Learner corpus research plenary #cl2015

Learner corpus research: a fast-growing interdisciplinary field

Sylviane Granger

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LCR IS an interdisciplinary research

Design: learner and taks variables to control

Not only English language

Method: CIA (Granger, 1996) and computer-aided error analysis

Wider spectrum of linguistic analysis

Interpretation: focus on transfer but this is changing; growing integration of SLA theory

Applications: few up-and-running resources but great potential

Version 3 (2016 or 2017) around 30 L1s as opposed to 11 L1s in Version 1

Learner corpora is a powerful heuristic resource

Corpus techniques make it possible to uncover new dimensions of learner language and lead to the formulation of new research questions: the L2 phrasicon (word combinations).

Prof. Granger brings up Leech’s preface to Learner English on Computer (1998)

Gradual change from mute corpora to sound aligned corpora

POS tagging has improved so much

Error-tagging: wide range of error tagging systems: multi-layer annotation systems

Parsing of learner data (90% accuracy Geertzen et al. 2014)

Static learner corpora vs monito corpora

CMC learner corpus (Marchand 2015)

Granger (2009) paper on the learner research field:

Granger, Sylviane. “The contribution of learner corpora to second language acquisition and foreign language teaching.” Corpora and language teaching 33 (2009): 13.

 

CIA V2 Granger (2015): a new model

SLA researchers are more interested in corpus data and corpus linguists are more familiar with SLA grounding

Implications are much more numerous than applications

Links with NLP: spell and gramar checking, learner feedback, native language id, etc.

Multiple perspectives on the same resource: richer insights and more powerful tools

Phraseology

Louvain English for Academic Purposes Dictionary (LEAD)

web-based

corpus based

descriptions of cross-disciplinary academic vocabulary

1200 lexical times around 18 functions (contrast, illustrate, quote, refer, etc.)

A really exciting application