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Using the BNC for teaching and research

Using the BNC for teaching and research. Teaching and learning. Where do corpora fit in?. As a (teacher) reference tool As a teaching aid in the classroom Replace/supplement teacher intuition Place native/non-native speaking teachers on equal terms As a self-access learning aid

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Using the BNC for teaching and research

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  1. Using the BNC for teaching and research

  2. Teaching and learning

  3. Where do corpora fit in? • As a (teacher) reference tool • As a teaching aid in the classroom • Replace/supplement teacher intuition • Place native/non-native speaking teachers on equal terms • As a self-access learning aid • Find out about the language/the culture for yourself (data-driven learning) • Hypothesis testing • Hypothesis generation • Contradict the teacher

  4. What teachers can do with corpora • Create informative materials: corpus-based explanations (teacher consults corpus-based reference works or corpora) • Create illustrativematerials: corpus-based examples, e.g. concordances (teacher consults corpora) • Create corpus-based tasks and exercises (on paper or computer) • Use corpora as a basis for correction and feedback • Do contrastive analyses (lexico-grammatical studies) (cf. Mukherjee 2002)

  5. What learners can do with corpora • form-focused activities ('data-driven learning') • meaning-focused activities (e.g. word meanings, synonyms, semantic prosodies, cultural associations) • skill-focused activities (e.g. developing reading strategies) • reference activities (e.g. corpus as writing aid) • research activities (e.g. variation studies, cultural studies, CLIL) (cf. Aston 2002)

  6. Illustrations (Thanks to Prof Guy Aston, University of Bologna)

  7. Learners aren’t linguists • The aim is NOT to provide • a complete description of all the data • maximum generalisations/abstractions • The aim IS to take away • usable partial generalisations • memorable experiences • enthusiasm • Using BNC-xml with Xaira can provide these? • Examples focussing on Xaira improvements • From experience with advanced learners of English

  8. Example 1: Grammer • To + gerund • used to -ing, accustomed to -ing, look forward to -ing, object to -ing • Xaira AddKey Query allows you to look for any word with a specified POS value! • To + VVG|VBG|VDG|VHG

  9. The AddKey query (any VVG) Or VBG, or VDG, or VHG (multiple selections)…

  10. QueryBuilder: To NEXT VVG Or VBG, or VDG, or VHG …

  11. Too many solutions

  12. Random 30/14227 (sort 1L)look forward to / when it comes to / devoted to / well on the way to

  13. To + V.G is written formal …

  14. Collocates of to + V.G (1,0): by frequency

  15. Learners should take something away which is • relevant • memorable • typical • not over-general • E.g. • The French are the meanest when it comes to sending Christmas cards • When it comes to buying houses, the British are keenest of all • I’m not exactly the archetypal Mills & Boon dark stranger when it comes to courting girls

  16. Example 2: the verb tend • Missing from textbooks (Carter & McCarthy 1995) • Frequent (>100/M), widely distributed • How is it used?

  17. Too many solutions? Try Collocation/Analysis

  18. VERB collocates (0,3): by frequency

  19. TEND to concentrate (30/96)

  20. Colligates (0,2: lemmata) Just what nouns?

  21. SUBST collocates (lemmata: 0,2)

  22. Tend * SUBST collocates (25/352)

  23. An odd list of nouns • You can tend: • gardens • cattle/sheep/flocks • fires • Things can tend: • to unity/infinity • to sort of VERB

  24. Isn’t this all in the dictionary? • Perhaps, but the corpus gives • More frequency/distribution information • More examples • Access to wider contexts • Practice in working things out for yourself • Casual encounters – did you know tend to unity? • The corpus calls for an open mind – you regularly find the answer to a different question from the one you started off with … but you learn a lot in the process

  25. A problematizing resource... • Use of the BNC (or comparable resources) • complements (and corrects) intuition • critiques the myth of the native speaker • increases learner autonomy • For teacher and learner alike

  26. The ins and outs of autonomous use • Learners may need warning to... • focus on patterns which recur, without necessarily trying to explain all the data • avoid overgeneralisation • ... and encouragement to • be curious • browse the context • investigate exceptions

  27. (Dis)confirming intuition • about choices • have a problem + infinitive or gerund? • do you make or take decisions? • about vocabulary • which nouns collocate with hard? • about grammar • I would be grateful if you [modal]?

  28. Corpus use allows the learner to become researcher What about the researcher?

  29. What is the starting point? • Have answer – illustrate w corpus examples • Plant has several meanings • Have hypothesis – test on corpus • Plant is usually a noun • Examine patterns in corpus – corpus as starting point • Which is the most frequent use of plant?

  30. Know the corpus • What does it contain? • Types of texts • Sampling strategies • More than text? • Potential weaknesses • How to search it • There are different options

  31. Corpus research • Often form-based • Often includes frequency data • Has to rely on what is in the corpus + analysis of data • Can be reproduced • Can be part of (larger) study

  32. Corpus research – some components • Idea • Plan • Pilot/sample searches • Materials gathering • Analysis • Evaluation • Conclusion

  33. Start with some sample searches • How much (relevant) material is there in the corpus? • If not enough – what can you do? • Find more data • Reconsider research idea • If too much – what can you do? • Only examine a part (of corpus or results)

  34. Subcorpus • A part of the corpus selected according to defined criteria • All texts of a particular kind • A proportion of (certain) texts • Mix of texts not readily available in corpus • May be possible use partitions in Xaira • (subcorpus can be saved and indexed separately or can be used with other tools)

  35. Random set of examples • Each example equally possible • From whole corpus or sub-set • Random sample = each time (potentially) different

  36. Gather data Make sure to document what you do! For your own sake and to make it possible to repeat study.

  37. Too many hits? • Sample the corpus or the search result. • Restrict • what you are searching (use part of the corpus) • what you examine (in detail)

  38. Use annotation (or not?) • The annotation and metadata can help restrict your sample • plant as verb • spoken by women, written in newspapers etc • Be aware of limitations • errors • un-labelled material • Check reliability

  39. Look at the data! • Qualitative and quantitative analyses • Read/examine examples (both expected and unexpected ones) • Evaluate reliability (teenagers talking about Norwegians) • Look for trend and tendencies

  40. ‘Counting words’ – numbers and statistics • Proportions • Frequency per XXX words • Trends vs. absolute truths • Illustrations can help

  41. Plant • 8,123 or 17,178 instances (form vs lemma) • 14,572 nouns, 2,605 verbs • SUBST = 85%, <5/6

  42. Plant figures

  43. Document • Corpus used • Search strategy/method • Number of instances found • Number of instances examined • Selection criteria • Evaluation

  44. Using the BNC for teaching and research

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