Philip Montgomery, Michigan State University, Second Language Studies
Friday, November 12: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Description: In this presentation, I share preliminary findings from an ongoing mixed-methods study regarding the use of two rhetorical moves in applied linguistics RAs: 1) acknowledging limitations and 2) suggesting directions for future research. I collected 100 quantitative and 100 qualitative RAs from four leading AL journals (Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Applied Linguistics, and Journal of Second Language Writing), from which I created two specialized corpora, one for each move. The full study included a) genre analysis, which highlighted the relative prominence of these moves across methodological approaches and journals, b) p-frame analysis, which generated a list of linguistic frames with one or more variable slots (e.g., it is important to * (note/mention/realize)), c) questionnaires (n=118), and d) semi-structured interviews (n=20) with applied linguists at varying stages in their careers. In this presentation, I will focus on the p-frame analysis, which yielded a list of variable frames most typically used to acknowledge limitations (n=44, e.g., this study did not * (identify/control)) and discuss future directions (n=50, e.g., it would be * to * (interesting/useful; investigate/examine)), a list that may support the scholarship of multilingual and emerging scholars. I will also discuss implications for graduate program instruction and corpus analysis methodology.

Zoom Information:

https://msu.zoom.us/j/96737153934
Meeting ID: 967 3715 3934
Passcode: 056178