2001-2015年应用语言学研究方法的使用趋势

Trends of research methods used in applied linguistics in and outside China: 2001-2015

本文选取应用语言学领域具有代表性的两份期刊TESOL Quarterly和《外语教学与研究》(简称TQ和《外研》),对2001-2015年520篇实证文章(TQ265篇、《外研》255篇)中量化法、质化法和混合法使用的宏观趋势进行对比,重点考察三个时段(2001-2005、2006-2010、2011-2015)量化法和质化法的使用差异。结果显示:TQ呈现的总体趋势是质化法(50.19%)>量化法(32.83%)>混合法(16.98%),《外研》是量化法(79.61%)>混合法(12.94%)>质化法(7.45%);三个时段,TQ中量化法与质化法使用的差异趋于稳定,《外研》中的差异愈加明显。最后,本文基于研究发现分析了上述差异的成因。

This article aims at comparing trends of research methods used in applied linguistics in and outside China from 2001 to 2015. Two journals of applied linguistics were selected as typical examples to illustrate the use of research methods: TESOL Quarterly in the US and Foreign Language Teaching and Research in China(henceforth TQ and FLTR). 520 empirical studies(265from TQ, 255 from FLTR) were surveyed and classified into quantitative(QUAN), qualitative(QUAL) and mixed(MIXED) methods across three five- year intervals. Results reveal that TQ displays a trend of QUAL(50.19%) >QUAN(32.83%) >MIXED(16.98%), while FLTR shows QUAN(79.61%) >MIXED(12.94%) >QUAL(7.45%). The study further analyses the causes of marginalization of QUAL methods in China.