Computer Learner Corpora, Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching (Language Learning & Language Teaching)

258 Pages·2000·1.68 MB·English

by  Sylviane Granger

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ComputerLearnerCorpora,SecondLanguageAcquisition
andForeignLanguageTeaching
Language Learning and Language Teaching
TheLL&LTmonographseriespublishesmonographsaswellaseditedvolumes
on applied and methodological issues in the field of language pedagogy. The
focusoftheseriesisonsubjectssuchasclassroomdiscourseandinteraction;
languagediversityineducationalsettings;bilingualeducation;languagetesting
andlanguageassessment;teachingmethodsandteachingperformance;learning
trajectories in second language acquisition; and written language learning in
educationalsettings.
Serieseditors
BirgitHarley
OntarioInstituteforStudiesinEducation,UniversityofToronto
JanH.Hulstijn
DepartmentofSecondLanguageAcquisition,UniversityofAmsterdam
Volume6
ComputerLearnerCorpora,SecondLanguageAcquisitionand
ForeignLanguageTeaching
EditedbySylvianeGranger,JosephHungandStephaniePetch-Tyson
Computer Learner Corpora,
Second Language Acquisition
and Foreign Language Teaching
Edited by
Sylviane Granger
UniversitécatholiquedeLouvain
Joseph Hung
ChineseUniversityofHongKong
Stephanie Petch-Tyson
UniversitécatholiquedeLouvain
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany
Amsterdam(cid:1)/(cid:1)Philadelphia
TM ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
8
NationalStandardforInformationSciences–PermanenceofPaperforPrinted
LibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1984.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Computerlearnercorpora,secondlanguageacquisitionandforeignlanguageteaching /
editedbySylvianeGranger,JosephHungandStephaniePetch-Tyson.
p. cm.(LanguageLearningandLanguageTeaching,issn1569-9471;v.6)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Language and languages--Computer-assisted instruction. 2. Second language
acquisition--Computer-assisted instruction. I. Granger, Sylviane, 1951- II. Hung,
Joseph.III.Petch-Tyson,Stephanie.IV.Series.
P53.28.C6644 2002
418’.00285-dc21 2002027701
isbn90 272 1701 7(Eur.)/1 58811 293 4(US)(Hb;alk.paper)
isbn90 272 1702 5(Eur.)/1 58811 294 2(US)(Pb;alk.paper)
©2002–JohnBenjaminsB.V.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyform,byprint,photoprint,microfilm,orany
othermeans,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCo.·P.O.Box36224·1020meAmsterdam·TheNetherlands
JohnBenjaminsNorthAmerica·P.O.Box27519·Philadelphiapa19118-0519·usa
AICR[v.20020404] Prn:30/09/2002;14:08 F:LLLT6CO.tex / p.1(v)
Table of contents
Preface vii
Listofcontributors ix
I. TheroleofcomputerlearnercorporainSLAresearchandFLT
ABird’s-eyeviewoflearnercorpusresearch 3
SylvianeGranger
II. Corpus-basedapproachestointerlanguage
Usingbilingualcorpusevidenceinlearnercorpusresearch 37
BengtAltenberg
ModalityinadvancedSwedishlearners’writteninterlanguage 55
KarinAijmer
Acorpus-basedstudyoftheL2-acquisitionoftheEnglishverbsystem 77
AlexHousen
III. Corpus-basedapproachestoforeignlanguagepedagogy
ThepedagogicalvalueofnativeandlearnercorporainEFL
grammarteaching 119
FannyMeunier
Learnercorporaandlanguagetesting:smallwordsasmarkersof
learnerfluency 143
AngelaHasselgren
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 Tableofcontents
BusinessEnglish:learnerdatafromBelgium,FinlandandtheU.S. 175
UllaConnor,KristenPrechtandThomasUpton
TheTELECsecondarylearnercorpus:aresourceforteacherdevelopment 195
QuentinGrantAllan
Pedagogyandlocallearnercorpora:workingwithlearning-drivendata 213
BarbaraSeidlhofer
Authorindex 235
Subjectindex 241
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Preface
Computerlearnercorporaareelectroniccollectionsofspokenorwrittentexts
producedbyforeignorsecondlanguagelearnersin avarietyof languageset-
tings.Oncecomputerised,thesedatacanbeanalysedwithlinguisticsoftware
tools,fromsimpleones,whichsearch,countanddisplay,tothemostadvanced
ones,whichprovidesophisticatedanalysesofthedata.
Interest in computer learner corpora is growing fast, amidst increasing
recognitionoftheirtheoreticalandpracticalvalue,andanumberofthesecor-
