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case study in linguistics

Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics

Patricia duff.

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Book Description

Case studies of individual language learners are a valuable means of illustrating issues connected with learning, using, and in some cases, losing another language. Yet, even though increasing numbers of graduate students and scholars conduct research using case studies or mix quantitative and qualitative methods, there are no dedicated applied linguistics research methods texts that guide one through the case study process. This book fills that gap. The volume provides an overview of case study methodology and examples of published case studies in applied linguistics, without attempting to be a comprehensive survey of the innumerable case studies that exist. The case studies presented here involve teachers and learners of English and various other languages in North America and other parts of the world. Advice is also given about how to conduct and publish case studies. Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics is designed for students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as other scholars seeking to understand case study methods and their applications in research on language learners and language users in a variety of contexts. Applied linguists working in other subfields will find the volume useful in their own research and in their supervision and evaluation of others' case studies.

Table of Contents

Contents:  Preface. Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics. Defining, Describing, and Defending Case Study Research. Examples of Case Studies in Applied Linguistics. How to Conduct and Evaluate Case Studies (Part 1). How to Conduct and Evaluate Case Studies (Part 2). Writing the Case Study Report.

Patricia Duff is a Professor in the Dpt of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia.  Her research interests include applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, second language acquisition (functional analysis), language socialization in multilingual settings, rearch methods (classroom research, case study, ethnography, discource analysis, task-based reserch), issues in the teaching and learning of English and other international languages, integration of ESL students in high school, university, and society, multilingualism and work, sociocultural and sociocultural and sociopolitical aspects of language(s) in education.

"This book makes for truly engaging and interesting reading! It is packed with useful analyses, examples, and discussions of the methodologies and epistemologies surrounding case study research. The wealth of diverse illustrations from the SLA literature also makes it a very important resource for graduate students. I hope many applied linguistics programs take advantage of this excellent textbook and begin offering courses on case study methodology!"  - Lourdes Ortega, University of Hawai'i "The book can serve as an effective resource for qualitative research professors in their preparation of course modules as well as for graduate students and more experienced researchers in the field of applied linguistics...Duff has been able to both offer a balance of conceptual and practical guidance and skillfully engage with different levels of inquiry (epistemology, ontology and methodology) throughout the book."  - Marzieh Tafaghodtari, University of Ottawa   "...this volume is a welcome addition to the AL research community, and both beginning and seasoned AL researchers will find it useful." - Modern Language Journal, 2009  "...this thoroughly researched and excellently written volume has the potential to advance the field of Applied Linguistics." - Johannes Eckerth, 2008   "Case studies are a widely-used research method in applied linguistics today, notably in the context of second language learning, teaching and use. For anyone not acquainted with this qualitative approach, Duff’s book serves as an excellent introduction to its distinctive attributes, the associated theoretical issues and to the practicalities of conducting, evaluating and presenting case study research." - Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2008

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case study in linguistics

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics

Article contents

Case study research on language learning and use.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2014

Case study research has played a very important role in applied linguistics since the field was established, particularly in studies of language teaching, learning, and use. The case in such studies generally has been a person (e.g., a teacher, learner, speaker, writer, or interlocutor) or a small number of individuals on their own or in a group (e.g., a family, a class, a work team, or a community of practice). The cases are normally studied in depth in order to provide an understanding of individuals’ experiences, issues, insights, developmental pathways, or performance within a particular linguistic, social, or educational context. Rather than discuss constructs, hypotheses, and findings in terms of statistical patterns or trends derived from a larger sample or survey of a population of language learners, as in some quantitative research, a qualitative case study of a person presents a contextualized human profile. Case study has contributed substantially to theory development, generating new perspectives or offering a refutation or refinement of earlier theories in applied linguistics by analyzing linguistic, cultural, and social phenomena associated with children, adolescents, young adults, and older adults.

In recent years, the purview of case studies in applied linguistics has expanded to include many previously underrepresented topics, linguistic situations, theoretical perspectives, and populations. This article provides an overview of some traditional areas of coverage and then newer foci in terms of methodology, thematic areas, and findings pertaining to language learners in transnational, multilingual, and diaspora contexts especially.

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Duff , P. A. ( 2008 a). Case study research in applied linguistics . New York, NY : Erlbaum/Taylor & Francis .

