Researching language learning: theories, evidence, claims
Conclusion
we have sketched out some of the influential perspectives taken by researchers engaged with just one kind of applied linguistic 'problem', which we labelled 'instructed language learning'. We began by suggesting that variables-based research rests (however implicitly) on a successionist theory of causality. A generative theory of causality, we proposed, opens the way for more dynamic accounts of the phenomena with which we are concerned. We argued that research- including applied linguistic research- needs to go further than merely acknowledging that the real world of human interaction is complex (a term used often merely as a synonym for 'complicated'), and should take fuller account of complexity, of emergence and of the implications of the stratified nature of the social world.
We noted that the theoretical and methodological orientations adopted by ILL researchers are heterogeneous, but we argued that these can nevertheless be seen to cluster around certain themes. Where the focus is on how teaching 'input' relates to learning 'output', researchers prioritize generalizability, often seeking law-like patterns which may account for regularities in learner characteristics, teaching styles and language-learning achievement. We provided a brief indication of some attempts to review the aggregated findings of ILL research as a step towards identifying 'what works' in language teaching, and concluded that there is very little consensus from the vast literature of studies in the variables tradition.
Where the focus is on the social context in which learners experience second or foreign language teaching and use, the field has clearly been influenced by sociocultural theory, the attractions of holistic descriptions and a critical perspective. Contributors to the more descriptive, ethnographic tradition, we noted, query the desirability of generalized claims, and privilege learners' own accounts of their experiences. An additional influence on which kind of research is undertaken was identified as the political and economic climate, affecting funding and the biographical experiences of researchers themselves.
It will be evident from these observations that we think there is scope for each of these broad perspectives to benefit the other, and that contemporary developments in social theory have an additional potential application in this kind of applied linguistic research. We will begin to extend and develop these ideas by considering one of the most fundamental aspects of a research program, namely the theoretical descriptions and categories by means of which we come to have knowledge of the social world.
