The vignette study: examining the effects of multiple variables in foreign-language teaching and learning

Abstract This article introduces the vignette study as a research method in foreign-language education that can be used to examine the effects and interaction of multiple variables. A vignette study presents hypothetical scenarios (i.e., vignettes) to its participants (i.e., L2 learners, L2 teachers) to investigate their self-reported attitudes, decisions, or reactions regarding these vignettes. A vignette set systematically varies attributes in its vignettes (e.g., L2 feedback type). The vignette study is thus able to identify the causal effect of these attributes on the participants’ attitudes, decisions, or reactions (e.g., learner motivation). The vignette study offers several benefits to L2 research, such as flexible research questions, analysis of multiple variables, compatibility with quantitative and qualitative assessments, and research economy. The vignette study is a valuable, but underused method to investigate complex causal interactions in foreign-language education. To illustrate the potential of the vignette study for L2 research, the article presents an exemplary vignette study with L1-German L2-English students (grade 5-9, secondary school). The vignette study examined the effect of online vs. onsite teaching (IV) on the students’ foreign-language enjoyment (DV) in the L2 English classroom and showed that their enjoyment was lowered by online teaching in the study sample (i.e., descriptive, but non-significant result).