This book focuses on case studies in applied linguistics research dealing with language learners (since the volume is in a series on research methods in second language acquisition). Providing first an in-depth analysis and discussion of a Cambodian learner's English development, followed by a methodological overview of the history and development of case study research, the book then surveys representative L2 case studies across a wide range of topics, contexts, and age groups. Themes, issues, priorities, principles, and strategies for conducting and reporting on case studies in our field are identified.

Dyson , A. H. , & Genishi , C. ( 2005 ). On the case: Approaches to language and literacy research . New York, NY : Teachers College Press .

This very accessible book is part of a series of research methods texts commissioned by the U.S. National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy designed specifically for graduate students planning to undertake qualitative research in language and literacy education. Detailed examples reflect the authors’ own primary interests and extensive research in the social, cultural, and linguistic practice of literacy and its development in early childhood in elementary school classrooms in the United States. Principles and strategies are provided for framing and addressing research questions, negotiating access to research sites (and individuals), and generating, analyzing, and interpreting data. The final chapter deals with generalization in case studies. The book provides a solid foundation for those wishing to conduct school-based case studies on literacy.

Yin , R. K. ( 2014 ). Case study research: Design and methods ( 5th ed. ). Los Angeles, CA : Sage .

Now in its fifth edition some 30 years after its first publication, Yin's book has become a classic in interdisciplinary case study research. Its coverage extends well beyond education, with examples sprinkled throughout the book from sociology, comparative politics, health sciences, business and industry, and criminology. Appendices provide an in-depth discussion of case studies in psychology and evaluation. The book includes some welcome updates: additional case studies and reviews of new case study methodology studies and overviews, seven tutorials, a discussion of ethics, a glossary, and a better format and presentation than earlier editions. Yin, who earned his doctorate in experimental psychology, takes a decidedly more realist and positivist orientation to case study than Duff (2008a) and Dyson and Genishi (2005) do, thus readers will encounter much more terminology typically associated with quantitative research (e.g., reliability , validity , hypotheses , causal explanations , chains of evidence , and replication logic ). It is nevertheless a helpful resource for many case study researchers and this edition includes more interpretive work.

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Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics (Second Language Acquisition Research Series) 1st Edition

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Case studies of individual language learners are a valuable means of illustrating issues connected with learning, using, and in some cases, losing another language. Yet, even though increasing numbers of graduate students and scholars conduct research using case studies or mix quantitative and qualitative methods, there are no dedicated applied linguistics research methods texts that guide one through the case study process. This book fills that gap.

The volume provides an overview of case study methodology and examples of published case studies in applied linguistics, without attempting to be a comprehensive survey of the innumerable case studies that exist. The case studies presented here involve teachers and learners of English and various other languages in North America and other parts of the world. Advice is also given about how to conduct and publish case studies.

Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics is designed for students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as other scholars seeking to understand case study methods and their applications in research on language learners and language users in a variety of contexts. Applied linguists working in other subfields will find the volume useful in their own research and in their supervision and evaluation of others' case studies.

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Editorial Reviews

"This book makes for truly engaging and interesting reading! It is packed with useful analyses, examples, and discussions of the methodologies and epistemologies surrounding case study research. The wealth of diverse illustrations from the SLA literature also makes it a very important resource for graduate students. I hope many applied linguistics programs take advantage of this excellent textbook and begin offering courses on case study methodology!" - Lourdes Ortega, University of Hawai'i

"The book can serve as an effective resource for qualitative research professors in their preparation of course modules as well as for graduate students and more experienced researchers in the field of applied linguistics...Duff has been able to both offer a balance of conceptual and practical guidance and skillfully engage with different levels of inquiry (epistemology, ontology and methodology) throughout the book." - Marzieh Tafaghodtari, University of Ottawa

"...this volume is a welcome addition to the AL research community, and both beginning and seasoned AL researchers will find it useful."

- Modern Language Journal, 2009

"...this thoroughly researched and excellently written volume has the potential to advance the field of Applied Linguistics."

- Johannes Eckerth, 2008

"Case studies are a widely-used research method in applied linguistics today, notably in the context of second language learning, teaching and use. For anyone not acquainted with this qualitative approach, Duff’s book serves as an excellent introduction to its distinctive attributes, the associated theoretical issues and to the practicalities of conducting, evaluating and presenting case study research."

- Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2008

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Hood, M. (2009). Case Study. In: Heigham, J., Croker, R.A. (eds) Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230239517_4

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case study in linguistics

Linguistic Research Benefits: case studies

Federal funding for linguistic research is important--not just for linguists, but for anyone interested in helping people to better understand and communicate with each other. Our two-page  Issue Brief (pdf) is a good informational handout to use when communicating with policy makers on these topics.

The following are but a few examples of the benefits of federally-funded linguistic research:

Helping us understand American Sign Language

For the first half of the 20th century, sign languages were misunderstood in America as ‘broken’ or inferior in comparison to spoken languages, and were often ignored or suppressed in language education for deaf students. William Stokoe, a professor of linguistics at Gallaudet, was crucial in changing this perception.

Starting in 1960, Stokoe received funding from the National Science Foundation to study American Sign Language; he found that ASL is indeed a ‘full-fledged’ language that follows rules of grammar and articulation in the same way that spoken languages do. NSF funding also allowed Stokoe to co-author the first dictionary of ASL in 1965. Though this research was controversial at the time, it has revolutionized deaf education in the United States and improved the social and civil status of deaf people around the world.

Teaching computers to understand sentences

One of the most complex fields in linguistics is syntax—understanding the rules of grammar that make up language. The average sentence (such as this one) is more complex than you might imagine, and a major project in syntax is to create frameworks that allow us to specify a structure for every English sentence. Such frameworks (from the 1970s) have supported the creation of treebanks, large databases of sentences with their syntactic structure mapped out.

These treebanks are a gold standard in computational linguistics for helping computers automatically recognize, parse, and create English grammatical structures—and have been made possible through federal research funding. For example, one popular treebank over 7 million words in size (the Penn Treebank Project) has been supported by DARPA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Technological innovations in automatic translation, search engines, and other cutting-edge technology continue to be supported by research conducted with treebanks.

Understanding how communities respond to natural disasters

The aftermath of major disasters, such as the Nepal earthquakes in the spring of 2015, is a chaotic time; understanding how individuals react and rebuild in these situations can help us better prepare for disasters and minimize the damage they cause afterwards. Kristine Hildebrandt, a linguist and professor at SIU-Edwardsville, is conducting research to help us better understand these issues.

Dr. Hildebrandt is the leader of a project named “Narrating Disaster: Calibrating Causality and Responses to the 2015 Earthquakes in Nepal.” Funded by a linguistics NSF RAPID award, which provides funding for “rapid response research” in the wake of unexpected events, Hildebrandt and colleagues are spending several months in Nepal to interview earthquake survivors about their personal experiences and how their communities are responding and rebuilding after this devastating event. The construction and documentation of "survivor narratives" provides insight into the grammatical and discourse features of emotive language.

Hildebrandt, who is also acclaimed for her work to save the endangered languages of Nepal, will lead a team of local and international researchers to collect data in 11 different Nepalese languages. Hildebrandt’s team will also provide aid with healthcare and construction for the remote communities they will be visiting.

To learn more about the value of research in the social sciences and the humanities, see the Consortium of Social Science Associations and the National Humanties Alliance .

The LSA is interested in collecting other stories which highlight the value of linguistics research. Please contact LSA Executive Director  Alyson Reed with any suggestions.

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  1. Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics

    My first publication on case study research methods in SLA (Duff, 1990) convinced me that some of the complexities of applied linguistic research can be studied

  2. Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics

    Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics is designed for students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as other scholars seeking to understand case study

  3. Case Study Research on Language Learning and Use

    Case studies in applied linguistics share many features with approaches in these other disciplines, with individuals, families, communities, and cultural groups

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    In other words, the theory of this book requires that we treat the explanatory strategies used to interpret generics as a site of semantic deference to the

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    Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics is designed for students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as other scholars seeking to understand case study

  7. Case Study

    What kinds of issues in applied linguistics might be explored using case studies? 4. What data collection methods do you think a qualitative case study

  8. Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics

    ... Case study is a form of interpretive research typically that seeks in-depth understanding of a social phenomenon or issue. ... Case study is often (although

  9. Linguistic Research Benefits: case studies

    Linguistic Research Benefits: case studies. Federal funding for linguistic research is important--not just for linguists, but for anyone interested in

  10. PATRICIA A. DUFF, CASE STUDY RESEARCH IN APPLIED

    Case studies are a widely-used research method in applied linguistics today, notably in the context of second language learning, teaching and use.