The application of corpus analysis and concordance feedback to collegiate EFL writing

1. The application of corpus analysis and concordance feedback to collegiate EFL writing Presenter: Wen-Shuenn Wu(Michael Wu) Chung Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan May 22, 2009

2. ‘Research is too important to be left to the researchers.’ (Tim Johns, 1991)

3. Introduction • What is corpus? • A collection of naturally occurring examples of language, consisting of anything from a few sentences to a set of written texts or tape recordings, which have been collected for linguistic study. (Hunston, 2002, p.2)

4. Introduction • What is concordance? • A listing of all the occurrences in the corpus of the query item, together with some surrounding context in the form of words to the left and right. (Hoffmann, Evert, Smith, Lee, Pryta, 2008, p.264)

5. Classification of corpora • Closed corpora • Paid corpora (self-owned servers) • Free online corpora

6. Closed Corpora

7. CIC (Cambridge International Corpus)

8. Paid Corpora

9. 75 GBP = 150 USD BNC (British National Corpus)

10. ANC (American National Corpus)

11. About 20 corpora (e.g. Brown, LOB, Helsinki) in CD-ROM. 3,500 NOK = 700 USD ICAME (International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English)

12. LDC (Linguistic Data Consortium)

13. Free online Corpora

14. BNCWeb

15. The Collins Wordbanks Online English Corpus

16. JustTheWordSharp Laboratory of Europe http://193.133.140.102/JustTheWord

17. COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English)

18. MICASE (Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English)

19. Compleat Lexical Tutor

20. Data-driven learning (DDL) • Students act as ‘language detectives’, discovering facts about the language from authentic examples. (Hunston, 2002) • DDL serves as consciousness-raising • DDL does not ‘teach’ a language feature, but presents learners with evidence and asks them to make hypotheses and draw conclusions.

21. Corpora and language teaching • To improve student’s skills of using real language in context to come up with an answer to certain grammar and usage problems. • To investigate the lexico-grammatical associations and pattern differences between nearly synonymous words.

22. Advantages of using corpora in a language class • Solve some grammatical and usage problems. • Additional corpus material may be useful to help the learner to see a recurrent pattern rather than relying on a single occurrence from a text.

23. Disadvantages of using corpora in a language class • time-consuming • wrong conclusion or incorrect interpretation. • “That’s why we suggestyoutalk to us first.” • “In that case I suggestwestick to it, because I have the strong feeling that…”

24. Disadvantages of using corpora in a language class (cont.) • Not all the concordance-derived data are grammatically correct. • A teacher has to make a couple of digressions from the main topics of a lesson, which definitely will interrupt the flow of the lecture or discussion.

25. Dictionary definition of advise, suggest, and recommend (LDCE) • advise:  to tell someone what you think they should do, especially when you know more than they do about something • suggest:  to tell someone your ideas about what they should do, where they should go etc • recommend:  to advise someone to do something, especially when you have special knowledge of a particular subject or situation

26. Whether these sentences are correct? • I suggested a new procedure to the committee. • A broker will advise you how toinvest your money. • I would always recommendbuying a good quality bicycle rather than a cheap one.

27. How about these sentences? • He suggested us to go for a drink. (LDCE) • He suggestedthatwe go for a drink. • He advisedto leave as quickly as possible. (Collins COBUILD English Usage, p.26) • Can you suggest something for us to do this weekend? • If you go to London, we recommend you visiting Tate Modern. (LDCE) • They advised him that the tour would proceed.

28. Pilot Study • Find out the whether advise, suggest, and recommend can be used in the following patterns? • V + N + (not) to-V • V + wh-clause/phrase • V + that-clause • V + -ing • V + for/to someone + to-V

29. pedagogical and research issues – EFL perspective (1) • native speaker intuition vs. non-native speaker competence

30. pedagogical and research issues – EFL perspective (2) • the absence of some target patterns and rare instances of target patterns • suggest + N + to V: (8 target patterns out of 8778 examples from BNCWeb) • I would suggestyouto ask that question in fact you’ll ask Gordon afterwards. • suggestmedicinesto help reduce your symptoms. • suggestwaysto help my weight reduction • suggeststrategiesto increase the safety of …

31. pedagogical and research issues – EFL perspctive (4) • recommend + N + V-ing(Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, p.742) (2 target patterns out of 1784 examples from BNCWeb: “…although she would recommendyouusing more tact than Judith did.”)

32. pedagogical and research issues – EFL perspective (5) • suggest + N + V-ing (Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, p.742) (4 target patterns out of 8778 examples from BNCWeb: Perhaps I could suggesthergetting someone in to look after him and she could come..)

33. pedagogical and research issues – EFL perspective (6) • real language: Where the example sentences from corpora are ‘real language’ in a meaningful context? • In the classroom setting, EFL students are unlikely to be motivated by corpus-based data if the instances of language use that they are studying are taken from contexts which are detached from their interests and concerns (Tribble, 1997).

34. Conclusion • “It is certainly true that I do not believe (and do not think the research demonstrates) that there is just one preferred approach to teaching grammar. The acquisition of the grammatical system of an L2 is a complex process and almost certainly can be assisted best by a variety of approaches.” (Ellis, 2006, p.103)