Teaching English with Corpora

Vander Viana is Associate Professor in Education, directs the Master’s course in TESOL and is the founder/leader of the Language in Education Research Group at the University of East Anglia. His areas of research expertise include corpus linguistics, English for academic purposes, TESOL and language teacher education.

"This book does a really admirable job of bridging the gap between theory and practice in computer-aided language learning. It is unique in providing not just a wide range of practical and motivating activities, but also a clear and accessible rationale for each activity. Crucially, this means that readers are equipped with both a set of ideas they can implement immediately and a set of sound principles they can use to design their own activities. Books like this, which foster principled practice, are all too few, and I thoroughly recommend this volume for teachers and teacher educators who would like to gain practical and theoretical understanding of this field." – Prof Ivor Timmis, Leeds Beckett University."This volume is a treasure trove of activities ready for classroom use. Corpus activities are presented in a teacher-friendly, easy to use manner, with topics ranging from General English to English for specific purposes for a variety of levels. A must have for any teacher interested in using corpus resources in their classroom." – Prof Randi Reppen, Northern Arizona University."English language teachers have been waiting a long time for a book like this. It is a wide-ranging and practical resource book that will give teachers so many ideas for using corpora in the classroom in a step-by-step way. This book really will bring corpora into the classroom." – Dr Anne O’Keeffe, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick."Corpora have revolutionised research in language and linguistics over the past 50 years, but also have much to offer in practical everyday aspects of language teaching. Teachers do not need to be corpus linguists to benefit from corpus tools in preparing their own materials and activities, but a general awareness of the potential of corpora and their uses should form a substantial part of any language teacher training programme. This book fills a long-standing need for simple, accessible, relevant and inspirational activities that can be used ready-made (many with online handouts) via a step-by-step outline of procedures, or inspire similar activities on related language points.Based on the contributors’ varied experiences and designed with the teacher firmly in mind, each of the 70 chapters is short (usually 3 to 5 pages) and self-contained, and can be dipped into at any point for teaching English for general or specific purposes. And dipping into it is certainly worthwhile, as the range of activities reveals the breathtaking potential of corpora to impact so many different dimensions of language teaching and learning. It soon becomes clear that corpora can help far beyond the obvious vocabulary and lexicogrammar, extending into pragmatics, discourse and pronunciation for all the skills, as well as topic-related content, from selecting level-appropriate texts and authentic examples in different registers or disciplines, to creating stimulating activities for teaching and learning, revising and self-correcting, and so on.I was enthusiastic about this book when I saw the title and aims, more so when I read the list of contributors and then the thoughtful introduction (a chapter in its own right to set the scene and rationale before outlining the book), and finally thrilled when I actually opened the chapters! Some classic activity types alongside so many ideas I would never have thought of, some tools that were new to me and new uses of familiar ones (all of which seem to be freely available), even subverting some non-corpus tools such as Google Scholar. If I were a literary critic, I’d be using phrases like ‘staggering tour de force’; suffice to say that I’ll be getting several copies ordered." – Prof Alex Boulton, ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine.

