What is corpus-based language learning?

The relatively new field of corpus linguistics has much to offer language teachers, says Federica Barbieri. In a nutshell, corpus linguistics is an approach to the study of language that relies on the use of computer-assisted techniques to analyze large, principled databases of naturally occurring language (corpora).

What is corpus linguistics in English Language Teaching?

The field of English language teaching has seen many trends come and go. Corpus linguistics is a field of linguistics which studies large samples of naturally occurring language in order to better understand how the language is used. Computers have made it possible to examine and analyze millions of language samples.

How can corpus linguistics be used in language teaching?

Corpus linguistics studies take advantage of the existence of large collections of language production (written or spoken language) in order to investigate a language. It bases its descriptions on the empirical characteristics of language production (rather than chiefly on theory, or speaker intuition).

What corpora can offer in language teaching and learning?

In language teaching and learning, one of its most common functions has been to inform dictionaries, grammar books, usage manuals, textbooks, syllabuses, tests, and other resources. Such approaches go by different names, including corpus consultation and data-driven learning.

What is a corpus in language?

In linguistics, a corpus (plural corpora) or text corpus is a language resource consisting of a large and structured set of texts (nowadays usually electronically stored and processed).

What is corpus linguistics examples?

An example of a general corpus is the British National Corpus. Some corpora contain texts that are sampled (chosen from) a particular variety of a language, for example, from a particular dialect or from a particular subject area. These corpora are sometimes called ‘Sublanguage Corpora’.

What are corpora used for?

In linguistics, a corpus is a collection of linguistic data (usually contained in a computer database) used for research, scholarship, and teaching. Also called a text corpus. Plural: corpora.

What are the advantages of corpus in language study?

The great advantage of the corpus-linguistic method is that language researchers do not have to rely on their own or other native speakers’ intuition or even on made-up examples.

Why is corpus used?

A corpus is a principled collection of authentic texts stored electronically that can be used to discover information about language that may not have been noticed through intuition alone.

What are the processes involved in corpus linguistics?

What is corpus linguistics? Corpus linguistics is a methodology that involves computer-based empirical analyses (both quantitative and qualitative) of language use by employing large, electronically available collections of naturally occurring spoken and written texts, so-called corpora.