Using corpus linguistics and grounded theory to explore EMI stakeholders’ discourse

Curry, Niall ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4471-6794 and Pérez-Paredes, Pascual (2023) Using corpus linguistics and grounded theory to explore EMI stakeholders’ discourse. In: Qualitative research methods in English medium instruction for emerging researchers: Theory and case studies of contemporary research. Qualitative and Visual Methodologies in Educational Research . Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 45-61. ISBN 9781032451312 (paperback); 9781003375531 (ebook)

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Abstract

Typically, interview data thematic analyses employ common-sense approaches to thematic analysis. Such approaches necessitate that the researcher identifies distinctive themes and observes some degree of repetition of themes. As the process involves multiple stages of description, interpretation, and synthesis and requires that analyses consider themes within and across a number of texts, there is a value in investigating the affordances of corpus linguistics approaches to interview analysis, given that corpus linguistics shares these considerations. This chapter shows how a corpus linguistics methodology can offer a nuanced approach to grounded theory thematic coding when used in synchrony with existing coding approaches and frameworks. We argue that the use of keyword analysis to generate initial open field codes for thematic analysis can reveal specific points in interviews and focus groups in which important themes are discursively constructed. Embedding keyword analysis in bottom-up grounded theory coding and top-down alignment with the ROAD-MAPPING framework, we demonstrate the reflexivity and value of this approach as a way to make sense of complex data, and inform the use of existing analytical and theoretical approaches for studying EMI. Overall, we reinforce the view that a corpus linguistics methodology can inform a systematic view of mixed methods research, arguing that the use of advanced techniques of data analysis can favour a dynamic interpretation of thematic analyses.