Using Corpora in the Language Classroom

Way back in Week 6, we discussed using Corpora in the Language Classroom. I haven't had much experience with Corpora, and my initial impression is that it would not engage many students. But this impression is probably due to my lack of experience with corpora. When would you use corpora in the classroom, and how? A corpus can show language learners authentic examples of language as it is actually used. It can help students notice patterns in language use, and for collocations that might not be obvious to a non-native speaker. Potential corpus activities. In class, we discussed how corpus activities generally supported inductive language learning. DuBravac (2013) suggests using concordancing activities for form-focused instruction. The teacher can give students examples of a language feature, and the students must figure out the grammatical rules of use based on these examples. I looked up a website DuBravac cited (http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod2-4.htm#activity1) and liked their suggested activities. The "Guess the Mystery Word Activity," is designed for beginners who need to be introduced to concordances and understand how they work. This reminds me that anytime technology is being used in the classroom, it needs to be explained to students. In this case, the teacher would need to explain the appearance of concordances, how key words are used, and explain left-context and right-context phrases. I like this activity because it is fairly simple, could be adapted for lower-proficiency learners, and contains an element of "mystery." Reppen (2010) suggests using corpora to generate word lists identifying frequent vocabulary used in a particular text. These lists can be used during classroom instruction to help students learn the vocabulary necessary to understand a text. Reppen also suggests making sentence scramble activities using common collocations derived from a corpus report. Some of the benefits of using corpora for language learning referenced in our texts include: 1) authenticity, 2) contextualization of language use, 3) inductive rule formation, 4) learning patterns of language use and linguistic nuance, 5) multiple exposures to language items, 5) testing of language hypotheses, 6) discovery of collocations, 7) comprehensible input, 8) improvements to language, critical thinking, and writing skills can result. I think it would be worthwhile to learn more about how corpora can be used in the classroom and to investigate how it could inform materials and activities development.