Manara - Qatar Research Repository
Browse

Trustworthiness in L2 writing research: A review and analysis of qualitative articles in the Journal of Second Language Writing

Download (681.54 kB)
journal contribution
submitted on 2023-07-17, 05:12 and posted on 2023-08-10, 13:04 authored by A. Mehdi Riazi, Reza Rezvani, Hessameddin Ghanbar

Researchers in applied linguistics have long been concerned with issues of quality and rigor. Because of various paradigmatic tensions, many qualitative researchers have sought to move away from the entrenched concepts of reliability, validity, and objectivity traditionally associated with quantitative research methodologies. Given the significance of quality in research methodology and the wide variation in evaluative nomenclature, we set out to investigate how “trustworthiness” is addressed by L2 writing researchers in their published articles in the Journal of Second Language Writing. We first identified all empirical articles in the JSLW since its inception (June 1992) up to volume 56 (June 2022), assigning them to one of three research approaches: quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. We found 389 articles that used primary data for analysis. From this pool, 152 (39%) were coded as qualitative in terms of their data and methods. Using AntConc (Anthony, 2014), 43 articles were found to have used quality-related terms or techniques. We then developed a coding and annotation scheme to code and annotate all 43 articles. Findings show that although researchers addressed research quality in different ways, there is a widespread lack of systematic attention to quality criteria in L2 writing qualitative studies. We hope the study findings and discussion of this review advance Applied Linguistics qualitative research and understandings of trustworthiness. In particular, we hope both early career and experienced researchers will find the insights generated by this study useful when designing, conducting, and publishing qualitative research.

Other Information

Published in: Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2023.100065

Funding

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Year

  • 2023

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Institution affiliated with

  • Hamad Bin Khalifa University
  • College of Humanities and Social Sciences - HBKU

Usage metrics

    College of Humanities and Social Sciences - HBKU

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC