--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:07:58 -0500
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Windows/20071031)
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum   
<[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #8991.1 Questions about written policy regarding SLA research in
basic language
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

Here is a UF website devoted to non-medical research using human
subjects. http://irb.ufl.edu/irb02/index.html

I would suggest working with a lawyer to determine guidelines. I doubt 
this is something a department can set policies on. Cf.

http://irb.ufl.edu/FWA.htm

If you have medical or psychology departments, see if they have 
structures already in place for approving research projects.

My impression is that here, there is a review board or at least officer 
which approves the protocols drawn up by the experimenter. Students are 
recruited from the classes--usually from multi-section courses, so it 
involves the participation of the department and the course heads as 
well as the section instructors. Even if the research uses up actual 
class time, students have the right to opt out without penalty. (Usually 
some enticement is offered, ranging from a bit of extra credit to a 
piece of exotic candy!). Participating students sign forms acknowledging 
how their data will be used.

A good deal of SLA research using students in classes has taken place in 
  the language lab here (I think the first one was right after we got 
our first computer classroom 12 years ago). Basically the lab is used 
for audio data collection. Sometimes there are before-and-after 
recordings which simply suggest the efficacity of particular kind of 
exercise, sometimes a protocol which involves the student talking, in 
English or the target language or a mix, about what he/she is doing 
(e.g. reading a page online with access to dictionaries and other linked 
helps). In that very first case, we used the lab to host a little 
software program whose efficacity was being tested, and more recently 
classes meeting in the lab provided data by using an online 
pronunciation module and saving their work.

Judy Shoaf




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