratory factor analysis and principal components analysis. In Plonsky, L. (Ed), Advancing quantitative methods in second language research. New York: Routledge.

Loewen, S., Lavolette, E., Spino, L. A., Papi, M., Schmidtke, J., Sterling, S., & Wolff, D.

(2014) Statistical literacy among applied linguists and second language acquisition researchers. TESOL Quarterly, 48(2), 360–388.

Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M.

(2015) Second language research: Methodology and design. New York: Routledge.

Norris, J. M.

(2015) Statistical significance testing in second language research: Basic problems and suggestions for reform. Language Learning, 65(S1), 97–126.

Norris, J. M., Ross, S. J., & Schoonen, R.

(2015) Improving second language quantitative research. Language Learning, 65(S1), 1–8.

Norouzian, R., & Plonsky, L.

(2018) Eta- and partial eta-squared in L2 research: A cautionary review and guide to more appropriate usage. Second Language Research, 34(2), 257–271.

Pierce, R., & Chick, H.

(2013) Workplace statistical literacy for teachers: Interpreting box plots. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(2), 189–205.

Plonsky, L.

(2011) Study quality in SLA: A cumulative and developmental assessment of designs, analyses, reporting practices, and outcomes in quantitative L2 research (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

(2013) Study quality in SLA: An assessment of designs, analyses, and reporting practices in quantitative L2 research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35(4), 655–687.

(2014) Study quality in quantitative L2 research (1990–2010): A methodological synthesis and call for reform. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 450–470.

(Ed.) (2015) Advancing quantitative methods in second language research. New York: Routledge.

Plonsky, L., & Derrick, D. J.

(2016) A meta-analysis of reliability coefficients in second language research. The Modern Language Journal, 100(2), 538–553.

Plonsky, L., & Gass, S.

(2011) Quantitative research methods, study quality, and outcomes: The case of interaction research. Language Learning, 61(2), 325–366.

Plonsky, L., & Gonulal, T.

(2015) Methodological synthesis in quantitative L2 research: A review of reviews and a case study of exploratory factor analysis. Language Learning, 65(S1), 9–36.

Plonsky, L., Egbert, J., & LaFlair, G. T.

(2014) Bootstrapping in applied linguistics: Assessing its potential using shared data. Applied Linguistics, 36(5), 591–610.

Plonsky, L., & Oswald, F. L.

(2017) Multiple regression as a flexible alternative to ANOVA in L2 research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(3), 579–592.

Polio, C., & Gass, S.

(1997) Replication and reporting. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(4), 499–508.

Rossen, E., & Oakland, T.

(2008) Graduate preparation in research methods: The current status of APA-accredited professional programs in psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2(1), 42–49.

Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W.

(2002) Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7(2), 144–177.

Schield, M.

(1999) Statistical literacy: Thinking critically about statistics. Of Significance, 1(1), 15–20.

(2002) Statistical Literacy Survey. Retrieved from www.StatLit.org/pdf/2006SchieldIASSIST.pdf

(2004) Statistical literacy and liberal education at Augsburg College. Peer Review, 6, 16–18. Retrieved from www.StatLit.org/pdf/2004SchieldAACU.pdf

(2010) Assessing statistical literacy: Take CARE. In P. Bidgood, N. Hunt & F. Jolliffe (Eds) Assessment Methods in Statistical Education: An International Perspective. John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

Skidmore, S. T., & Thompson, B.

(2010) Statistical techniques used in published articles: A historical review of reviews. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70(5), 777–795.

Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L.

(2013) Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.

Thompson, B.

(1999) Five methodology errors in educational research: A pantheon of statistical significance and other faux pas. In B. Thompson (Ed.), Advances in social science methodology (Vol. 5, pp. 23–86). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

Wallman, K. K.

(1993) Enhancing statistical literacy: Enriching our society. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 88(421), 1–8.

Winke, P.

(2014) Testing hypotheses about language learning using structural equation modeling. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 102–122.

Zimiles, H.

(2009) Ramifications of increased training in quantitative methodology. American Psychologist, 64(1), 51–56.

Cited by

Cited by other publications

Loewen, Shawn, Talip Gönülal, Daniel R. Isbell, Laura Ballard, Dustin Crowther, Jungmin Lim, Jeffrey Maloney & Magda Tigchelaar

2019. HOW KNOWLEDGEABLE ARE APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND SLA RESEARCHERS ABOUT BASIC STATISTICS?. Studies in Second Language Acquisition ► pp. 1 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 february 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.