Arguments in the methods section of journal articles in English language education published in high-impact journals

Abstract

Discourse studies on the methods section of research articles have been mainly conducted on the macrostructure (i.e. moves and steps) of the section, while none have researched further how authors justify the research methods/design. This is crucial because if the method is not convincing, readers may not accept the research findings and will not use them in their own studies. The purpose of this research is to know what research method is often used by the expert authors in English language education articles published in high-impact journals, what elements of research methods are often presented in the methods part of these journal articles and how authors justify the choice of their research method in the methods section of their journal articles. Sixty articles published in six different reputable international journals were chosen to be included in this study. The results show that qualitative design is the most frequently used by the authors, while quantitative and mixed methods are used equally frequently. The most frequent elements presented in the methods section of the articles are participants, data analysis procedures, data collection procedures, and research instruments. Finally, the majority of the authors do not explicitly justify the choice of their research method although some of them do by citing a research methodology book. It can be concluded that the features of the methods section in the journal articles vary widely between journals and from one method/design to the other.