Corpora and Language Teaching

The articles in this edited volume represent a broad coverage of areas. They discuss the role and effectiveness of corpora and corpus-linguistic techniques for language teaching but also deal with broader issues such as the relationship between corpora and second language teaching and how the different perspectives of foreign language teachers and applied linguists can be reconciled. A number of concrete examples are given of how authentic corpus material can be used for different learning activities in the classroom. It is also shown how specific learner problems for example in the area of phraseology can be studied on the basis of learner corpora and textbook corpora. On the basis of learner corpora of speech and writing it is further shown that even advanced learners of English are uncertain about stylistic and text type differences.

Jan Svartvik, Lund University, Sweden:
Over the last forty years corpus linguistics has made impressive progress in producing numerous corpora and making user-friendly software accessible to linguists, but there is scant evidence of widespread use of this methodology in language classrooms – even most textbook writers shy away from corpora. The problem is how to reach teachers and students with information about corpora and what they can do. Hence this volume edited by Karin Aijmer will serve as a welcome guide and source of inspiration for language teachers who want a new tool for educational challenges. The contributions from a dozen eminent applied linguists cover a great many topics, including spoken English, which recent research has taught us is a far cry from written language and a major hurdle for foreign students, and learner corpora, which are dedicated pedagogical tools in focussing on transfer effects in learner production.