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Research Proposals for PhD in Linguistics

In the 'Research Proposal' section of the main application form, please include only 100 words outlining your topic, and upload a fuller research proposal as a separate document, in the 'supporting documents' section.

This proposal should be between 1500 and 2500 words in length , and should contain at least the following:

1. Title of proposed research project

This should allow the reader to place the research, at a glance, within an academic sub-field, as well as identifying the main issue to be addressed.  It should not be more than 20 words long.

2. Background

Outline the linguistic area in which you propose to conduct research.  Why is it important and interesting? What is the need for further research in this area? You should provide a context for your research.  Do this by referencing and briefly reviewing a number of key works in your chosen field, showing how your work is built on this prior research.

3. Research questions

You should give at least one overarching research question, plus a number of more specific sub-questions.  Make sure these questions all emerge from and are firmly grounded in the literature you have reviewed.  Ensure that these questions — particularly the specific sub-questions — are researchable; that is, they should not be too broad or too general.  You should also explain how these research questions can be considered original.

4. Data and data analysis

All projects will involve the collection of data of some kind.  In some cases, this will be based on native-speaker judgements.  Other projects will require experimental data, the use of existing or specially-created corpora, longitudinal observation, or sociolinguistic interviews - to name but a few data sources.  Will you be able to gain access to the data in the quantities required? Are there ethical concerns which need to be overcome? You should also be as specific as you can at this stage about the kinds of analysis you will perform.  What specific techniques will you use? What statistical analyses will you be performing (if any)? Mention any software you envisage using.

5. Fit with Departmental Research Interests

Before you formulate your proposal, you should look carefully through the Department of Language and Linguistic Science web pages to identify staff members who might be able to supervise your research.  You may mention the person or people by name.  You are also encouraged (though you are not obliged) to contact individual staff members to find out if they believe your ideas to be viable and if they would in principle be interested in supervising your project.

6. References

You should provide a list of the works you have referred to in your proposal. Don't list other works which may be relevant: this is to assure the reader that you have read and understood the literature you have cited.

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“Research Proposal and Thesis Writing: Narrative of a Recently Graduated Researcher in Applied Linguistics.”

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Guidelines for the Dissertation Proposal Document

Format of the exam paper.

The written proposal takes the form of a full research proposal using an established formatting style (APA, LSA; 12-point, Times New Roman).  The proposal is to be submitted in electronic format to committee members unless they explicitly request a hard copy.  The proposal, along with page limits, is as follows.

Abstract (1 page, double spaced)

The summary is a succinct presentation of the entire project.  Without headings, it should address the following areas:

• Background.
• Specific Aim(s), including research questions and/or hypotheses.
• Methods, including data sources and data collection procedures.
• Analysis, including coding and/or statistical procedures
• Significance, describing intellectual merit and broader implications

Research Proposal (no more than 25 pages, double-spaced, excluding references)

The research proposal is a detailed presentation of the problem, a review of the literature, the presentation of preliminary data analyses, and the description of the proposed project.  It should include the following sections, with headings.  Page limits are suggestive.

• Introduction (one paragraph). A brief articulation of the research topic (“This study will investigate…”) and the research questions to be addressed.
• Literature Review/Background (8-9 pages).  This is a review of the relevant literature.  As applicable, it should include a discussion and evaluation of competing or alternate theories, gaps in the literature, the strengths and limitations of particular analytic techniques, and promising directions for scholarship and practice.  The discussion should lead logically to demonstrate the importance of the overall research question(s) posed by the student.
• Preliminary Data/Data Analysis (4-5 pages).  If you have preliminary data,  then you can present the analysis of these data here.  Only data that speaks directly to your question, methods, or analytic techniques is appropriate.  Include details about the source of the data, information about data collection and preparation of the data for analysis (e.g. transcription and coding), description of interpretative or analytic methods, examples of the data, and summary of the results of the analysis. These analyses should show that you are familiar with the kind of data collection and analysis that you propose.
• Research Design (12-15 pages). This section should begin with a re-articulation of the research question(s) and/or hypotheses and a brief introduction to the design of the research (1/2 page).  However, it should not include information already presented in the literature review.  Rather, this section should present detailed information about the following:
• data sources and availability of these sources (e.g. corpora, media, human participants),
• data collection techniques (e.g. audio or audiovisual recording, interviews, structured tasks, use of archived data, etc),
• data preparation (e.g. transcription practices, spreadsheet management, etc),
• data analysis (e.g. coding schemes, interpretive methods, statistical tests, etc)
• a description of the range of expected results and implications.
• Timeline (1 page).  You should include a timeline that takes the form of a Gantt chart showing your estimated periods of data collection, data analysis, and dissertation write-up.
• Reference List.  No more than 35 references should be included.

Writing a Research Proposal

Cite this chapter.

