The Role of Theory in Applied Linguistics Research: A Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

The role of theory in research in general, and applied linguistics in particular, appears to be a matter of making decisions as to ‘what data would be relevant [to the investigation of a research issue] and how such data will be best obtained’ (Johnson and Johnson, 274). Such decisions involve the researcher’s position with respect to a choice between a theory-first and/or a data-first approach to research. This paper examines both these positions in relation to the investigation of vocabulary learning strategies. The paper concludes that whether the researcher adopts either of the two positions or both, will have an impact on the whole research process.