Chapter 1

Introduction

In recent years, child-centered research has been extensively discussed among researchers in psychology, sociology, education, and other related fields. However, in Applied Linguistics, sufficient attention has yet to be given to child-centered research. One of the challenges of employing child-centered research is that its exact definition is not always clear. There are many ways of conceptualising child-centered research, and researchers adhere to different interpretations depending on their theoretical and practical backgrounds. These varying conceptualisations, in turn, significantly influence how they conduct research, including decisions about research aims, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. As the introduction to this volume, this chapter outlines some major conceptualizations of child-centeredness in research and poses questions associated with each one. Using these conceptualisations as a guide, the following chapters feature experts in Applied Linguistics reflecting on their past and current research practices in light of child-centeredness. This chapter also provides a summary of each chapter in the volume.