Corpus-Based English Language Teaching: A New Method

BELT: Brazilian English Language Teaching Journal , 2012

This paper discusses the impact language and learner corpora have had in English Language Teaching (ELT). Corpus Linguistics can be defined as the study of language through compilation of authentically produced texts which undergo automatic or semi-automatic analyses. Over the past decade Corpus Linguistics studies have been increasingly adopted in ELT, ranging from applications in teaching materials (O'Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter, 2007) to understanding how learners and non-native speakers use English (Granger, 2003, 1998). Language and learner corpora, both spoken and written, have shed light into how the English language is actually used around the world, and are consequently changing the way we teach English. In this paper we will show how such corpora are influencing ELT, in general, and more specifically in Brazil, as this is our research and teaching context.

Journal of Education and Educational Development, 2018

The advent of corpora has opened new vistas for language study and restructured linguists' and academicians' approaches to lexicography and English language teaching (ELT). After 1980s, the use of online language corpora and computer tools garnered tremendous attention of English language teachers and academicians. Keeping in view the modern trends and needs of learners, this research focused on the practical implications of online corpora for ELT and its utility in the Pakistani context. Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) is used as a reference corpus for this research. MICASE is a collection of nearly 1.8 million words of transcribed speech (almost two hundred hours of recording). The transcribed data of MICASE includes wide range of speech events like seminars, lectures, advisory meetings and lab sessions. The study identified the utility of lexical items at syntactic level and its usage in various contexts. Furthermore, the layers of meanings and uses of lexicons through in-depth study of right and left collocates were explored in the reference corpus. The results showed that lexicons can be used as noun, verb and adjective depending upon the context of the study and right and left collocates play a significant role in understanding the meanings of lexical items in various contexts. Thus, this strategy can be fruitful for English language learners and academic discourse community who are interested in understanding the versatile uses of lexical items and their contextual meaning.

I argue here for teaching English as a second language to Bengali learners with close reference to English language corpora. The proposed method is assisted by computer and based on information obtained from English corpora developed with text samples of various types used by native people in their daily discourse. This empirical method for English Language Teaching (ELT) is proved successful in various parts of the world where English is used as a second language or 'lingua franca'. There is no reason to be sceptical about its success in Bengali if the methods are used with careful manipulation of techniques and resources tagged with advices of the experts.

The present paper has a theoretical and a practical aim: firts of all, it discusses the place of corpus techniques used for language exploration and learning in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and English Language Teaching (ELT) theories; secondly, the practical aim consists of a demonstration of how corpus-driven techniques pinpoint the fundamental role of idiomaticity in language use and how this should be focused upon in the language classroom if language teaching aims to promote learners' effective command of the target language and competent communicative ability.

Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta, 2021

Corpus linguistics has seen an expansion in scope over the past several decades. It has also found its way into language classrooms. Corpus-based approaches have gradually become a common practice among English teachers. Some research studies have established that corpus-based approaches are extremely beneficial to both teacher and learner. Aiming to illustrate how corpora can be used in English language teaching, this paper offers brief explanations of what corpora is, elaborating on the most relevant advantages of such an application in language classroom in terms of the teacher's role and learners' autonomy, motivation, self-reflection. Finally, the paper offers sample corpus-based activities (with concordances from COCA and BNC) that teachers can use printed out as handouts in the classroom.

Language is a part of culture as well as shaped by it. Culture on the other hand is transmitted through language. The two are so intricately woven together that it is difficult to talk about one without referring to other. The content words of a language are not only unites of it but they also represent a cultural unites of the particular culture. With the acquisition of first language one also acquires social and cultural identity and it is practically very difficult to abandon these identities while writing in second language. Indian English Writings are the products of those individuals who have acquire Indian social and cultural identity through their first language and have acquired English, the language of their creative expression, in schools as second language. Thus, they are bound to express their own culture in their creative writings in the form of ways of living, symbolism and mythology, religious and social organization etc. The present paper explores the benefits of using Indian English texts in teaching English in India as they are more akin to Indian students than the western texts.

The advent of corpus linguistics has brought new dimensions in linguistic and language teaching theories. Traditional view of the internal structure of human language claimed that grammar provides empty skeletons of utterances, later filled with appropriate lexis in the course of discourse formation.

English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies

At present, with the rapid development of information technology, the Internet has been unprecedented popularity, as a language corpus of Internet and information technology products, in language research and teaching, has received unprecedented attention and development, especially in the translation teaching, grammar and vocabulary teaching of university English, for the effect of education and teaching has played an important role. However, the role of corpus in English teaching in secondary schools is not obvious and needs further research. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of corpus in the classroom of the secondary school English teaching, so as to better promote students’ learning and improve the quality of education and teaching.

2012

From its origins, Corpus Linguistics has had a strong link with language teaching. John Sinclair's impact on dictionary making and his pioneering name but a few). The common ground for all these approaches is that they are based on empirical evidence, thus leading to the elaboration of better quality learner input and providing teachers and researchers with a wider, fi ner perspective into language in use, that is, into the understanding of how language works in specifi c contexts. Corpus-Based Approaches to ELT presents work by leading linguists exploring different ways of applying corpus-based and corpus-informed research to language teaching environments. More specifi cally, the volume tackles three main areas of special interest today: the use of corpora for teaching English for Specifi c Purposes, pedagogically motivated uses of corpora, and the potential of corpora-mediated multimodal tools for the language learning context. The compilation, description and analysis of dom...

2010

Using corpora in language classrooms has proven to be an effective tool in teaching vocabulary, grammar and language use to learners of English as a second/foreign language. However, many EFL teachers find integrating corpus-based activities in their classrooms a challenging teaching practice. Moreover, some teachers avoid using corpora because they think that designing corpus-based activities is a challenging task. In this paper, the researchers will guide the readers on how corpora can help students understand how certain language forms are used by native speakers of English. They will give a brief review on studies discussing the benefits and the challenges of using corpora in language learning. The role of the teacher is also highlighted in this paper. The researchers will then go through some corpus-based materials and activities suitable for different language levels. Activities will aim at developing students’ vocabulary, grammar, knowledge of idiomatic expressions and pragma...