Initial research - what do Linguistics students need to know?

Registering to conduct a Student Scientific Research (SRC) topic for students of all years or registering to conduct a Thesis (KL) for final year students is not only an opportunity for learners to apply specialized knowledge, basic knowledge of the field; general knowledge learned in the process of doing the topic but also helps learners form critical thinking, information processing skills, independent working skills as well as teamwork skills,... Therefore, this is an activity that the Faculty of Linguistics always encourages and has had timely and effective support activities for participating students.

1. What is scientific research?

Scientific research (NCKH) is the process in which learners choose a specific problem, apply theoretical knowledge, research methods and analytical skills to explore, analyze and make new discoveries that are valuable to the current knowledge system or have practical applications.

For example, when you observe the phenomenon of young people using slang such as “crow”, “xin via”… and ask why this phenomenon exists, what impact it has – you have laid the first foundation for a sociolinguistic study of vocabulary and semantics.

2. Steps to choose a research topic

Choosing a topic is the first and important step in the research journey. Students can refer to the following steps:

Step 1: Choose a suitable research field

You should determine the field you love or have a good knowledge base. Some areas that students are interested in recently: syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, contrastive linguistics, etc.

Step 2: Narrow down a specific topic

In the chosen field, identify a topic that is practical (NCKHSV prioritizes this) or theoretical, academic (KL prioritizes this). In the 2024-2025 school year, students of the Faculty of Linguistics have carried out the following topics:

(1) Thesis:

- Phonetic aspects in expressing aesthetic signals of poetic language in the period 1930-1945;

- Conceptual metaphor in Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War;

- Presuppositions in Southern folk songs;

- Conceptual metaphor through the character Chi Pheo in the short story of the same name by Nam Cao.

(2) Student scientific research:

- Survey of semantic-syntactic characteristics and deviations of the titles of the newspapers Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien, Nguoi Lao Dong, Sai Gon Giai Phong;

- Association and association relationships in some cosmetic advertisements on television;

- Expression and perception of gender identity through pronouns in Vietnamese (compared with English);

- Current student attitudes towards the middle names “Van” and “Thi” (research on students in Ho Chi Minh City);

- Wordplay techniques in rap lyrics, survey of the program Rap Viet season 4 (2024);

- Singing Rap in Vietnamese and Rap singing techniques from a psycholinguistic perspective;

- Advertising discourse of some vegan cosmetic brands from a multimodal approach;

- Advertising discourse of some English centers in Ho Chi Minh City from a multimodal approach.

Step 3: Identify the research problem

In the process of developing a research topic for a student or a researcher, identifying the research problem plays a central role and determines the direction of the entire implementation process. The research problem is not simply a topic of interest, but a specific academic question posed on the basis of what has been researched and what has not been fully explained. To identify the research problem, students need to answer the following key questions:

- What specific things do I want to learn in the chosen field?

- Are there any linguistic phenomena that exist but have not been adequately analyzed?

- To what extent have previous studies addressed this topic, what research gaps need to be further clarified?

- With current time and capacity, is the proposed problem feasible?

Identifying the research problem is the first step but also the academic foundation that helps students effectively implement the next steps: building objectives, questions, hypotheses, designing methods, collecting data and analyzing results.

For example: In the process of implementing the topic "Survey of semantic-syntactic features and deviations of newspaper headlines of Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien, Nguoi Lao Dong, Sai Gon Giai Phong", the research problem can be identified through the questions: What semantic-syntactic features do newspaper headlines have? What types of deviations are commonly found in newspaper headlines? Is deviation an error or intentional?

Step 4: Identify the object and scope of the research (scope of the corpus)

You need to clearly and specifically identify: The object of the research is the linguistic features that you will focus on surveying. The scope of the research is the limitation of space, time, context or the amount of corpus you will collect and analyze. The scope needs to be specifically defined and appropriate to the implementation capability. For example: The topic "Social commentary discourse in Phong Hoa newspaper" has the research object being the linguistic characteristics of social commentary discourse, including strategies for using words, structures, etc.