The following list of sample research topics is not by any means exhaustive– it is simply intended to stimulate thinking and encourage investigations that would be of immediate assistance to the ELI or directly inform the policy and practice of ELI staff. For a more up-to-date research agenda or questions, please contact the ELI Director. Please keep in mind that our primary mission is to our students, our secondary mission is to provide professional development opportunities for our instructors, and research is our third core mission.
Revised June, 2024
Curriculum in general
- What are current developments in curricula in each of the skill areas?
- How can our curriculum be better tied to students’ content courses?
- Research on integrated-skills courses
- Overall and skill-area needs analyses, on an ongoing basis
Instruction
- What makes an effective ELI instructor?
- How to teach in an engaging way that does not involve lecturing?
- How can the ELI better train our instructors to effectively use technology for instructional purposes?
- In what ways can instructors use students’ multilingual backgrounds to enhance teaching?
- How to provide better training for prospective online teachers?
- How can ELI online teachers more efficiently manage online classes?
Teacher development
- What can the ELI do to help beginning GA instructors? Continuing GA instructors? Prepare GAs for future opportunities?
- How can the ELI improve its training for instructors?
- In what specific ways, and in what areas, does teaching in the ELI assist GAs’ professional development?
- What are the relations between ELI staff and research? Consumers, producers, transformers…?
- How can ELI activities help instructors develop their teacher portfolios?
- How can the end-of-term evaluations better serve the needs of teachers and their development as teachers?
- Research on developing effective mentoring relationships in the workplace
Curriculum– Listening/Speaking
70 = Intermediate-level listening/speaking course; 80 = Advanced-level
Development or review of:
- A diagnostic test for 70 & 80
- More enriching materials/activities
- Supplemental materials for developing listening skills, especially for 70
- More activities/materials on pronunciation
- Materials/activities for developing discussion strategies
- Existing materials on the web for developing listening skills
- Materials for teaching interview skills
- Model academic presentations
- Materials which teach spoken pragmatics for English for Academic Purposes
Curriculum– Reading
82 = Advanced-level
Development of materials or activities for improving students’:
- Academic Vocabulary
- Ability to effectively evaluate internet sources
- Critical reading skills
- Reading fluency
Research on:
- Methods and material for helping student develop their ability to read beneath the surface
- Reading speed and efficiency
Curriculum– Writing
75 = Intermediate-level academic literacy course for graduate and undergraduate students
83 = Advanced-level writing course for graduate students
100 = Advanced-level writing course for undergraduate students
Development of:
- The 75 curriculum
- Separate curriculum “tracks” within 75 for the graduate and undergraduate students
Research on:
- Types of feedback (both teacher and peer feedback)
- How students incorporate feedback and their views about the usefulness of different types of feedback on their writing
- Genre-analysis for writing instruction
- How can ESL 100 better prepare undergraduate students for the WI courses they must take?
Materials
Development or review of:
- Materials for self-study
- Existing English for Academic Purposes materials appropriate for the ELI’s needs
- Authentic materials that could be adapted for the ELI context
- Readily-available online resources (e.g. Open Educational Resources) that could be adapted for the ELI context
Motivation
- Given the constraints on the ELI, what can be done to raise student motivation?
- What successful strategies have ELI teachers used to motivate students?
- What can be done to make the ELI a more comfortable, yet also more academically stimulating environment for ELI students?
Testing & Assessment
- Does the ELI Placement Test (ELIPT) reflect what is done in ELI classes? To what extent can we develop resource-efficient ELIPT components that better fit with students’ needs and ELI courses?
- To what degree are the individual items on the four ELIPT tests (i.e., the Academic Listening, Dictation, Reading Comprehension, & Writing Sample tests) effective in terms of item difficulty and discrimination, and how reliable and valid are the current scores?
- How should these ELIPT tests be revised and updated to make them more effective and efficient, and how reliable and valid are the scores on the revised tests in terms of ELI placement decisions being made with them?
Research on:
- Portfolio assessment
- Students’ self-assessment
- Other forms of in-class assessment
Administration
- How does ELI students’ performance in university compare with the performance of students who were exempted from the ELI?
- How can the end-of-term evaluations better help with administrative decisions?
- Literature reviews of how many other ELIs have gotten their universities to grant students credit toward graduation for ELI classes, and how they went about it
- Development of systems for tracking or monitoring students efficiently
Affect
- How do issues of anxiety, culture shock, etc., affect our students? Are the ELI’s responses to problems in these areas adequate?
Research on institutional advancement
- How can similar university English language programs remain innovative with limited resources?
- The role of community connections in university English language programs’ support and development