Reference no: EM133029449 , Length: word count:1200

Assignment: A critical review of a research article

This is the article chose)

Noun and verb knowledge in monolingual preschool children across 17 languages: Data from Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT)
(APA style)

The task is to write a critical review of a research article that you choose yourself in an area of your interest. The article can be on any area of linguistic research, but:

The article may only be from peer-reviewed journal publications or book volumes.

It needs to be a research article, reporting original research, and NOT a review paper.

Ideally, it should be an article that you are likely to build on in your dissertation, within your research area, appropriate for your degree course, describing methods that you might use yourself. You won't be downgraded if you choose an article unrelated to your own project but it will be supportive for your progress.

The review should take a close look at theory, hypotheses, research questions, and methodology. To substantiate your arguments, make extensive use of the materials covered in the module (essential and additional readings). For example, in order to assess the article's adherence to scientific method, you should refer to the literature on scientific method (e.g. Litosseliti, 2010). Similarly, in order to assess the article's use of a specific methodology, you could refer to the set reading on that specific methodology.

Please don't just describe or summarise the article. You need to evaluate its contents. Consider how suitable the method is to address the research question(s) described in the article. Also, refrain from simply reporting the hypotheses being tested. You need to discuss to what extent the hypothesis follows from theory.

Note however that ‘critical review' doesn't mean ‘criticism'. Don't make it sound as if you know better than the academic who wrote the paper. Instead, show/discuss how the author manages to meet the challenges, and what the limits are: no matter how high the quality, every paper has its scope and therefore some limitations.

Based on the research article you selected, your essay should include answers/considerations concerning ALL the guiding questions below, in a coherent essay (i.e., not one-by-one).

Question 1: scientific method / theoretical considerations

a) Does the article aim to test a theory (or part of a theory), or what else is the basis?

b) What specific predictions are being tested? (i.e. what hypotheses follow from theory?)

Question 2: methodology

a) What specific methodology is being used in order to test the prediction(s) / hypothesis?

b) What alternative methodology could have been used, and why?

Question 3: results and relevance to theory

a) What are the results of the data collection?

b) Do the results support the theory on which the paper is based? How? Make sure that you explain the sequential / logical link between data, hypothesis, and theory as applied within the article. It could be that these are not clear in the article, in which case say so - and demonstrate it by giving examples of the lack of clarity.

1,200 words (+/- 10%).

Attachment:- Review of a research article.rar