Longitudinal Studies of Second Language Learning

Book excerpt: Longitudinal Studies of Second Language Learning: Quantitative Methods and Outcomes provides a how-to guide to choosing, using, and understanding quantitative longitudinal research and sampling methods in second and foreign language learning. This volume will provide readers with exemplary longitudinal studies of language learning outcomes, as well as an overview of widely used methods of data analysis. Readers will understand how long-term data collection processes are organized and archived, and how the data are managed over time prior to analysis. Each of the chapters provide applied researchers with examples of how language learning outcomes gathered over time can be organized into data sets useful for insightful descriptive and inferential analyses of learning outcomes. As the only edited volume that focuses on longitudinal data analysis specifically for a second language acquisition (SLA)/applied linguistics readership, this will be an invaluable resource for advanced students and researchers of SLA, applied linguistics, assessment, and education.