(Why) Are Open Research Practices the Future for the Study of Language Learning?

Abstract

Open research practices are relevant to all stages of research, from conceptualization through dissemination. Here, we discuss key facets of open research, highlighting its rationales, infrastructures, behaviors, and challenges. Part I conceptualizes open research and its rationales. Part II identifies challenges such as the speed and cost of open research, the usability of open data and materials, the difficulties of conducting replication research, and the economics and sustainability of open access and open research generally. In discussing these challenges, we have sought to provide examples of good practice, describe and evaluate emerging innovations, and envision change. Part III considers ongoing coevolutions of culture, infrastructure, and behaviors and acknowledges the limitations of our review and of open research practices. We argue that open research is indeed a large part of our future, and most—if not all—challenges are surmountable, but doing so requires significant changes for many aspects of the research process.

Whose open science are we talking about? From open science in psychology to open science in applied linguistics

“…For instance, we can see from Table 1 that the majority of the efforts in our field, similar to psychology, have mainly focused on the first set of principles – transparency, scrutiny, critique, and reproducibility. Without a doubt, continued investment in these areas is warranted, especially considering there are many open issues in these areas that have not yet found sustainable solutions (see Marsden & Morgan-Short, 2023 for a comprehensive review and suggestions). At the same time, the Recommendation serves as a reminder to address areas that are equally important but have not yet been sufficiently engaged by our community, and collectively, we could devise plans to foster a more balanced development in the long term.…”

“…In 2022 alone, there were already several exciting developments: Open Science in Applied Linguistics (Plonsky, in press), the first edited volume on this topic, was being prepared for publication, with several postprints shared online; Open Applied Linguistics (), a newly established research network affiliated with the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) held a two-day symposium to promote open science in applied linguistics (Liu et al, 2023); following the symposium, AILA officially endorsed the open science guidelines and example practices statement by Open Applied Linguistics (Liu & Chong, 2022), formally recognising open science's value to our field; the Postprint Pledge, an initiative calling for applied linguists to share accepted manuscripts online, was launched (Al-Hoorie & Hiver, 2023); and two calls for papers were circulated: one by Studies in Second Language Acquisition on replication in second language research, one by Language Testing on open science practices in language testing and assessment. As we entered 2023, the momentum continued to grow: in April, Language Learning published a conceptual review (Marsden & Morgan-Short, 2023) along with open peer commentaries, examining whether and why open research practices are the future for the study of language learning; the 56th annual conference of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) is set for August, with a theme centred on “opening up applied linguistics”.…”

Open science: Considerations and issues for TESOL research

“…Methodological transparency can manifest in many ways, and because not all OS practices are transposable across all research paradigms, the different designs, methods, and epistemologies across TESOL-related research are accompanied by different challenges for achieving methodological transparency (Marsden & Morgan-Short, 2023). Chief among the challenges to increasing methodological transparency are systemic barriers including "inertia and the comfortable embrace of the status quo" (Center for Open Science, 2015).…”

“…Limiting transparency also fosters unproductive competition between researchers and precludes science from OPEN SCIENCE FOR TESOL RESEARCH being self-correcting. Perhaps most importantly, it erects barriers to trustworthiness of research findings and undercuts equity and inclusivity in knowledge creation and sharing (Marsden & Morgan-Short, 2023).…”

“…Second, OS practices do require some additional effort on the part of researchers (Marsden & Morgan-Short, 2023). Open access publishing represents a small effort on the researcher's part, but preparing open data is a more substantial lift, as one must take care to ensure the data have been thoroughly scrubbed of identifiable information, formatted to ensure broad technological compatibility, and documented sufficiently so that others can make use of it (see Isbell, 2021).…”