The Certificate/Diploma in Quantitative Language Research Programme aims to equip Chinese Language teachers with the necessary understanding and skills so as to enable them to conduct quantitative studies with the ultimate goal of enhancing their students’ learning of Chinese Language. As part of the programme, the present module introduces the participants to language education research with a focus on topic selection and design formulation.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:
1. Understand the basics of Quantitative Language Research.
2. Evaluate researchability of a research topic and formulate a feasible research topic.
3. Construct a logical, operationable research design.

The course includes the following:
1.Introduction to the Language Education Research (LER)
1.1.The scope of LER
1.2.Types of LER
1.3.Common research topics in LER
1.4.Common underlying problems in LER topics
1.5.Key concepts and their expectations in LER topics
2.Proposing a Research Topic
2.1.Structure of a research topic
2.2.Identifying the key concept and unpacking
2.3.The relation between research topic, research questions, research objectives and research significances
2.4.“Researchable” and “Not Researchable” concepts and topics
3.Stepping Up Your Research Topic
3.1.Identifying the starting point
3.2.Selecting key concepts
3.3.Presenting the research scope and approach
3.4.Fixing research gap with main and sub topic
3.5.Hands-on and discussion

The course outline includes the following:
1.Introduction to the Language Education Research (LER)
1.a.Common topics and underlying problems in LER topics
1.b.Key concepts and their expectations in LER topics
2.Proposing a Research Topic
2.a.Structure of a research topic
2.b.The relation between research topic, research questions, research objectives and research significances
2.c.“Researchable” and “Not Researchable” concepts and topics
3..Hands-on and discussion on planning your Research Topic
3.a.Identifying the key concepts.
3.b.Presenting the research scope and approach
3.c.Hands-on and discussion