The aim of the dissertation is to enable students to carry out a research project of an appropriate scale, which is informed by relevant concepts from the literature and which demonstrates the ability to design a viable project, gather data with due concern for validity and reliability, interpret the findings with due caution and insight, and to write up a coherent account of the process and outcomes.

(LO1) Devise a viable research project in the field of TESOL, formulating research questions that address previous gaps in literature.

(LO2) Conduct in-depth research, handling large amounts of information/data.

(LO3) Sustain an argument/analysis over an extended piece of written work.

(LO4) Understand and engage with current scholarship relating to the area of the project.

(LO5) Critically engage with previous literature while identifying merits and limitations of previous research.

(LO6) Design research materials and engage in data analysis following previous research.

(S1) Organisation and time-management skills.

(S2) Working independently.

(S3) Written communication skills.

(S4) Digital skills, including the use of electronic resources to conduct research.

(S5) Critical thinking and problem solving skills.

(S6) Project design.

Students arrange individual meetings with their supervisor. Depending on the focus of the dissertation, they cover content relevant to the modules of semester 1 and 2. For example, their research might be in the area of second language acquisition, corpus, materials evaluation, videos observation, discourse analysis, digital technology and language learning. Students will use resources and knowledge from taught modules on the programme that are relevant to their project’s research area. The supervisor usually recommends additional materials. Students are also expected to find their own resources .

In order to complete the dissertation project successfully, students arrange individual tutorials with their supervisor. They receive formative feedback on drafts focusing on several areas (e.g., literature review, methodology, research instruments, presentation and interpretation of results). These tutorials are interactive. The majority of the students’ learning is carried out as independent research.