DUAL LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH LEARNER EDUCATION
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-1153 • EBA 248 • (619) 594-5155
ED 795A & 795B Master’s Project Seminar
COURSE SYLLABUS
Spring 2016
ED 795A Instructor: Ricardo Medina, Ph.D.
Room: NE 273
Email: ricardo.medina@cvesd.org
ED 795B Instructor: Cristina Alfaro, Ph.D.
Room: EBA 251
Email: calfaro@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Course Overview
Scholarly research can be a daunting task, especially for working teachers like you. The
objective of this course is to facilitate, with ongoing support, your journey in becoming a
teacher/scholar. With collaborative effort, instruction, and explicit feedback, this course
will facilitate the research process. This course is the continuation of your DLE 650
project and the first part of your capstone project for your Master of Arts degree. It is a
culminating experience that affords the opportunity to apply what you have learned in
your coursework to your own as critical educator and researcher. The objective of this
course is to explore a question in depth via research and scholarly work. This work will
be driven by a critical research question of your own design. It can relate to program
evaluation, evaluation of curriculum or instruction, teaching, teachers, learning, or
learners. This format will accommodate a variety of project ideas, including curriculum
development and evaluation, qualitative research, quantitative research and mixed
methods.
How is DLE 650, ED 795A and 795B related?
In DLE 650 students identify an area of interest, conduct an initial review of the
literature, and design a research study addressing a question or problem based on their
contextual reality. In ED 795A, the research plan is refined, finalized, and implemented;
data are collected and analyzed. The final product of ED 795B is where data is finalized
and analyzed; results are incorporated into a research report written in APA journal
article format. Additionally, through a Poster Presentation research is presented at a
professional conference [SDCOE Dual Language/English Language Development
Conference—March 29, 2016].
The final product for ED 795B is a report of the research conducted. This final project
includes all of the components and final work from ED 795A.
The final master’s project will consist of four chapters:
 Chapter 1—Introduction to the topic and review of the literature
 Chapter 2—Project methodology
 Chapter 3—Report of results
 Chapter 4: Discussion and conclusion (see below for more detailed information)
o Conference Research Poster Presentation (March 29th)
Action Research and Course Outcomes
Your task this semester for ED 795A is to write your final draft of chapters 1, 2, 7 3. In
795B, you will then conduct and finalize your research following your methodological
design, analyze the results, and write chapter 4 and present a research poster presentation
at a local conference (arranged by professor). As is typical with research, you should
anticipate that chapters 1, 2, 3 would be revised further during 795B.
The manuscript format, including appendices, final abstract (written in 795B), text
headings, text font, pagination, citations and references, must follow the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.), commonly known as “APA
style.” This semester, you may find it natural to write your text in present or future tense
(e.g., “The purpose of this research will be…”) however, your final report for 795B will
be written in the past tense because the research will have been completed (e.g., “The
purpose of this research was…”)
Required Text:
Creswell, John W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. Research (4th ed). Lincoln, NE: Sage.
Hinchey, P. (2008). Action Research. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. New York, NY.
Other Related Texts:
Creswell, John W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting and
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th ed). Lincoln, NE:
Pearson.
*This will be provided by instructor via electronic file.
Reed, Jan. (2007). Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Change. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Review of the Literature
Research web sites, literature from books and articles must include 40 sources. Your
bibliography will include 40 sources and a minimum of 25 will be integrated into your
final report. Your literature review must include a minimum of 4 empirical research
studies related to your research project.
* This syllabus is subject to modifications. Changes to this syllabus will be
announced via email. It is the students’ responsibility to be aware of
changes/modifications.
Course Meetings
The course schedule and due dates are described below. This is largely driven by the
work you complete as you conduct research and write; professor will schedule individual
meetings with all students. In addition, communication can occur at anytime via email,
Skype, or telephone. Keep in mind that you can initiate a meeting anytime throughout the
semester!
ED 795A & B – Spring 2016 SEMINAR CALENDAR
Week/
Date
1. 1/20
2. 1/27
Topic




Introduction to Class
Ideology, Research, and Praxis
Students summarize progress on their research project
March 29th Poster Conference Presentation
No Class Meeting
 How Does Your Ideology Inform your Research?
 Research Approach
 Review of the Literature
 Use of Theory
 Writing Strategies and Ethical Considerations
Assignment Due
Creswell Part I
Research Template
BB Assignment
Review of Literature
Progress/Plan
3: 2/3




Review of Creswell Part I
Ideology, Research, and Praxis
Quantitative, Qualitative, & Mixed Methods
Planning completion of your projects
Project Timeline
4. 2/10


