Blog Dr. Faizal Risdianto: A.R.G.I: SFL appraisal, register, genre, and ideol...

Blog Dr. Faizal Risdianto: A.R.G.I: SFL appraisal, register, genre, and ideol...: The most important proposition in SFL Appraisal framework is that it is a system of interpersonal meaning that concerns evaluation, focusing...

The nature of Qualitative research

 

Qualitative research is an inquiry approach that explores how people experience, interpret, and give meaning to social or educational phenomena. In linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT), it is especially useful for studying classroom interaction, learner beliefs, teacher practice, and language use in real contexts.leedsbeckett.ac+1

SOURCE: https://www.perplexity.ai/session/1cd7eee3-bee4-4f9a-9770-17c16a02cae1

Definition

Creswell defines qualitative research as an approach for exploring and understanding the meanings that individuals or groups assign to a social or human problem. Its process involves emerging questions, data collected in participants’ settings, inductive analysis from particular cases to broader themes, and researcher interpretation.leedsbeckett.ac+1

C. R. Kothari describes qualitative research as research that seeks depth and context through non-numerical evidence, such as interviews and observations, rather than primarily through statistical measurement.nuevo.ieem.edu

Bogdan and Biklen characterize qualitative research in education as naturalistic: it uses real settings as the direct source of data, produces descriptive data, focuses on process, analyzes data inductively, and treats participants’ meanings as central.idr.uin-antasari.ac+1

Nature of qualitative research

Feature	What it means in practice
Natural setting	Data are gathered where the phenomenon occurs, such as an English classroom, school, or online learning environment. fenix.iseg.ulisboa+1
Researcher as instrument	The researcher observes, interviews, takes field notes, and interprets participants’ experiences. cjc-rcc.ucalgary+1
Descriptive data	The main data are words, conversations, documents, field notes, and images—not only numerical scores. fenix.iseg.ulisboa+1
Process orientation	Researchers study how something develops, such as how learners improve speaking confidence or how teachers scaffold vocabulary. cjc-rcc.ucalgary+1
Inductive analysis	Themes, categories, and explanations emerge from the data rather than being imposed entirely from a prior hypothesis. leedsbeckett.ac+1
Meaning-centered	The focus is participants’ perspectives: what an experience means to them and why they act as they do. leedsbeckett.ac+1

How it works

A typical qualitative study follows a flexible but systematic sequence:

1. Identify a meaningful problem. For example: “How do Indonesian EFL students experience anxiety when speaking English in class?”

2. Choose a qualitative design. Common options include case study, ethnography, narrative inquiry, phenomenology, and grounded theory.fenix.iseg.ulisboa+1

3. Select participants and a site. A researcher may work with one class, several students, teachers, or a school community, using purposive sampling to select information-rich participants.

4. Collect data. Common methods are semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, reflective journals, audio/video recordings, documents, and open-ended questionnaires.

5. Analyze data inductively. Following Miles and Huberman, researchers engage in data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification; these activities are iterative rather than strictly linear.businesssciencedaily+1

6. Develop themes and interpretations. The researcher codes transcripts and field notes, groups related codes into themes, and explains patterns in relation to the research questions.obssr.od.nih+1

7. Ensure trustworthiness. Researchers use strategies such as member checking, triangulation, thick description, peer debriefing, and an audit trail to strengthen credibility and dependability.

8. Report findings. The report usually presents rich description, participant quotations, themes, and an interpretation grounded in the data.

Miles and Huberman’s analysis model

Miles and Huberman view qualitative analysis as a continuous, interactive process rather than a simple sequence of steps. Their model has four connected activities: data collection, data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.businesssciencedaily

• Data condensation means selecting, focusing, simplifying, and coding large amounts of interview or observation data.iies.gusec.edu

• Data display organizes condensed data through matrices, charts, networks, or thematic tables so patterns become visible.theculturelab.umd+1

• Conclusion drawing and verification means forming provisional interpretations and repeatedly checking them against the full data set.businesssciencedaily+1

For example, after interviewing EFL students, a researcher may code comments such as “I am afraid of making mistakes,” “my friends laugh,” and “I avoid answering” into a theme called fear of negative evaluation.

Examples in linguistics and ELT

Research focus	Possible qualitative design	Data and analysis
Students’ experiences of speaking anxiety	Phenomenological study	Interviews with EFL students; themes such as fear of mistakes, peer judgment, and low confidence
Teacher questioning in English classrooms	Classroom ethnography or case study	Observation notes, lesson recordings, transcripts; analysis of question types, wait time, and student responses
Learners’ beliefs about vocabulary learning	Case study	Interviews, learning diaries, and reflective journals; thematic analysis of learning strategies
Use of English in multilingual classrooms	Ethnography	Field notes, recordings, and interviews; analysis of code-switching, language choice, and identity
Teacher professional development	Narrative inquiry	Teacher stories and interviews; analysis of how teachers interpret changes in their teaching
Digital tools in ELT	Case study	Observations of online lessons, student reflections, and teacher interviews; themes on engagement and barriers

A concrete ELT example: a researcher studies why low-proficiency senior high school students avoid speaking English. They observe lessons, interview eight students and two teachers, collect students’ reflective journals, then identify themes such as fear of peer criticism, limited vocabulary, teacher correction practices, and classroom participation norms. The findings could help design a more supportive speaking classroom.

