Prepping a prep course: a corpus linguistics approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/2178-3640.2018.2.31799Keywords:
corpus linguistics, teaching, multiple-choice cloze.Abstract
The purpose of this article is to explore and report some possible uses of corpus linguistics tools and techniques in a preparatory course for an international exam, focusing on helping students use corpora to find and analyze collocations and colligations when doing and creating multiplechoice cloze exercises. The participants were undergraduate students taking either a teacher training or a translation program. After discussing some research carried out on the pedagogical implications of using corpora, the article presents how a six-session preparatory course was designed and implemented, and the tools used to check participants’ perception of learning. The compiled data analyzed how participants reacted towards using an online corpus while getting themselves ready for the Use of English component of exams. The results demonstrated that corpus techniques were felt to be useful tools as far as fostering students’ autonomy was concerned. The study ends with a brief discussion on its limitations.
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