The IDEAL Research Model for Linguistic Inquiry: a DEC-based, interactive and innovative guide

Abstract

The Discovery-Enriched Curriculum (DEC) in City University aims to provide all students the opportunity to make an original discovery and nurture the creativity of our students. This TDG project aims to provide a DEC-based research model to motivate, familiarize and train students to conduct an innovative research for academic discovery. It is an expansion and enhancement to the previously funded TDG project "The MERIT Study Kit for Large Classes: student-oriented, dynamic and interactive system," with a focus on the DEC component. One of the key assignments in the MERIT study kit is a DEC project called Language-Around-Us (LAS project) which invites students to pay close attention to language use around them and venture into a research journey with innovative methodology. To expand and enhance the DEC component, a research model dubbed as "IDEAL" is to be designed and implemented for a smooth and fruitful experience in conducting linguistic research in the collegespecified course LT2201 Introduction to Linguistics. Each semester, this large-size class accommodates 80-100 year-1 and year-2 undergraduates in CLASS, who desperately need clear guidance and helpful assistance in conducting an interesting and successful research for linguistic inquiries. To serve this need, the project will provide a well-designed guide for these students to get familiar and better trained with the basics of linguistic research that include initial observation, description, explanation, and application for language technology. The IDEAL model is proposed to facilitate DEC learning outcomes and guarantee innovative pedagogical instruction by providing clearly elaborated guidance to the FIVE basic steps of linguistic research: Initial observation of language data, detailed Description of the analytical patterns, elaborated Explanation of the described phenomena, and then contriving for potential Applications for Language technology (IDEAL). The model lays a step-by-step procedural template for students to follow and provide instructions of the important elements in each step. Through clear model design and procedural implementation, IDEAL will boost students' research interest in discovering the fun of linguistics while equipping them with necessary research capability for academic pursuit. The final products will be posted at LT's website as a showcase of the departmental achievement in promoting "DiscoveryEnriched Curriculum" at CityU.