• Sue Starfield 5  

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One of the earliest documents that doctoral scholars have to write is a research proposal in which they provide a rationale and motivation for the research study they plan to undertake. This chapter discusses the form and function of a typical research proposal and provides a range of tools and techniques that can assist doctoral or graduate students in conceptualising and writing this high-stakes document.

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Research Questions and Research Design

The Roadmap to Research: Fundamentals of a Multifaceted Research Process

Research: Meaning and Purpose

In the North American context, PhD submissions are known as dissertations , while in countries with British higher education traditions, they are referred to as theses. In this chapter, I use them interchangeably to refer to the written submission of a doctoral candidate for examination.

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School of Education, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Sue Starfield

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Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Aek Phakiti

Department of Linguistics, Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

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Applied Linguistics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

Luke Plonsky

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About this chapter

Starfield, S. (2018). Writing a Research Proposal. In: Phakiti, A., De Costa, P., Plonsky, L., Starfield, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_9

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Home > School, College, or Department > CLAS > Applied Linguistics > Dissertations and Theses

Applied Linguistics Dissertations and Theses

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Differences in Syntactic Complexity in the Writing of EL1 and ELL Civil Engineering Students , Santiago Gustin

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College Student Rankings of Multiple Speakers in a Public Speaking Context: a Language Attitudes Study on Japanese-accented English with a World Englishes Perspective , John James Ahlbrecht

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Loanwords in Context: Lexical Borrowing from English to Japanese and its Effects on Second-Language Vocabulary Acquisition , Andrew Michael Sowers

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The Effect of Extended Instruction on Passive Voice, Reduced Relative Clauses, and Modal Would in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learners , Audrey Bailey

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A Study of the Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Interpretability of Standard Marine Communication Phrases as Perceived by Chinese Mariners , Lillian Christine Holland

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Empowering All Who Teach: A Portrait of Two Non-Native English Speaking Teachers in a Globalized 21st Century , Rosa Dene David

A Corpus Based Analysis of Noun Modification in Empirical Research Articles in Applied Linguistics , Jo-Anne Hutter

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Perspectives on the College Readiness and Outcome Achievement of Former Intensive English Language Program (IELP) Students , Meghan Oswalt

The Cognitive Development of Expertise in an ESL Teacher: A Case Study , Lyndsey Roos

Identity and Investment in the Community ESL Classroom , Jennifer Marie Sacklin

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Code Switching Between Tamazight and Arabic in the First Libyan Berber News Broadcast: An Application of Myers-Scotton's MLF and 4M Models , Ashour S. Abdulaziz

Self-Efficacy in Low-Level English Language Learners , Laura F. Blumenthal

The Impact of Wiki-based Collaborative Writing on English L2 Learners' Individual Writing Development , Gina Christina Caruso

Latino Men Managing HIV: An Appraisal Analysis of Intersubjective Relations in the Discourse of Five Research Interviews , Will Caston

Opportunities for Incidental Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary from Teacher Speech in an English for Academic Purposes Classroom , Eric Dean Dodson

Emerging Lexical Organization from Intentional Vocabulary Learning , Adam Jones

Effects of the First Language on Japanese ESL Learners' Answers to Negative Questions , Kosuke Kanda

"Had sh'er haute gamme, high technology": An Application of the MLF and 4-M Models to French-Arabic Codeswitching in Algerian Hip Hop , Samuel Nickilaus McLain-Jespersen

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy and Local Attendant English Language Training in Portland, Oregon , Domminick McParland

Explorations into the Psycholinguistic Validity of Extended Collocations , J. Arianna Morgan

A Comparison of Linguistic Features in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learner and English First Language University Students , Margo K. Russell

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The First Year: Development of Preservice Teacher Beliefs About Teaching and Learning During Year One of an MA TESOL Program , Emily Spady Addiego

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The Role of Expectations on Nonnative English Speaking Students' Wrtiting , Sara Marie Van Dan Acker

Hypothetical Would-Clauses in Korean EFL Textbooks: An Analysis Based on a Corpus Study and Focus on Form Approach , Soyung Yoo

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Negative Transfer in the Writing of Proficient Students of Russian: A Comparison of Heritage Language Learners and Second Language Learners , Daria Aleeva

Informal Learning Choices of Japanese ESL Students in the United States , Brent Harrison Amburgey

Iktomi: A Character Traits Analysis of a Dakota Culture Myth , Marianne Sue Kastner

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Foreign Language Students' Beliefs about Homestays , Sara Racheal Juveland

Teaching Intonation Patterns through Reading Aloud , Micah William Park

Disordered Thought, Disordered Language: A corpus-based description of the speech of individuals undergoing treatment for schizophrenia , Lucas Carl Steuber

Emotion Language and Emotion Narratives of Turkish-English Late Bilinguals , Melike Yücel Koç

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A Library and its Community: Exploring Perceptions of Collaboration , Phoebe Vincenza Daurio

A Structural and Functional Analysis of Codeswitching in Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life,' a Bilingual Play , Gustavo Javier Fernandez

