Category: applied linguistics

Recent DDL research & events: 5 tips

Really exciting times for DDL and corpus linguistics and education researchers. There’s some interesting new stuff that has just been published, including some interesting conference videos. Here’s my selection.

(1) Boulton, A., & Vyatkina, N. (2021). Thirty years of data-driven learning: Taking stock and charting new directions over time. Language Learning & Technology, 25(3), 66-89.

Abstract

The tools and techniques of corpus linguistics have many uses in language pedagogy, most directly with language teachers and learners searching and using corpora themselves. This is often associated with work by Tim Johns who used the term Data-Driven Learning (DDL) back in 1990. This paper examines the growing body of empirical research in DDL over three decades (1989-2019), with rigorous trawls
uncovering 489 separate publications, including 117 in internationally ranked journals, all divided into five time periods. Following a brief overview of previous syntheses, the study introduces our collection, outlining the coding procedures and conversion into a corpus of over 2.5 million words. The main part of the analysis focuses on the concluding sections of the papers to see what recommendations and future avenues of research are proposed in each time period. We use manual coding and semi-automated corpus keyword analysis to explore whether those points are in fact addressed in later publications as an indication of the evolution of the field

(2) Dr Peter Crosthwaite, The University of Queensland: Is Data Driven Learning dead? In this talk Dr Crosthwaite ****

Language is never, ever, ever random

“Language is never, ever, ever random” (Kilgarriff, 2005), not in its usage, not in its acquisition, and not in its processing. (Nick C. Ellis, 2017, p. 41)

Nick C. Ellis (2017). Cognition, Corpora, and Computing: Triangulating Research in Usage-Based Language Learning. Language Learning 67(S1), pp. 40–65

How learners are using corpora in EMI contexts

This talk was part of Cambridge University Press ELS Insights on Demand.

You can download my presentation slides here.

Here´s a list of the references I used in this presentation:

Biber, D. (2019). Text-linguistic approaches to register variation. Register Studies, 1(1), 42-75.

Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, genre, and style. Cambridge University Press.

Brian, A. (2020). A case study of corpus-informed ESP language learning materials for EMI psychology students at the University of Padova.

Curry, N. & Pérez-Paredes, P. (2021). Understanding Lecturers’ Practices and Processes: A Qualitative Investigation of English-Medium Education in a Spanish Multilingual University, published in Teaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms, editedby Carrió-Pastor, M.L., & Bellés Fortuño, B. Palgrave MacMillan.

Dafouz, E., & Smit, U. (2016). Towards a dynamic conceptual framework for English-mediumeducation in multilingual university settings. Applied Linguistics, 37(3), 397-415.

Dafouz, E., & Smit, U. (2020). ROAD-MAPPING English medium education in the internationaliseduniversity. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dushku, S. & Thompson, P. (2020). CAMPUS TALK. Edinburgh University Press.

Jablonkai, R. R. (2019). Corpus linguistic methods in EMI research: A missed opportunity?In Research methods in EMI. Routledge.

Kırkgöz, Y., & Dikilitaş, K. (2018). Recent developments in ESP/EAP/EMI contexts. In Key issues in English for specific purposes in higher education (pp. 1-10). Springer, Cham.

Kunioshi, N., Noguchi, J., Tojo, K., & Hayashi, H. (2016). Supporting English-medium pedagogythrough an online corpus of science and engineering lectures. European Journal of EngineeringEducation, 41(3), 293-303.

O’keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007). From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Street, B. (2004). Academic literacies and the’new orders’: implications for research and practice in student writing in higher education. Learning & Teaching in the Social Sciences, 1(1).

Timmis, I. (2015). Corpus linguistics for ELT: Research and practice. Routledge.

There are infinite ways of using language

Epistemological relativity, for an ELT professional, means that one accepts
that there are infinite ways of using language and that differences do not
automatically call for judgmental evaluation. (Leung, 2005: p. 138)

Leung, C. (2005). Convivial communication: Recontextualizing communicative competence. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 119-144.

Check other quotations here.

Some reflections at the crossroads of corpus linguistics research and L2 learning

Programa de Doctorado Interuniversitario en Estudios Ingleses Avanzados: Lingüística, Literatura y Cultura (IDAES) – IDAES Graduate Day

References

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education. Routledge.

Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. OUP.

Hunston, S. (2019). Patterns, constructions, and applied linguistics. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 24(3), 324-353.

Loewen, S., & Plonsky, L. (2015). An A–Z of applied linguistics research methods. Macmillan.

Lukenchuk, A. (Ed.) (2013). Paradigms of research for the 21st century: Perspectives and examples from practice. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

McEnery, T., Brezina, V., Gablasova, D., & Banerjee, J. (2019). Corpus linguistics, learner corpora, and SLA: Employing technology to analyze language use. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 39, 74-92.

Mitchell, R., Myles, F. & Marsden, E. (2013). Second Language Learning Theories. 3rd ed. New York/London: Routledge.

Rose, H. & McKinley, J. (2017). The realities of doing research in applied linguistics. In McKinley, J & Rose, H. (eds.) Doing Research in Applied Linguistics. Routledge.

Stefanowitsch, A. (2020). Corpus linguistics. Language Science Press. Online edition.

Tyler, A. E., Ortega, L., Uno, M., & Park, H. I. (Eds.). (2018). Usage-inspired L2 instruction: Researched pedagogy (Vol. 49). John Benjamins.

Incorporating corpora in teaching symposium, Mittuniversitetet, Sweden

Check out the programme here.