Defense question bank · why each question matters

43 likely committee questions, written in English with the reasoning behind each one and a concise suggested answer. Use the per-question button to translate any item into Vietnamese on demand.

Chapter 1

Speaking, Communicative Competence & TBLT

11 questions

1.
Why did you choose speaking rather than writing or reading as your research focus?
OpeningRationale
Why this matters
The opening thesis claim — that speaking is the bottleneck of EFL — establishes the rationale for the whole study. It is also the bridge into the WTC construct in Chapter 2: WTC matters most precisely because speaking is real-time and 'public'.
2.
Why did you frame speaking as 'real-time, co-constructed' rather than as performance of grammar?
BygateCEFR
Why this matters
This question probes your theoretical commitment. The committee wants to see that you can locate your work inside the interactional turn in speaking research, not the older accuracy-first paradigm.
3.
How does TBLT support WTC in your design?
Why this matters
This question links your theoretical chapter to your intervention. The committee is checking whether your task design is principled, not arbitrary.
4.
Why intelligibility, not native-likeness, as the benchmark?
Why this matters
An ethics and goals question. The committee wants you to defend your standard of success and show awareness of ELF debates.
5.
How do you define 'communicative competence' operationally in your study?
Why this matters
Committees often press for an operational definition; without one, your indicators look arbitrary.
6.
Why task-based rather than PPP (Presentation–Practice–Production)?
Why this matters
A method-choice question that exposes whether you understand the difference between form-first and meaning-first pedagogies.
7.
What role does input play in your speaking-focused design?
Why this matters
Tests whether you treat speaking as isolated output or as part of an integrated skills cycle.
8.
How do you balance fluency and accuracy in classroom feedback?
Why this matters
A pedagogy-defence question. The committee wants to see you have not abandoned accuracy, only re-sequenced it.
9.
Why are pair and small-group formats privileged over whole-class?
Why this matters
A classroom-management question that connects directly to the face/anxiety mechanisms in Chapter 3.
10.
How does your framing of speaking relate to the CEFR can-do descriptors?
Why this matters
Shows your study is aligned with a recognised European standard — important for a Polish primary-school context.
11.
Why is speaking considered a 'productive' skill rather than just a 'performance' skill?
Why this matters
A terminology question that lets you show you distinguish performance (one-off display) from production (sustained meaning-making).

Chapter 2

WTC Pyramid, SPCC & Anxiety

10 questions

1.
Walk us through MacIntyre's six-layer pyramid. Why six layers?
MacIntyre 1998Core
Why this matters
A core-construct question. If you cannot articulate the pyramid clearly, the rest of your study has no anchor.
2.
What is SPCC and how does it differ from actual competence?
Why this matters
This distinction is what makes WTC research necessary in the first place. The committee wants to be sure you do not collapse 'belief' into 'ability'.
3.
Why FLCA, not general anxiety?
Why this matters
An instrument-choice question. The committee is checking that you understand why a domain-specific construct beats a generic one.
4.
Is WTC a trait or a state in your study?
Why this matters
A methodological consistency question. The answer dictates which instruments are appropriate.
5.
How does L1 WTC differ from L2 WTC, and why does that matter?
Why this matters
MacIntyre's original move was to argue L2 WTC is not just L1 WTC translated. If you blur the two, the construct loses its specificity.
6.
What is the role of international posture in your context?
Why this matters
Yashima's construct adapts WTC for EFL contexts where there is no immediate L2 community — directly relevant to a Polish primary classroom.
7.
How do dynamic systems theory critiques affect your use of the pyramid?
Why this matters
MacIntyre himself has moved towards a DST view of WTC. The committee will check whether you know the construct has evolved past 1998.
8.
Can SPCC be artificially inflated by easy tasks?
Why this matters
A construct-validity challenge. The committee wants to see you have thought about ceiling effects and false confidence.
9.
Is high WTC always desirable?
Why this matters
Tests whether you have a nuanced view: WTC is not the same as good language learning.
10.
How does WTC connect to language learning outcomes beyond your study?
Why this matters
Lets you situate WTC inside SLA more broadly — not just as a classroom variable but as a predictor of long-term acquisition.

Chapter 3

Emotions, Motivation, Rapport & Face

10 questions

1.
How do positive and negative emotions co-exist in your data?
Why this matters
Tests whether you understand the modern Positive Psychology turn in SLA — emotions are not zero-sum.
2.
What is the L2 Motivational Self System and why does it matter for 7-year-olds?
Why this matters
Probes whether you have considered the developmental fit between Dörnyei's adult-oriented model and very young learners.
3.
How does 'face' explain silence in your classroom?
Why this matters
Lets you connect a classic pragmatics construct to a concrete classroom observation.
4.
What is teacher–student rapport and how did you measure it?
Why this matters
Rapport is often invoked but rarely operationalised. The committee wants concrete indicators, not a vague claim of 'a warm classroom'.
5.
How do you handle the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in young learners?
Why this matters
Tests whether you can apply Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory to a primary-school context.
6.
What is the role of teacher immediacy in lowering FLCA?
Why this matters
Immediacy (verbal and non-verbal closeness) is a well-evidenced predictor of classroom anxiety reduction; expect a question on it.
7.
How does enjoyment differ from fun?
Why this matters
A subtle but important distinction in Positive Psychology SLA — fun is momentary, enjoyment is engagement-based.
8.
How do peer relationships mediate WTC in a class of seven-year-olds?
Why this matters
At this age, peer dynamics often outweigh teacher influence. Glossing over peers makes your account incomplete.
9.
What is 'silent period' and did your learners exhibit it?
Why this matters
Krashen's silent period is a standard reference for young-learner silence; the committee will want to know you've considered it as an alternative explanation.
10.
How does emotional contagion operate in a small EFL classroom?
Why this matters
Recent SLA work on collective emotion shows affect spreads peer-to-peer; expect a question on group dynamics.

Chapter 4

Action Research Design & Findings

10 questions

1.
Why only four focal learners? Isn't the sample too small?
Why this matters
The most predictable question. The committee wants to see that you can defend qualitative depth against quantitative-style critique.
2.
Why three cycles, not two or four?
Why this matters
A design-rationale question. The committee wants the cycle count to be principled, not convenient.
3.
Why use child-friendly pictorial Likert scales with 7-year-olds — is that valid?
Why this matters
An instrument-validity question specific to young-learner research.
4.
What happened in Week 6 and how did you respond?
Why this matters
A reflexivity question. The committee wants evidence that the action-research loop genuinely changed your practice.
5.
How do you separate the effect of your intervention from natural development?
Why this matters
The hardest internal-validity question. The committee wants honesty plus a credible mechanism.
6.
Which finding surprised you most?
Why this matters
An invitation to show genuine engagement with your own data, not just to recite results.
7.
What were your four observation indicators and why those four?
Why this matters
The committee will ask you to defend each indicator. Be ready to read them off and justify them.
8.
How did you ensure inter-rater reliability with only one researcher?
Why this matters
A standard methodological objection to single-coder qualitative data.
9.
Why didn't you use audio or video recordings?
Why this matters
Anticipates a methods critique; the committee will want to know whether you considered richer data and rejected it for principled reasons.
10.
What would you change if you re-ran the study tomorrow?
Why this matters
A reflexive closing question — almost guaranteed. Shows research maturity.

Methodology

Validity, Ethics & Researcher Role

2 questions

1.
You were both teacher and researcher — how do you handle that bias?
Why this matters
A standard reflexivity question for any practitioner research.
2.
How did you obtain consent from 7-year-olds?
Why this matters
A research-ethics question that the committee will not let pass implicitly.