• Table of contentsList of figuresList of tablesList of abbreviationsList of appendicesAcknowledgementsAt-a-glance chapter taxonomyIntroductionCorpora in and for TESOLVander VianaPart A: English for General Purposes Using concordance lines to teach participial adjectivesSean Sutherland Starting out with phrasal verbsRosie Harvey & Irene Marín Cervantes Teaching collocations with ‘Survey Says’Robin Sulkosky A grand problem and a jolly solution: Unmasking false friends with corpus analysisNatalie Finlayson Raising awareness of first-language interference using parallel corpora of subtitlesElen Le Foll If you speak English, take one step forward: Teaching conditionals through kinesthetic activitiesRiah Werner Preposition repair: Empowering learners to fix their errorsAmy Tate KWIC searches for quick answers: Solving word choice problemsPamela Everly She said she told him: Patterning in reported speechMichael H. Brown Using VocabProfilers to select texts for extensive reading activitiesThi Ngoc Yen Dang Talking about the weather: Exploring adjective use with Sketch Engine for Language LearningJohn Williams Food talks: Using corpus data to link cooking methods with types of foodVander Viana Profiling let and make with the Corpus of Contemporary American EnglishBen Naismith Corpus exploration of phrasal and Latinate verbsEric Nicaise Minimal prep quizzes: Using online corpora to foster vocabulary learningNick Canning Helping learners identify high-frequency wordsShoaziz Sharakhimov & Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov Writing online reviewsNatalia Mora-López Exploring similes in corpus dataNatalie Finlayson Exploring register variation in the use of indefinite pronounsIrina Pandarova Using corpora to explore varieties of EnglishNatalie Finlayson Searching for frequent words for pronunciation activitiesRoger W. Gee Abstract nouns in picture descriptionsTomáš Mach Tell me what your collocates are and I will tell you who you areTülay Dixon & Daniel Dixon I feel kinda blah! Investigating language use in blogsMaristella Gatto I see what you mean: Exploring figurative uses of languageSally Zacharias & Jane Evison I was able to learn a new point: Examining the difference between could and was/were able to Martha Michieka & Theresa McGarry Learning about words in use with StringNet NavigatorAnastasiia Kryzhanivska Investigating adverbials in British English: Although vs. though in spoken and written languageLu Lu Using Voyant Tools to enhance learners’ reflections on their writingNausica Marcos Miguel Gender equality in the TESOL classroom: Exploring news stories from around the worldVander Viana Phrasal verbs in use: Investigating meaning and formVander Viana Keywords in amateur online film reviewsChad Langford & Joshua Albair Formulaic language in amateur online film reviewsChad Langford & Joshua Albair Exploring semantic prosody with trainee teachersJenny Kemp & Luke Timms A smile which melted her heart: Exploring metaphors in English corporaWendy Anderson Small words? Discourse markers in spoken languageLoretta Fung I’m so sorry: Intensification in American English across timeAnne Barron Thanking and responding to thanks in American English: Language patterning and contextual appropriatenessAnne Barron Whilst I do not object, I strongly believe... Exploring spoken argumentative and persuasive discourseElen Le Foll Register variation in newspapers: Working with multidimensional analysis in English language teacher educationVander VianaPart B: English for Specific Purposes Exploring terms in English for specific purposesNicole Brun-Mercer Teaching verbs using learner-compiled corporaPeter Dye Is there a better choice? Verb-noun combinations in academic writingValdenia Almeida, Barbara Malveira Orfanò & Deise Dutra Problem and solution markers: Exploring lexical combinationsEman Elturki Cloze exercises for mixed-ability groups: Using the Academic Word List GapmakerLoretta Fung Signaling transitions in academic writingNicole Brun-Mercer Boosting your message: Using adverbs for impact in business writingLinda Slattery, Catherine Prewett-Schrempf, Andrew Pullen & Matthew Urmston Using the British National Corpus to teach phrases from spoken and academic EnglishPaweł Szudarski Using keyness to teach about academic speakingMichael Suhan & Kyle Lucas Teaching small-group academic discussionsValeriia Bogorevich & Elnaz Kia Which words should I look up? Identifying unknown high-frequency words in English for academic purposesJenny Kemp & Laurence Anthony Reflecting and acting on academic vocabulary useKatie Mitchell Burrows Which verb should I use? Disciplinary variation in reporting verbsJoseph J. Lee Using Google Scholar to support lexical choices in English for academic purposesUlugbek Nurmukhamedov & Randall Sadler Exploring collocations in the Corpus of Contemporary American EnglishSharon Hartle How can I be more specific in my writing? Exploring relative pronouns in English for academic purposesJenny Kemp & Laurence Anthony Don’t write like that! Avoiding contractions in academic writingMegan Bruce Climate change or global warming? Analyzing, interpreting and reporting findingsRobert Poole Research findings for all: Popular science communication on global challengesLuciano Franco & Vander Viana Exploring the speech act of confirming/verifying information in the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken EnglishIldiko Porter-Szucs Identifying noun–verb patterns in scientific abstractsMónica Rodríguez-Castro & Spencer Salas Using a concordancer to teach how to write about resultsTatyana Karpenko-Seccombe Using corpora to explore vocabulary for writing conclusionsTatyana Karpenko-Seccombe Finding your academic voice: Use of nominalizations in academic writingMegan Bruce Investigating complex noun–noun modification in academic proseSabrina Fusari Exploring adverbs for cohesion and critical voiceAndrew Drummond Exploring discipline-specific and paper-specific vocabularyAnastasiia Kryzhanivska Language patterns and rhetorical moves in research papersEman Elturki Investigating references to a celebrity in a do-it-yourself obituary corpusRudy Loock Thanking politely and saying no gracefully to business invitationsLisa LeopoldAbout the contributorsIndex