Writing Chinuk Wawa: A Materials Development Case Study , Sarah A. Braun Hamilton

Teacher Evaluation of Item Formats for an English Language Proficiency Assessment , Jose Luis Perea-Hernandez

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Building Community and Bridging Cultures: the Role of Volunteer Tutors in Oregon’s Latino Serving Community-Based Organizations , Troy Vaughn Hickman

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Beyond the Classroom Walls: a Study of Out-Of-Class English Use by Adult Community College ESL Students , Tracey Louise Knight

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

A Dialect Study of Oregon NORMs , Lisa Wittenberg Hillyard

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The Acquisition of a Stage Dialect , Nathaniel George Halloran

Self-perceptions of non-native English speaking teachers of English as a second language , Kathryn Ann Long

The Development of Language Choice in a German Immersion School , Miranda Kussmaul Novash

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

Writing in the Contact Zone: Three Portraits of Reflexivity and Transformation , Laurene L. Christensen

A Linguistic Evaluation of the Somali Women's Self Sufficiency Project , Ann Marie Kasper

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

Attitudes at the Bank : A Survey of Reactions to Different Varieties of English , Sean Wilcox

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

A Comparison of the Child Directed Speech of Traditional Dads With That of Stay-At-Home Dads , Judith Nancarrow Barr

Error Correction Preferences of Latino ESL Students , John Burrell

The Relationship Between Chinese Character Recognition Strategies and the Success of Character Memorization for Students of Mandarin Chinese , Hui-yen Emmy Chen

Portland dialect study: the story of /æ/ in Portland , Jeffrey C. Conn

On Communicative Competence : Its Nature and Origin , Mary Lou Emerson

The Influence of Cultural Backgrounds on the Interpretations of Literature Texts Used in the ESL Classroom , Barbara Jostrom Gates

Chinese Numeratives and the Mass/Count Distinction , David Goodman

Learning, Motivation, and Self : A Diary Study of an ESL Teacher’s Year in a Japanese Language Classroom , Laura Ruth Hawks

Portland Dialect Study - High Rising Terminal Contours (HRTs) in Portland Speech , Rebecca A. Wolff

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The Bolinger Principle and Teaching the Gerunds and Infinitives , Anna Maria Baratta-Zborowski

Training for Volunteer Teachers in Church-Affiliated English Language Mission Programs , Janet Noreen Blackwood

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Phonological Processing of Japanese Kanji Characters , Randy L. Evans

Academic ESL Reading : Semantic Mapping and Lexical Acquisition , Jeffrey Darin Maggard

The Representation of Gender in Current ESL Reading Materials , Kyunghee Ma

Perception of English Passives by Japanese ESL Learners : Do Adversity Passives in L1 Transfer? , Koichi Sawasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 1997 1997

Non-Literate Students in Adult Beginning English as a Second Language Classrooms - A Case Study , Sandra Lynn Banke

A Case Study of Twelve Japanese ESL Students' Use of Interaction Modifications , Darin Dooley

The Home-School Connection: Parental Influences on a Child's ESL Acquisition , Catharine Jauhiainen

A Comparison of Two Second Language Acquisition Models for Culturally and Linguistically Different Students , Karen Dorothy Kuhn

ESL CD-ROM Principles and their Application: A Software Evaluation , Stephanie Burgi LaMonica

Developing a Language in Education Policy for Post-apartheid South Africa: A Case Study , Nancy Murray

Video Self-Monitoring as an Alternative to Traditional Methods of Pronunciation Instruction , P. C. Noble

Analysis of Rhetorical Organization and Style Patterns in Korean and American Business Fax Letters of Complaint in English , Mi Young Park

The Importance of Time for Processing in Second Language Comprehension and Acquisition , Jennifer Lee Watson

Theses/Dissertations from 1996 1996

The Constraints of a Typological Implicational Universal for Interrogatives on Second Language Acquisition , Dee Anne Bess

An Assessment of the Needs of International Students for Student Services at Southern Oregon State College , Molly K. Emmons

The relationship between a pre-departure training program and its participants' intercultural communication competence , Daniel Timothy Ferguson

An Exploratory Evaluation of Language and Culture Contact by Japanese Sojourners in a Short-term US Academic Program , Elizabeth Anna Hartley

Correction of Classroom Oral Errors: Preferences among University Students of English in Japan , Akemi Katayama

An Analysis of Japanese Learners' Comprehension of Intonation in English , Misako Okubo

An Evaluation of English Spoken Fluency of Thai Graduate Students in the United States , Sugunya Ruangjaroon

A Cross-cultural Study of the Speech Act of Refusing in English and German , Charla Margaret Teufel

Theses/Dissertations from 1995 1995

An Examination of the English Vocabulary Knowledge of Adult English-for-Academic-Purposes Students: Correlation with English Second-Language Proficiency and the Validity of Yes/No Vocabulary Tests , Robert Scott Fetter

English in the Workplace: Case Study of a Pilot Program , Kim Roth Franklin

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