Data Analysis

FACULTAD DE HISTORIA, GEOGRAFIA Y LETRAS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT.
Theories of acquisition and learning a foreign language
Professor: Saeid Atoofi
Student: Felipe Gonzalez Vargas

Second LanguageAcquisition and Data analysis

As teacher of a foreign language, we should have a completed understanding about SLA
process; this aim could be reached through a correct data analysis and datainterpretation
and its outcomes ; even though, Second language acquisition is a complex field because it
works up with persons, and it implies heterogeneity in the broad sense of the word; the
resultsgained on previous studies do not necessarily reveal a current vision about suchand- such occurrence ; however, they can be useful as a guide or base, in order to develop
new studies about a phenomenon.In order to develop any research first, one must be clear which will be the phenomenon to
be studied and why this phenomenon is relevant to be studied, understand and unravel its
puzzle, in thiscase, any matter related to Second Language Acquisition. Then one must
have a hypothesis to be proved or refused; in additions with objectives to be achieved.
Everything must be delimited in aninvestigation plan holding in a suitable methodological,
theoretical and conceptual approach (es). Nevertheless, with the purpose to provide validity
to the work; it is necessary count on a goodgathered data; in order to vouch for the
outcomes gained through the investigation, giving reliability and validity to the developed
work.

When one talks about the gathering of data; it refers to theuse of diversity techniques and
tools that can be used by the analyst to develop support for an information research, which
can be interviews, surveys, questionnaires, observation, and so on. Theselection of tool
will have appropriateness regarding the investigation i.e. it must be in conformity with all
of the previous moments of the study.

Gathering data implies three related activities...