pora,representingarangeofmediumsandgenresandofvaryingsizes,either
havebeenorarecurrentlybeingcompiled.Thisvolumetakesstockofcurrent
researchintocomputerlearnercorporaconductedbothbyELTandSLAspe-
cialistsandshouldbeofparticular interesttoresearcherslookingtoassessits
relevancetoSLAtheoryandELTpractice.Throughoutthevolume,emphasis
is also placed on practical, methodological aspects of computer learner cor-
pusresearch,inparticularthecontributionoftechnologytotheresearchpro-
cess.Theadvantagesanddisadvantagesofautomatedandsemi-automatedap-
proachesareanalysed,thecapabilitiesoflinguisticsoftwaretoolsinvestigated,
thecorpora(andcompilationprocesses)describedindetail.Inthisway,anim-
portantfunction of the volumeis togivepractical insight toresearcherswho
maybeconsideringcompilingacorpusoflearnerdataorembarkingonlearner
corpusresearch.
ImpetusforthebookcamefromtheInternationalSymposiumonComputer
Learner Corpora, Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teach-
ing organised by Joseph Hung and Sylviane Granger at the Chinese Univer-
sityofHongKongin1998.Thevolumeisnotaproceedingsvolumehowever,
but a collection of articles which focus specifically on the interrelationships
between computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign
languageteaching.
Thevolumeisdividedintothreesections:
The first section by Granger provides a general overview of learner cor-
pusresearchandsituateslearnercorporawithinSecondLanguageAcquisition
studiesandForeignLanguageTeaching.
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 Preface
Thethreechaptersinthesecondsectionillustratearangeofcorpus-based
approachestointerlanguageanalysis.ThefirstchapterbyAltenbergillustrates
how contrastive analysis, an approach to learner language whose validity has
verymuchbeenchallengedovertheyears,hasnowbeenreinterpretedwithina
learnercorpusperspectiveandcanoffervaluableinsightsintotransfer-related
languagephenomena.Thefollowingtwostudies,onecross-sectionalbyAijmer
andtheotherlongitudinalbyHousen,demonstratethepoweroflearnercor-
pusdatatouncoverfeaturesofinterlanguagegrammar.
Thechaptersinthethirdsectiondemonstratethedirectpedagogicalrele-
vanceoflearnercorpuswork.Inthefirstchapter,Meunieranalysesthecurrent
andpotentialcontributionofnativeandlearnercorporatothefieldofgram-
marteaching.Inthefollowingchapter,Hasselgren’sanalysisofacorpusofspo-
kenlearnerlanguageisanattempttoputmeasurableparametersonthenoto-
riouslydifficulttodefinenotionof‘fluency’,withtheultimateaimofintroduc-
ingincreasedobjectivity intoevaluatingfluencywithin testingprocedures.In
theirstudyofjobapplications,Connor,PrechtandUptonargueforthevalue
of genre-specificcorpora in understandingmore about learnerlanguage use,
anddemonstratehowalearner-corpusbasedapproachtotheESPfieldcanbe
usedtorefinecurrentapproachestoESPpedagogy.Thelasttwochaptersshow
howtheuseoflearnercorpusdatacanleadtothedevelopmentofnewteaching
andlearningtools(Allan)andclassroommethodologies(Seidlhofer).
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the acquisition editor,
Kees Vaes, for his continuing support and encouragement and the two se-
ries editors, Jan Hulstijn and Birgit Harley, for their insightful comments on
preliminary versionsof the volume. We would also like to express our grati-
tude to all the authors who have contributed to the volume for their patient
waitforthevolumetoappearandtheirever-willingnesstoeffectthechanges
askedofthem.
SylvianeGranger,JosephHungandStephaniePetch-Tyson
Louvain-la-NeuveandHongKong
January2002
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List of contributors
QuentinGrantAllan
UniversityofHongKong,China
KarinAijmer
GöteborgUniversity,Sweden
BengtAltenberg
LundUniversity,Sweden
UllaConnor
IndianaUniversity–PurdueUniversityIndianapolis,USA
SylvianeGranger
UniversitécatholiquedeLouvain,Belgium
AngelaHasselgren
UniversityofBergen,Norway
AlexHousen
VrijeUniversiteitBrussel,Belgium
KristenPrecht
NorthernArizonaUniversity,USA
FannyMeunier
UniversitécatholiquedeLouvain,Belgium
BarbaraSeidlhofer
UniversityofVienna,Austria
ThomasUpton
IndianaUniversity–PurdueUniversityIndianapolis,USA