No Class Meeting
Analyzing, Coding, and Reporting Results
Creswell Part II
Research Template
BB Assignment
2/12
Friday
(9-12:30)
5. 2/17
 Voice Your Language Conference @ SDSU
 Featuring Juan Felipe Herrera


Review of Creswell Part II
Schedule Research Meetings with students
Literature Review Due February 29
Literature Review Guidelines
Directions: Develop a process as you begin your literature reading. When reading
journal articles, book chapters, and other sources ask yourself questions like the ones
below and take notes around those that are most relevant. Be sure to include the complete
reference:
Title, Author, Year, Journal/Book Title Volume & Number.
If found on the web copy exact URL and date of retrieval along with all
author/reference information (Please refer to APA style format)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly
established?
Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another
perspective?
What is the author's research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science,
combination)?
What is the author's theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental,
feminist)?
What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives?
Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the
author include literature-taking positions she or he does not agree with?
In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design (e.g.,
population, intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the
measurements? Is the analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the research
question? Are the conclusions validly based upon the data and analysis?
In material written for a popular readership, does the author use appeals to
emotion, one-sided examples, or rhetorically charged language and tone? Is there
an objective basis to the reasoning, or is the author merely "proving" what he or
she already believes?
How does the author structure the argument? Can you "deconstruct" the flow of
the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in
establishing cause-effect relationships)?
In what ways does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the
problem under study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the
strengths and limitations?
How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am
developing?
WRITING THE METHODOLOGY SECTION
This section should describe the rationale and process of your research. This section
should lie out the steps of your project so another person could potentially carry out
similar research.
Suggested Sections (Refer to Creswell)
1. Introduction – philosophical rationale (i.e., why case study, action research,
ethnography, etc. CONTEXT OF YOUR STUDY!
2. Research process – Details of how the study was carried out
3. Position of the Researcher – Indicate if you are a participant, observer, etc. your
role as researcher and teacher for example.
4. Participants – who was involved, how were they selected, how many, etc.
5. Data Collection Process – Technique
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Interview
Observation
Documents, media, artifacts
Test Scores
Recording information (field notes, tapes, etc)
6. Data Analysis Procedure – How did you evaluate the data? How did you code?
7. Limitations (could also be in your introduction) – What were the limits to this
research? Bias? Etc.
Master’s Project
795A: Chapters I, II, and III; 795B: Chapter IV & Poster Presentation
TITLE PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT (A 100-150 word description of your study)
KEYWORDS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (What
are you studying and why should you study it? This chapter reports work that others have
done (primary sources) related to both theory and research relevant to your topic or
question (20-25 pages)
 Introduction/Background/Context
 Purpose (Why is this study important?)
 Definition of Terms



Literature Review- Important studies pertinent to your problem are described
(What do others say about this area of study?)
Important Note: The review of web sites and literature from books and
articles must include 40 sources. Your bibliography will include 40 sources
and a minimum of 25 of those sources will be integrated into your
(references on your master’s project final report.
Theories and research perspectives, including current and historical studies
Research question(s)
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY (How did you do the study?) (5-8 pages)





Participants (school demographics, classroom demographics, subjects or
participants
Instruments (tests, interviews, observation, documents, surveys)
Procedures
Data analysis (what will you do with the data? How will you analyze it?)
Limitations of the Study
Be sure to change the language of this section to the past tense.
CHAPTER III: RESULTS (What did you find out?) (5-8 pages)


Statement of the Question
Results of the Study (report results arranged by themes-can use charts, tables,
graphs. Give evidence. Be sure to answer the question but just give the facts;
don’t offer your comments on the results here.)
CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS (What does it mean?) (7-10
pages)

Interpretations/Recommendations and Conclusions (now you can make
“jumps” from facts to what you think they mean and relate findings to research in
the review)
CONFERENCE POSTER PRESENTATIONS
PER DLE 650 UPDATES AND FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT RESULTS
Do not Copy!
To be developed with Ricky!
6. 2/22
7. 2/29
8.
9. 10/23
10. 10/30
11. 11/06
12. 11/13
13. 11/20
14. 11/27
15. 12/04
16. 12/11
Individual Research Conference Meetings
 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Demo II – Technical Writing –
Literature Review, Results Section
 8:00-9:15 p.m. Individual student meetings to monitor
progress to date.
 7:00- 8:00 p.m. Demo III - Results – strategies for
writing your final report.
 8:00-9:15 p.m. Individual student meetings to monitor
progress to date.
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
 CLASS MEETING
 Peer Project Reviews & Update
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS - BA 258
Project Presentations – Student Evaluations & Celebration
Progress Plan
Draft 1: Project
Paper
Draft II: Project
Paper Due
Final Project Papers