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Who benefits from learning how to use corpora?

  • Solveig Granath
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Corpora and Language Teaching
This chapter is in the book Corpora and Language Teaching

Abstract

Whereas researchers have long seen the benefits of using corpora to enhance the description of language, the regular use of corpora in the EFL classroom is still a rare occurrence. One reason is likely to be that learning how to use corpora is seldom part of teacher training courses. As a result, teachers themselves – both at university level and at lower levels – lack the skills needed to use this “native-speaker consultant”. If training in how to use corpora were integrated into university level courses such as syntax, written proficiency and translation, in time it could become just as natural to consult a corpus as to look up an item in a dictionary or a grammar book.

The present paper, which is based on almost a decade’s experience of using corpora in the teaching of EFL syntax at the university level, outlines how teachers can utilize this resource both to design exercises and to make grammar “come alive” in the classroom. Furthermore, it summarizes students’ attitudes regarding hands-on exercises using corpora, and discusses the problems as well as the benefits of involving students directly in interpreting edited and unedited corpus data.

Abstract

Whereas researchers have long seen the benefits of using corpora to enhance the description of language, the regular use of corpora in the EFL classroom is still a rare occurrence. One reason is likely to be that learning how to use corpora is seldom part of teacher training courses. As a result, teachers themselves – both at university level and at lower levels – lack the skills needed to use this “native-speaker consultant”. If training in how to use corpora were integrated into university level courses such as syntax, written proficiency and translation, in time it could become just as natural to consult a corpus as to look up an item in a dictionary or a grammar book.

The present paper, which is based on almost a decade’s experience of using corpora in the teaching of EFL syntax at the university level, outlines how teachers can utilize this resource both to design exercises and to make grammar “come alive” in the classroom. Furthermore, it summarizes students’ attitudes regarding hands-on exercises using corpora, and discusses the problems as well as the benefits of involving students directly in interpreting edited and unedited corpus data.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction: Corpora and language teaching 1
  5. Part 1. Corpora and second-language acquisition
  6. The contribution of learner corpora to second language acquisition and foreign language teaching: A critical evaluation 13
  7. Some thoughts on corpora and second-language acquisition 33
  8. Part 2. The direct corpus approach
  9. Who benefits from learning how to use corpora? 47
  10. Oslo Interactive English : Corpus-driven exercises on the Web 67
  11. Corpus research and practice: What help do teachers need and what can we offer? 83
  12. Part 3. The indirect corpus approach
  13. Themes in Swedish advanced learners' writing in English 101
  14. Thematic choice and expression of stance in English argumentative texts by Norwegian learners 121
  15. The usefulness of corpus-based descriptions of English for learners: The case of relative frequency 141
  16. Part 4. New types of corpora
  17. Income/interest/net : Using internal criteria to determine the aboutness of a text 157
  18. New types of corpora for new educational challenges: Collecting, annotating and exploiting a corpus of textbook material 179
  19. The grammar of conversation in advanced spoken learner English: Learner corpus data and language-pedagogical implications 203
  20. Index 231
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.33.07gra

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction: Corpora and language teaching 1
  5. Part 1. Corpora and second-language acquisition
  6. The contribution of learner corpora to second language acquisition and foreign language teaching: A critical evaluation 13
  7. Some thoughts on corpora and second-language acquisition 33
  8. Part 2. The direct corpus approach
  9. Who benefits from learning how to use corpora? 47
  10. Oslo Interactive English : Corpus-driven exercises on the Web 67
  11. Corpus research and practice: What help do teachers need and what can we offer? 83
  12. Part 3. The indirect corpus approach
  13. Themes in Swedish advanced learners' writing in English 101
  14. Thematic choice and expression of stance in English argumentative texts by Norwegian learners 121
  15. The usefulness of corpus-based descriptions of English for learners: The case of relative frequency 141
  16. Part 4. New types of corpora
  17. Income/interest/net : Using internal criteria to determine the aboutness of a text 157
  18. New types of corpora for new educational challenges: Collecting, annotating and exploiting a corpus of textbook material 179
  19. The grammar of conversation in advanced spoken learner English: Learner corpus data and language-pedagogical implications 203
  20. Index 231
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