Case Study Research:
Developmental Research
By M98C0238 Camila Wu
M98C0102 Ariel Wang
At Nan-Tai Graduate School
Case Study
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What comes to your mind when you
hear “case study”?
Camila is responsible for
P.21-32
 Introducing case study research
 Experiencing case study research
 Compiling case study research
 Analyzing case study research
 Reporting your results
Ariel is responsible for
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Designing case study research
Interpreting case study research
Significance of case study research
Reflecting on case study research
Summary
What Is Case Study?
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Interview/survey
Individual / a group
A research strategy
detailed analysis of a person /
group
Real-life context
In-depth examination
Case study is
a systematic way of
 Observing the events
 Compiling the data
 analyzing information
 reporting the results.
Case Study Research
Careful study of the cases of
individulas learning a language
 A long history
 Play major roles in different
disciplines
 Piaget and Freud—kids’ mental
and social development
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Case Studies
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Case study research
intensive study--background/status/interaction
Developmental research
Investigation of patterns /
sequences of growth and
change
Experiencing case study research
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Linguists observe and record their
children’s verbal behavior in learning 1st
and 2nd language---published the
observations
Raised some questions---degree to which
patterns of 1st and 2nd language
development (dis/similar)
Striking similarities in syntactic
structures –negatives; differences as
well.(Ellis1994)
Sample A
I don’t can explain.
He don’t will like it.
Don’t have nothing mop.
I don’t see nothing mop.
Sample D
(EX:2.1)
You no sit there.
He no bite.
There no squirrels.
They no have water.
Sample B
No go.
No mitten.
No fall.
No stop
Sample E
They don’t want it.
You can’t tell her.
He’s not coming in.
It’s not danger.
Sample C
Do not tell her.
We don’t like him
C
He doesn’t laugh like us.
She didn’t believe me.
Exercise 2.1
1.Re-sort the blocks of samples into
probable chronological order
2.State what you think the
characteristics of negative
sentences are at each stage
3.Make up a new sentence to add to
each block indicating how you think
negation is expressed at that stage
4.Discuss your analysis with a partner
Phase
Language
examples
B
No cry.
D
You no cry.
A
You don’t can
cry.
E
You don’t cry.
C
Don’t cry.
Comment
Findings from Exercise 2.1
Obvious changes in grammar
 Speech segments get longer as children get
older
 Negation formation is syntactic learning
(step by step)
1. No Verb2. S no verb3. don’t can verb4. S don’t verb O5. S don’t/doesn’t verb O or Don’t verb O.
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What are some other signals of
advancing linguistic maturity?
More accurate
 Punctuation
 Correct spelling
 Correct grammars
 ……..
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A Developmental Case Study
------Helen Keller
Why is this case study worth studying?
Why is this case study worth studying?
Deaf and blind child learning
English
 Mother tongue of her parents
 Inspiration in L1 and L2 learning
 Clearly see linguistic development
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Something about Hellen Keller
Some samples of personal letters
written by Hellen Keller between her
seventh and eighth birthdays
 provide authentic, naturalistic and
interesting indicators of language
development
 Offer evidence for some stages of
language development
 Both in L1 and L2 learning
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Characteristics about Helen Keller” data
1. Clear and distinctive
 Easily readable (p.25)
 Quite easy to interpret
 Uncluttered---rarely
2. Degree to which the processes and
sequencing of L1 and L2 development are
similar
The data shed light on L1 and L2
development as well as the techniques
used to collect and analyze developmental
data in learning languages
Exercise 2.2
P.26
Randomly ordered samples of
Helen’s actual letters
 Rank order the excerpt from
earliest to latest
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Identify and discuss new
language features in each letter
Compiling case study data
The letter samples show
 Evidence of a variety of linguistic
and letter format changes as Helen
Keller grows up and her language
capability increases
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Phonology
Morphology/words changes
Syntax/ sentence changes
Discourse/Text structure changes
Example compilation for Helen Keller letter chronological ordering
Time
order
First
Second
Third
Fourth
A
B
/////
///// ///
C
D
Fifth
Sixth
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///// //
///
//
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/
/////
/////
/////
E
/////
/////
/////
F
Ranking
//
D
C
/////
/////
///
B
F
A
E
Total
number of
Participants
Analyzing case study data
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Undertake detailed linguistic
analyses of the language
Noting changes in
 Vocabulary / Grammar
 Punctuations / Capitalization
 Letter form / Reference
 Cohesion
Organize these changes in the form of a table
Tables are used to
 Organize data analysis
 presenting results in a final form
Exercise 2.5 Noun changes
Several sub-categories of nouns
 Proper Nouns
 Simple Nouns
 Plural Nouns
 Compound Nouns
 Pronouns
 Noun Phrases
Exercise2.5
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Table 2.4—Noun data
Table 2.5---Verb data
Reporting your results
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The ultimate goal of your research
is to report your findings to the
world and to re-shape the world in
some small measure
Need to know how you will
eventually turn your data analyses
into research reports, journal
articles, and books.
Keeping that final result in mind
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Help you to analyze your results
Especially in a way that will be
easily reportable
The standard form
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Makes it easier for interested
readers to know where to look for
findings or procedures of relevance
to their own interests.
Helps assure you haven’t forgot
important information or analyses in
your study
Standard Format
Abstract
I Introduction*
A Literature review
B Purpose (including research
questions or hypotheses)
II Methods*
A Participants*
B Materials*
C Procedures*
III Results*
IV Discussion
V Conclusions
Reference
Appendices
Tables
Details-- Major headings/sections —Roman
numerals
 Subheadings/subsections---capital
letters
 Arterisks(*) mark those sections
that are more or less essential for
most studies
 Abstract, references, Appendices,
and tables are not included as part
of the body of the report---vary
considerably in format, placement,
and importance from study to study
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Longer research reports, theses—
have all these elements
Short journal articles---have
asterisked elements
Keeping the overall picture in mind
from the beginning of the project
helps you not end up with missing
pieces
For instance--participants
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Need to describe the participants in some
detail in the final report
Overlook the need to gather information
about their age, gender, educational
background, language proficiency, years
studying the language, and any other
characteristics which may shape your
data or affect your results.
Knowing where you are headed in the
reporting process helps you efficiently
gather all necessary information
When to use the tables?
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In the process of analyzing your
original data
In organizing and reporting the
results
Wode— L1 English & L2 English
These data support the view that L2
acquisition follows developmental sequences
and that these sequences are ordered.
They disconfirm the idea that L2 and L1
acquisition are wholly paralled. Apparently,
there may also be parallels, like, for
instance, I-IIb and IV -4; but there may
also be difference , as in III of Table 7-4.
Differences of this sort, I think, are due to
the structure of L1 knowledge, but that,
apparently, they do so in highly restricted
ways, i.e. only at specific points in their
development are they liable to fall back on
L1. (wode 1978: 110-111)
Several things worth noting (p.35)
1.
2.
3.
A table appears with accompanying
text explaining the table and
highlighting points in it the author
wants the reader to focus on.
Not concerned with pronunciation, so
he used modified written text to report
his data.
Trying to show the general trends over
a large number of mixed participants
with mixed data.
The Processes of doing research
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Compiling the data
Analyzing the data
Interpreting the data
Reporting the data