Using Grammatical Signals Suitable to Patterns of Idea Development
Corpora in language teaching
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3. Corpus
A principled collection of texts.
Represents area(s) of language use.
Usually searchable via computer
List of some corpora
4. Corpora and language learning
Corpora can offer language learners the
following benefits:
More accurate descriptions of the language than
teachers’/textbook writers’ intuitions (Biber & Reppen,
2002, Conrad, 1999).
Exposure to contextualized, meaningful language and
“real” language data.
Can provide language input for a specific register (Conrad,
2000).
A vast reference tool for autonomous learning.
5. Uses of corpora
Make decisions about syllabus design
Word Lists
Concordance lines (KWICs)
Tagged texts/searches*
Provide examples for teachable moments
Language input for activities, quizzes, etc.
6. 1. Course (syllabus) design
Instead of relying on our own intuitions about what
grammar should be taught, research from corpora
can tell us what grammatical structures and what
vocabulary are most common in the language we
want learners to learn.
For example, most grammars include coverage of all
the one word modals: can, could, may, might, must,
shall, should, will, would…
7. Modal frequencies in COCA
(Corpus of Contemporary American English: 410 million words)
Modal Occurrences Modal Occurrences
CAN 913,626 SHALL 16,092
COULD 645,262 SHOULD 324,175
MAY 378,298 WILL 837,995
MIGHT 220,237 WOULD 966,035
MUST 178,211
8. Interfaces
1. Local corpora managed using a concordancer
Monoconc, Antconc, Wordsmith
2. Web-based corpora
BYU Corpora
MICASE/MICUSP
Compleat Lexical Tutor
SACODEYL
3. Web as corpora
9. Local Corpus
Teachers and students can build their own corpora.
Project-based learning: Learners collect the texts
(learn about the range of texts) and then conduct
analysis on the texts (guided inductive activities.
Useful in EAP/ESP courses.
Free concordancers like AntConc or paid.
10. Web-based corpora
Search interfaces that allows you to use corpora via
web browsers.
Mark Davies’ Corpora are probably the most well
known: http://corpus.byu.edu
wordandphrase.info,
word frequency and collocates info.
Search using tags (UCREL CLAW)
11. Michigan Corpora
Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers
(MICUSP)
Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English
(MICASE)
Teaching activities, ESL activities, etc.
12. Compleat Lexical Tutor
First developed by Tom Cobb
Lots of great information about frequency &
vocabulary
Sections for learners, researchers, and teachers.
1. Test your word knowledge, Concord Writer
2. Audio supported readings
3. Text analysis (Vocabprofile, N-gram)
13. SACODEYL
Funded by EU commission, focus on youth language
(European)
Multiple languages
Multimedia (videos, transcripts)
Word list tools
Prepared teaching materials (i.e., Learning Packages).
14. Sample Activity 1: Functions of Can
Students examine a corpus to find examples of
different functions of the modal CAN.
CAN has four functions in English:
Ability
Possibility
Permission
Request
• Find examples of each function.
17. Web as Corpora
Search engines allow learners to find real examples of
language use…and pictures of cats.
Search term tricks for learners
use “quotations” for verbatim searches
site:disney.com to search within a specific site (turn a
site into a mini corpus).
Use a tilde ~ to return related items
Search by file type filetype:ppt
Purpose-designed interface: WebCorp
18. Considerations for using corpora
What “meta-language” do students need to use
corpora or complete activities?
How much do students need to understand about the
interface?
What level is best to have students work with
corpora?
Research on using corpora in language teaching is
limited.
19. Shakespeare Vocabulary
Look at the concordance lines. With your group
members, try to identify the part of speech of the
word and define the word.
A. Alack
B. Avaunt
C. Fie
D. Gramercy
20. Fix the following altered
Shakespeare quotes
1. “Flee, thou hateful villain, get thee gone”
2. How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the
uses of this world! Shame on’t! O shame! ’tis an unweeded
garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
3. God bless your worship! Thanks! wouldst thou aught with me?
4. "Oh no, I am afraid they have awaked, and 'tis not done"
21. Let’s try out some corpora
In a small group (i.e., 2-3 people), look at one of the
following corpus tools. Explore its features and
brainstorm a few ways that you could use it in your
teaching.
Submit your group’s ideas on the corpus Google doc.
22. Let’s try them out…
A. BYU Corpora B. SACODEYL
C. Compleat Lexical Tutor
D. MICUSP/ E. AntConc*
*use your own computer
MICASE
24. Take a screenshot
Windows 7+: Use snipping tool or
Windows (any): Press PrintScreen, open
MS Paint, press Ctrl+V. Save as an image
file (i.e., jpg).
Mac: Cmd+Shift+3: whole screen
Cmd+Shift+4: choose area
