1. Corpora and Language Teaching

2. Corpora and Language Teaching
Data-driven learning
Learner corpora

3. 1. Language teaching Corpora as a source of material/examples
see later
Corpora determine the syllabus
Deciding what to teach and when can be influenced by how widespread a phenomenon is in the language
Teachers’ (and text books’) preconceptions are often wrong
(Same issue in lexicography)

4. Language teaching Corpora as a source of explanation
Students often ask about subtle differences in language
e.g. differences between close synonyms, especially when the L1 doesn’t make a similar distinction
Corpus evidence can be better than teachers’ intuitions

5. Tsui (2005)
Amy B M Tsui: ESL teachers’ questions and corpus evidence” Int. J. Corpus Ling. 10,
TeleNex website since 1993 to support ESL teachers in Hong Kong
Lots of questions sent in about commonly confused words; use of sentence connectives; count vs non-count nouns; number agreement; etc.
Accurate information about usage can be got from corpus data

6. Examples big vs large finally vs lastly less than vs fewer than
prescritpive grammar books can be at odds with actual usage
Sentence-initial conjunctions

7. 2. Data-driven learning
Part of drive to use new technology to enhance language learning
Focus on exploitation of authentic materials
even for tasks such as acquisition of grammatical structures and lexical items
Focus on real, exploratory tasks and activities rather than traditional “drill & kill” exercises
Learner-centred activities
Use and exploitation of tools rather than ready-made or off-the-shelf learnware

8. Task-based learning
Acquisition of language and linguistic competence as well as language and language learning awareness can best be realised through tasks which encourage the learner not to focus explicitly on the structure and the rules of the new language. Learners will acquire the form of the foreign language because they are engaged in exploring aspects of the target language on the basis of authentic content.

9. Use of materials
Not just use of real language in realistic situations (mainstay of language-teaching methodology since 1960s: “Communicative language teaching theory”, though starting to be disparaged, and “pedagogic grammar” method is returning)
Promotes concept of learning about language – learner is made aware of need to engage in a learning process
Learner is given tasks which use language as data, but which promote learning of language structures
Language learners engage in linguistically motivated activities, including corpus-based studies using concordancers and other tools

10. Product vs process
Product approaches are those that carefully present specific aspects of the language for the students, usually in terms of grammatical metalanguage and “rules”
Process approaches encourage creativity and self-discovery by students as they experiment with the language, often at the expense of accuracy
Few teachers nowadays take a wholly product- or process-based approach

11. Data-driven learning
Tries to marry product and process approach by teaching things like grammar through use of real text
G. Hadley

12. Data-driven learning Research then theory
Start with a question – may be provided by teacher, or occur spontaneously
Propitious use of materials – again may be directed by teacher, or student may explore at will
Students have to work out the “rule” (or pattern) for themselves

13. 3. Learner Corpora
A tool in the study of language learning and hence language teaching
studies of SLA (second language acquisition) interested in
how learners learn
evidence from learners’ errors
how this can feed in to ideas about how to teach

14. Interlanguage
Much work done on the role of L1 interference in language learning
assumption that elements of learner’s L1 interfere with L2 language acquisition at all levels (phonology, lexis, grammar of course, but also more subtly, even as learners become inetrmediate or advanced)
Studies of language produced by language learners can throw light on this

15. Learner corpora
Corpus of texts produced (usually written) by language learners
Notably: International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), Louvain University
Collections are corpora in the true sense in that they are often planned, purposeful, etc, but above all …
ANNOTATED

16. Annotation
Annotation can include the usual kind of thing (POS tags etc)
But of more interest is the annotation of errors
identifying that something is “wrong”
suggesting what the correct version should be
classification of error types

17. Error typing Very difficult task
multiple errors can be compounded
often easy to say there’s an error, but which error is it, eg The boys runs
Error classification can be contentious
Even saying something is wrong can be debatable
Grammatical errors more or less straightforward
Meaning errors difficult to spot
Even more difficult: annotating matters of style, nuance, etc.

18. Use of learner corpora
Research over- or underuse of particular constructuions or word(group)s
Identify lexical errors to help in compilation of learners’ dictionaries
Identification of generic L2 errors vs L1-influenced errors
S Granger (ed) Learner English on Computer, London (1998): Longman
S Granger, J Hung & S Petch-Tyson (eds) Computer Learner Corpora, Second
Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching, Amsterdam (2002): John Benjamins