Metascience and Research Synthesis in the Language Sciences Workshop
University of Reading
June 29th – July 1st, 2026
We are happy to announce the Metascience and Research Synthesis in the Language Sciences Workshop that will take place in person at the University of Reading from June 29th – July 1st, 2026.
Led by Professor Luke Plonsky (Northern Arizona University), this workshop provides a comprehension introduction to metascience and research synthesis for linguists and language researchers in allied fields, broadly defined. A summary of the workshop can be found below, followed by the workshop materials and an overview of the timetable.
Metascience and Research Synthesis in the Language Sciences
Research synthesis (RS) comprises a powerful set of procedures for conducting comprehensive and empirically-grounded reviews of a given domain. Consequently, the use of RS has grown dramatically in recent years (Chong & Plonsky, 2024). Building on recent efforts to promote and improve synthetic methods in applied linguistics (e.g., Boers et al., 2022; Mizumoto et al., in 2021), this workshop provides participants with a conceptual and procedural introduction to RS, addressing all major steps involved: (a) defining the domain and searching for primary literature, (b) developing and implementing a coding scheme, (c) data analysis, and (d) interpreting results. Examples will be provided along with sample/practice data representing different types of RS (e.g., scoping review; bibliometric review; methodological synthesis). Our discussions in the workshop will also be situated in the broader context of metascience, an inherently transdisciplinary field of inquiry that investigates substantive findings as well as research methods, publication policies and practices, peer review, funding, incentive structures, ethics, and mentoring as they pertain to one or more domains (Ioannidis et al., 2015). Finally, the workshop will not be technical, and only a basic knowledge of quantitative methods is assumed.
Workshop Schedule
Materials from the workshop can be found on Google Drive.
Day 1 (Monday June 29th)
An introduction to metascience and the synthetic ethic
Morning Session (9.30am – 12.30pm)
Afternoon Session (2.00pm – 4.30pm)
Day 2 (Tuesday June 30th)
Domain definition, searches, coding
Morning Session (9.30am – 12.30pm)
Afternoon Session (2.00pm – 4.30pm)
Day 3 (Wednesday July 1st)
Analysis and interpretation; the future of metaresearch in the language sciences
Morning Session (9.30am – 12.30pm)
Afternoon Session (Drop-in Hours with Luke from 2.00pm)
This workshop is funded by the British Academy.
