Corpora for Language Learning: Bridging the Research-Practice Divide

This volume presents a diverse range of expertise and practical advice on corpus-assisted language learning, bridging the gap between corpus research and actual classroom practice. Grounded in expert discussions and interviews, the book offers an extensive exploration into the intricacies of corpus-based language pedagogy, addressing its challenges, benefits, and potential drawbacks while demonstrating the power of data-driven learning (DDL) tools, including AntConc, WordSmith Tools, and CorpusMate. The book navigates the complexities of integrating DDL into mainstream educational systems, showcasing real-world applications for teaching. The authors bring together cutting-edge, international perspectives on this topic in dialogue with those using such techniques in their classroom practice. Both a rigorous academic resource and a hands-on guide for practitioners, this book is recommended reading for educators, researchers, or anyone wanting to upskill themselves in learning to harness the power of data in language pedagogy in primary, secondary, tertiary, or other professional contexts.

Table of Contents:
1. Bridging the research-practice divide for data-driven learning: Introduction to the volume 2. Addressing the challenges of data-driven learning through corpus tool design – In conversation with Laurence Anthony 3. Exploring multimodal corpora in the classroom from a multidimensional perspective 4. Data-driven learning: In conversation with Alex Boulton 5. Data-driven learning, second language acquisition and languages other than English: connecting the dots 6. DDL Support for academic English collocations 7. Extensive reading and viewing for vocabulary growth: Corpus insights 8. Transforming language teaching with corpora – Bridging research and practice 9. Practical use of corpora in teaching argumentation 10. On the perils of linguistically opaque measures and methods: Toward increased transparency and linguistic interpretability 11. Why we need open science and open education to bridge the corpus research–practice gap 12. Corpora in L2 vocabulary assessment 13. Corpus-based language pedagogy for pre-service and in-service teachers: Theory, practice, and research 14. The applications of data-driven learning, corpus-based phraseology and phraseography in the development of collocational and phraseological competence 15. Data-driven learning in informal contexts? Embracing broad data-driven learning (BDDL) research 16. Using data-driven learning approach to teach English for Academic Purposes and improve higher education internationalisation 17. Exploring the interface between corpus linguistics and English for Academic Purposes: What, how and why?

About the Author :
Peter Crosthwaite is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is an expert in corpus linguistics, data-driven learning, and computer-assisted language learning. He has published more than 50 articles in top journals and is the editor-in-chief of Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (from 2024).

Review :
This book is a treasure trove of perspectives and purposeful chapters. Whether you are interested in researching data-driven learning or in using it in your classroom, this book will intrigue you. Not only does it curate a range of leading contributors in a volume that addresses research and practice, it goes far beyond by connecting the voice of the teacher, the researcher and the learner in the form of reflective discussions linked to each chapter. Professor Anne O’Keeffe, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland Corpora for Language Learning: Bridging the Research-Practice Divide represents a major new step in research on the use of corpus data in language learning and teaching, and I am happy to endorse it for publication. After the initial excitement generated by early publications in the 1980s, it soon became clear that the applications of real-life language data in the language classroom were largely limited to learners in higher education who were fortunate to have researchers in this area as their teachers. This book aims to change that narrow perspective, and to broaden this area of research to include voices from all stakeholders involved. The authors focus on enabling teachers and learners to have direct access to corpora and the software necessary to analyse them without substantial training, making it easy for teachers to integrate them in their classes and for learners to use them both inside and outside the classroom. This book thus has the potential to appeal not only to researchers in this field but also to those involved in language teacher education and to teachers. It is very likely to be widely cited as an important turning point in DDL research. Professor Angela Chambers, Professor Emerita of Applied Languages, University of Limerick, Ireland