Introduction

IRIS is a free, searchable, up- and downloadable collection of instruments, materials and stimuli that are used to elicit data for research into second and foreign languages. This includes research into the effectiveness of different types of experimental treatments and instructional techniques; linguistic development and how languages are learnt; the contexts in which second languages are used and learnt; and stakeholders' (learners', teachers', policy-makers') opinions about language use and how these impact teaching and learning.

What is IRIS?

Instruments for Research into Second Languages:

  • A sustainable, central digital repository
  • Up- and downloadable; freely accessible
  • Searchable across a wide range of parameters, e.g. instrument type; research area; participant characteristics (incl. teachers, learners, trainees); L1; L2; language feature(s); proficiency
  • Independent: Cross-institution, -country, -journal, -publisher, -funder
  • Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the British Academy as one of its prestigious 'Academy Research Projects'
  • Using the infrastructure of the University of York's Digital Library

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Scope

The scope of IRIS is as wide as the field of SLA, including

  • L2 perception & identity
  • L2 production
  • Language learning
  • Phonology
  • Grammar
  • Vocabulary
  • Pragmatics
  • Language teaching
  • Education & policy
  • ... in diverse contexts
  • ... with diverse research aims
  • ... with diverse types of data

Rationale behind IRIS

The nature of instruments is a source of lively debate, e.g.

  • How to measure implicit vs. explicit knowledge?
  • How to elicit the construct of autonomy in language learning?
  • How to measure working memory?
  • How do contextual characteristics determine the usefulness of a particular instrument? E.g. eliciting teacher cognition amongst 'native' and 'non-native' teachers
  • How to elicit L2 processing vs. L2 competence?

Currently:

  • Researchers create and keep their own instruments
  • Maintenance and access to the instruments is ad hoc
  • Usually only brief descriptions with occasional short samples are available in published work
  • Contrast between: Complete data collection instruments vs. samples in appendix

IRIS will:

  • Improve transparency
  • Increase availability of methods
  • Enhance research agendas across time and space
  • Facilitate replication, systematic reviews; meta-analyses

IRIS will also facilitate evaluation and quality assurance, via:

  • Feedback and updates given on site by contributors and users
  • Wider usage of instruments
  • Full transparency

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Submission

Online submission is available now: Submit to IRIS

Criteria for upload:

  • Instruments / materials must have been used to collect data published (or 'in press') in a peer-reviewed:
    • Journal article
    • Book/chapter
    • Conference proceedings
    • Approved PhD thesis

The IRIS team will, free of charge, digitise material that will be submitted to IRIS. This includes paper-based and audio-visual material. Please contact IRIS by email to make arrangements, OR post your materials, including your postal and email contact details, to the IRIS address. We will return all materials to you and send you the digitised materials.

Feedback features and quality assurance
  • Users can upload information about:
    • their use of an instrument
    • generalisability
    • any problems encountered
    • updated reliability stats
    • new contextual information
  • Uploaders are encouraged to allow visible on-line comments - default option
    • Or can request feedback to be sent personally to them
    • Or refuse feedback
  • Uploader is informed when their instrument has been downloaded (Citations; Impact)
  • Downloaders are encouraged to provide some feedback

Ethical issues and copyright
  • Creative commons licensing
    • IRIS encourages contributors to license their materials with: derivatives allowed; non-commercial; share-alike
  • Uploaders cite any sources they have used in the development of their instrument
  • The IRIS team can help to pursue copyright or permission requests

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Supporters

Support from potential users

  • Center for Applied Linguistics, US (Donna Christian, President)
  • Committee for Linguistics in Education, UK (Graeme Trousdale, Chair)
  • Early Language Learning in Europe (Janet Enever, Director)
  • Higher Education Academy's Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, UK (Mike Kelly, Director)
  • International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (Herbert Puchta, President)
  • Language Learning Journal (Norbert Pachler, Co-Editor)
  • Modern Language Association's Committee on Information Technology, US (Barbara Lafford)
  • Research Special Interest Group of the International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (Anthony Bruton, Co-ordinator)
  • UKOLN, Centre of Excellence in Digital Information Management (Michael Day, Research and Development Manager and Team Leader, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK)

Support from research community


Letters from journal editors

  • Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (Charlene Polio, Editor-in-Chief)
  • Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (Ping Li, Co-ordinating Editor)
  • International Journal of Bilingualism (Li Wei, Editor)
  • Journal of French Language Studies (Florence Myles, Chief Editor)
  • Language Learning (Robert DeKeyser, outgoing Editor, and Lourdes Ortega, incoming Editor)
  • Language Teaching (Graeme Porte, Editor)
  • Language Teaching Research (Rod Ellis, Editor)
  • Language Policy (Kendall King, Editor)
  • Second Language Research (John Archibald, Co-Editor)
  • Studies in Second Language Acquisition (Susan Gass, Associate Editor)
  • System (Norman Davies, General Editor)

Letters from presidents of professional research associations

  • American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) (Jeff Connor-Linton, President)
  • British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) (Susan Hunston, Acting Chair)
  • European Second Language Association (EUROSLA) (Jean-Marc Dewaele, President)
  • International Association for Applied Linguistics (AILA) (Martin Bygate, President)
  • Language Learning and Teaching Special Interest Group (BAAL LLT SIG) (Suzanne Graham, Convenor)
  • Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB) (Kersti Borjars, President)

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The IRIS Advisory Board
  • Michael Day (UKOLN Centre of Excellence in Digital Information Management, University of Bath, UK)
  • Professor Rod Ellis (University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Cheung Kong Scholar Professor, Shanghai International Studies University, China)
  • Professor Susan Gass (Michigan State University, US)
  • Professor Jan Hulstijn (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Dr. Judith Klavans (University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, US)
  • Professor David Martin (ESRC National Centre for Research Methods and ReStore Sustainable Web Resources Repository project, University of Southampton, UK)
  • Professor Lourdes Ortega (University of Hawaii at Manoa, US / Georgetown University, US)
  • Professor Leah Roberts (University of York, UK)
  • Professor Norman Segalowitz (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada)
  • Professor Peter Skehan (Emeritus, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)

Project schedule
  • May 2011: Project began
  • July 2011: International researchers submitting their instruments (invited)
  • January 2012: Full upload facility live, to populate IRIS
  • Spring 2012: Search and download facilities live

Finally...
  • Please help to raise awareness by sending this weblink to colleagues
  • And please upload an instrument
    • Approx. 15 minutes, to make IRIS a sustained and integral part of our community's practice

Scheduled Maintenance

Tuesdays from 08:00AM to 11:00AM GMT is the IRIS scheduled maintenance period. During this period we routinely apply system updates and the system may be unavailable.

Contact IRIS

Please contact us with any questions.

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