Copus Based Language Learning

This was an interesting topic, one that I would not have particularly explored until I read both articles. Data-driven learning, I felt was geared mostly towards adult learners who are enrolled in remedial courses. Since most of the students who benefit from data driven learning are in the university level, their interest is geared towards more broader topics as well as learning the lexical usage within their respective fields. I also found that corpus based language learning can also be put to use for employees of Call Centers in India, and/or foreign businessmen who are constantly interacting with English speakers or vice versa. Challenge is the main stimulus behind corpus based language learning, and I think that this is achieved as Johns (1991) states, "What distinguishes the DDL approach is the attempt to cut out the middleman as far as possible and to give direct access to the data so that the learner can take part in building up his or her own profiles of meaning and uses" (p. 297).  I agree with Johns (1991), that we must give room for exploration since there is a multitude of usages of one word and/or expressions and this can be researched through DDL, "with the teacher abandoning the role of expert and taking on that of research organizer, has continued and has proved a powerful stimulus to student enquiry" (p. 297). I have had numerous enquiries from my own students in reference to a particular usage of a word or phrase. The use of Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) is very easy to use through its variety of areas of concentration and elements for a particular word. Since my mindset is focused on the usage of corpus based language learning for younger students, I was not particularly impressed by the lack of corpus for younger students or beginning ELLs.  

In the Lexical Approach article, I agreed with Rogers (2001) that through reading, and concordance databases students get access to a large amount of lexical usage for a particular word or phrase. My students, who are ELLs have asked about the lexical usage of certain words and it wasn't until I read this article and looked at both JEFLL and COCA, was I able to understand that students can go to these databases and search for the lexical collocations of certain words. Most of my students' "mother tongue" is not English, therefore the juxtaposition of particular word foreign word would differ from that of English words. Another point brought up was word frequency, and the databases such as COBUILD which, "would aim to cover the most frquent 700 words together with their common patterns and uses" (Rogers, 2001, p.135) should be the main object of the classroom, so that students, especially ELLs can familiarize themselves with common phrases, words and lexical usages. 

Teacher and student both as discoverers is a great way to open new avenues of learning and research. Students are able to effectively learn on their own and bring new ideas and discoveries to the classroom. Most of our learning multiplies when we do research and analyze the areas that we lack in expertise. I have found that students, especially LLs, are more apt to learn through discovery and research especially through data analysis through the internet which allows the, "examination of large corpora of language samples taken from 'real life' (Rogers, 2001, p.136).