The Use of Meta-Analysis

“The most conspicuous benefit of a meta-analysis is that it enables a summary of the individual

study results of the domain of interest while systematically reducing bias that is introduced by an

author’s judgment in traditional narrative reviews of literature.” (Jeon & Kaya, 2006, pp. 197-198)

This sentence caught my attention during reading last weeks materials. While visiting this class, we already looked at different research that helps us – as future English teachers – to better understand the meaning and the importance of teaching culture.

The concept of meta-analysis, however, was still new to me. Meta-analysis can be described as “a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies” (Crombie & Davis, 2009, p. 1). Learning about this type of research was meaningful, not only for that class, but for the whole course about pragmatics and teaching culture. As including cultural learning into ESL lessons is still relatively new, theories and beliefs about it still need more confirmation through new research. In order to teach culture effectively, educators are challenged to look at different research and learn from it for their own classroom instructions. The importance and opportunity of meta-analysis are grounded in its benefits of getting rid of bias, having results that are more precise and review methodology systematically (Crombie & Davis, 2009). Knowing about Meta-analysis can be very useful for ESL teachers, especially when comparing research about cultural teaching. New research should never be neglected by teachers, as its consideration can affect teaching methods and contents, which awakens among other things cultural awareness. Cultural awareness on both sides, among native and non-native speakers of a language, can lead to a better understanding of people from other cultures.

Furthermore, meta-analysis can be useful to come from specific research results about specific groups of people, to a more general conclusion. For example, the findings of a study conducted in the Philippines, combined with other studies from different places, can be generalized and be applied in Germany as well. Of course, meta-analysis also has its limitations, but the good aspects of meta-analysis are outstanding.

Crombie, L.K. & Davis, H.T. (2009). What is meta-analysis? Hayward Medical Communications. Retrieved from http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/painres/download/whatis/Meta-An.pdf

Jeon, E. H. & Kaya, T. (2006). Effects of L2 instruction on interlanguage pragmatic development. In J. Norris & L. Ortega (Edrs). Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 165-212). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.