Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Philosophical Assumptions in ELT Research: A Systematic Review

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Awareness of research paradigms has been recognised as a prized asset to educational researchers. Yet, the extent to which philosophical stances tend to be reflected in papers remains enigmatic in ELT research. This study was, therefore, conducted to explore whether methodologies adopted by ELT researchers are underpinned by pertinent philosophical assumptions. In particular, it enquired into authors’ explicit reference to philosophical underpinnings of their research. In so doing, based on a set of rigorous criteria, a search of relevant articles was undertaken, culminating in 53 articles published in 24 journals, spanning five years (2015–2019). The results testified to researchers’ reluctance to engage with philosophical assumptions, inasmuch as only a small proportion of articles (7.5%) discussed the underpinning philosophical assumptions. The results, however, showed that ethical considerations appear to be a well-established phenomenon, of which the majority of researchers (60.4%) took heed. Moreover, the adopted word cloud technique introduced the highly frequent words used in the methods sections. The results are imbued with some implications for ELT researchers and academics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

  • Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. London: Sage.

  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Paradigms and perspectives in contention. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 183–190). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2018). Paradigms and perspectives in contention. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (5th ed., pp. 195–212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2003). Educational research: An introduction (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

  • Gilbert, T. (2006). Mixed methods and mixed methodologies: The practical, the technical and the political. Journal of Research in Nursing, 11(3), 205–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, D., Oliver, S., & Thomas, J. (2012). Introducing systematic reviews. In D. Gough, S. Oliver, & J. Thomas (Eds.), An introduction to systematic reviews (pp. 1–16). London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105–117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammersley, M. (2003). Can and should educational research be educative? Oxford Review of Education, 29(1), 3–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammersley, M. (2006). Philosophy’s Contribution to Social Science Research on Education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(2), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2006.00504.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howe, K. R. (2003). Closing methodological divides: Toward democratic educational research. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

  • Jesson, J., Matheson, L., & Lacey, F. M. (2011). Doing your literature review: Traditional and systematic techniques. London: Sage.

  • Johnson, R. B., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Turner, L. A. (2007). Toward a definition of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(2), 112–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689806298224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

  • Mas-Tur, A., Modak, N. M., Merigó, J. M., Roig-Tierno, N., Geraci, M., & Capecchi, V. (2019). Half a century of quality & quantity: A bibliometric review. Quality & Quantity, 53(2), 981–1020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-018-0799-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazandarani, O. (2020). The status quo of L2 vis-à-vis general teacher education. Educational Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2020.1729101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNaught, C., & Lam, P. (2010). Using wordle as a supplementary research tool. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 630–643.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mingers, J. (2001). Combining IS research methods: Towards a pluralist methodology. Inf Syst Res, 12(3), 240–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, A. (2012). Foreword. In D. Gough, S. Oliver, & J. Thomas (Eds.), An introduction to systematic reviews (pp. vii–x). London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pring, R. (2000). Philosophy of educational research (2nd ed.). London: Continuum.

  • Pring, R. (2001). The virtues and vices of an educational researcher. J Philos Educ, 35(3), 407–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.00235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B., & McGannon, K. R. (2018). Developing rigor in qualitative research: Problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol, 11(1), 101–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2017.1317357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Traianou, A. (2014). The centrality of ethics in qualitative research. In P. Leavy (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of qualitative research (pp. 62–77). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

  • United Nations Statistics Division. (n.d.). Geographic regions. Retrieved February, 28, 2020, from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/.

  • Yonezawa, A., Kitamura, Y., Meerman, A., & Kuroda, K. (2014). The emergence of international dimensions in East Asian higher education: Pursuing regional and global development. In A. Yonezawa, Y. Kitamura, A. Meerman, & K. Kuroda (Eds.), Emerging international dimensions in East Asian higher education (pp. 1–13). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Language Teaching, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul, Iran

    Omid Mazandarani

Authors
  1. Omid Mazandarani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Omid Mazandarani.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mazandarani, O. Philosophical Assumptions in ELT Research: A Systematic Review. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 31, 217–226 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00554-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00554-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation