Essential Statistics for Applied Linguistics

Description

Using numbers and research methods in your studies can be a little daunting at first. This book gives you straightforward guidance and no-nonsense advice on using, analysing and interpreting statistics and methodologies in empirical work. Each topic is introduced by an activity to help stimulate thought, and this is followed by a full explanation and exercises. Essential Statistics for Applied Linguistics: - explores different types of research and explains how to choose a methodology - gives clear explanations of statistical and mathematical terms - builds confidence and skills through hands-on exercises, examples and 'how-to' sections - offers online learning resources, including demonstrations with real data to be used with the software package SPSS Assuming no previous knowledge of methodology and statistics, this book will help you to acquire and strengthen your understanding, practice what you have learnt and feel comfortable with applying this new expertise to your own work.

WANDER LOWIE is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His publications include Second Language Acquisition: An Advanced Resource Book, Making Sense of Polysemous Words and Twenty Years of Research into Bilingualism: From Structure to Chaos. BREGTJE SETON is currently a PhD student at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, with research interests in applied linguistics and bilingualism.

"This is the book I'll recommend to all my students. It contains not just clear and accessible instructions on how to carry out all the basic statistical procedures in SPSS that applied linguists might need, but, crucially, it is preceded by several chapters on what researchers need to know and understand about samples, hypotheses, research design, dependent and independent variables and about statistical logic before turning on SPSS. The authors use simple examples from the field to illustrate their story, and present activities to get the reader aboard. This book is an eye-opener, and reading it is hugely rewarding!" Jean-Marc Dewaele, Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck University of London, UK "This volume provides a clear introduction to both the conceptual and practical aspects of quantitative research. Presuming no prior experience with statistics, the text encourages active engagement via problem solving and decision-making scenarios. Readers will gain the ability to critically interpret quantitative research, design their own studies, and are provided with step-by-step guidance for the use of tools such as SPSS. For anyone in the language sciences, this book offers an ideal introduction to essential statistics." Steven L. Thorne, Department of World Languages and Literatures, Portland State University, USA "An excellently organised, and concise summary of the basics concepts involved in research design, followed by a very accessible tutorial on how to use SPSS to perform statistical analyses. Clearly written, carefully illustrated, and with many thoughtful follow-up activities, this book is ideal both as a reference manual and as a coursebook for beginning researchers in applied linguistics. Highly recommended!" Peter Robinson, Department of English, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan