ABSTRACT
SLA researchers have increasingly recognized the advantage of integrating historically distinct research methods. Until the last decade or so, researchers have tended to design their studies as experimental or quasi-experimental for the testing of hypotheses using a wide array of quantitative methods. Alternatively, researchers have opted for rich description of language learning phenomena using many options available in ethnomethodology. A more recent trend has been to use the best of both approaches in order to explore phenomena with sufficient depth of analysis as well as to provide a basis for plausible generalization. Mixed methods, an approach which integrates qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, are increasingly common in research designs. In this chapter, we will first present the primary features of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Acknowledging that there are relatively few examples of L2 pragmatics studies designed from the outset as mixed methods, we review a few studies that used quantitative and qualitative data to examine L2 pragmatics learning. Thereafter, the chapter outlines the potential for a research strategy initiated with a discovery phase followed by an empirical testing phase utilizing sequential mixed methods in L2 pragmatics research.