Scholarly foundations

• Creswell emphasizes meaning-making, natural settings, emergent procedures, inductive analysis, and interpretation.leedsbeckett.ac+1

• Bogdan and Biklen emphasize the naturalistic, descriptive, process-oriented, inductive, and meaning-centered nature of educational qualitative research.idr.uin-antasari.ac+1

• Miles and Huberman provide a practical model for managing and analyzing qualitative data through condensation, display, and verification.theculturelab.umd+1

• Kothari highlights the use of non-numerical data, such as interviews and observations, to achieve depth and contextual understanding.nuevo.ieem.edu

• Douglas Brown is relevant in ELT because his work on language learning and teaching encourages researchers to examine learners’ affective factors, classroom interaction, motivation, and communicative language use—areas well suited to qualitative inquiry. His perspective supports studying language learning as a human, contextual, and interactive process rather than merely as measurable test performance.

In short, qualitative research in linguistics and ELT asks how and why language learning and teaching happen as they do, using rich contextual evidence to explain participants’ experiences and meanings.

Kebenaran selalu sederhana dan jujur

 "Kebenaran selalu sederhana dan jujur. Kebohongan selalu rumit dan berkelok-kelok."

 by Leo Tolstoy, Sastrawan Rusia

HAPPY UAS ASSIGNMENT OF ACADEMIC WRITING 2026

 

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Dear students,

Please carefully read the following instructions and guidelines for your Final Examination (UAS) assignment in the Academic Writing course.

1. Assignment Description

You are required to develop a research proposal employing a qualitative research approach. Your proposal should clearly identify the anticipated research participants or respondents and/or the written or spoken data that will serve as the primary sources of your research.

2. Required Components of the Research Proposal

Your research proposal must include the following seven components:

a. Research Title
Provide a clear, specific, and academically appropriate title that reflects the focus of your proposed research.

b. Research Problems and Rationale
Identify the research gap, explain the significance of the research, and highlight its potential theoretical contributions. You should demonstrate an academic concern or research problem (keresahan akademik) that justifies why the study is worth conducting.

c. Research Locus and Primary Data Sources
Specify the anticipated research setting, participants/respondents, and/or sources of primary data. These may include written texts, spoken discourse, interviews, conversations, or other relevant qualitative data.

d. Research Questions / Problem Statements
Formulate at least two research questions or problem statements that will guide your investigation.

e. Theoretical Framework
Identify and explain the relevant theories or theoretical frameworks that will underpin your research analysis.

f. Research Methodology
Describe the research methods you intend to employ. Your study must adopt a qualitative research approach using a case study design.

g. References / Bibliography
Provide a list of relevant academic references that support your research topic, theoretical framework, and methodological approach.

For further guidance, please refer to the following document:  Focus the Locus of Your Research UAS Assignment Dec 2022.pdf (available on Google Drive).

3. Submission Link

Submit your completed research proposal through the following Google Forms link:

https://forms.gle/rqi9PrNFy9yw26UP8

4. Submission Deadline:  Saturday, December 19, at 11:59 PM (midnight).

Please ensure that your assignment is submitted before the deadline. Late submissions may not be accepted.

5. Video Explanation and Further Guidance

For a more comprehensive explanation of the Academic Writing final examination assignment, please watch the following instructional video:

https://youtu.be/IJmGUUbyKRo

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Please pay close attention to all the requirements and ensure that your research proposal demonstrates a clear research focus, a well-defined academic problem, an appropriate theoretical foundation, and a coherent qualitative research methodology.

I wish you all the best in completing your final examination assignment.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

French offers various ways of saying hello

 

French offers various ways of saying hello depending on the level of formality, time of day, social relationships, and communicative situations. The most common expressions include Bonjour (Hello/Good morning), a polite and universal greeting; Bonsoir (Good evening), used in the evening; and Salut (Hi/Hey), an informal greeting among friends, classmates, and family members. Other expressions, such as Bonjour à tous (Hello, everyone) and Bonjour, Monsieur/Madame (Hello, Sir/Madam), are appropriate for addressing groups or showing respect in professional and formal interactions.

French also has several friendly and context-specific greetings. Coucou expresses warmth, affection, and familiarity, while Ça va? and Comment ça va? mean "How are you?" and help establish interpersonal connections. Quoi de neuf? (What's new?) invites people to share recent experiences, whereas Enchanté(e) (Nice to meet you) is commonly used when meeting someone for the first time. Other expressions include Allô for telephone conversations, Rebonjour for greeting someone again, and Bienvenue for welcoming guests. Regional variations also exist; for example, Bon matin (Good morning) is particularly associated with Quebec French, while French greetings in Senegal may coexist with local expressions such as the Wolof Nanga def?.

From a sociolinguistic and pragmatic perspective, French greetings communicate more than simply acknowledging someone's presence; they reflect politeness, social distance, solidarity, familiarity, respect, and cultural conventions. The choice between Bonjour and Salut, for instance, indicates differences in formality and interpersonal relationships, while Coucou conveys emotional closeness and Bonjour, Monsieur/Madame demonstrates respect. In France, saying Bonjour when entering shops, restaurants, or offices is an important politeness convention, as beginning a conversation directly with a request may sound impolite. Therefore, understanding these expressions helps language learners develop pragmatic competence, appropriate register selection, and intercultural communication skills.