| CODE | ENG5037 | ||||||
| TITLE | Learner Corpora in English | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | English | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit offers an introduction to the ways in which corpora can be used in language studies as a research tool. Additionally, it introduces students to the most well-known English language corpora. The Learner Corpora are particularly relevant to research in error analysis, second language acquisition, English Language Teaching and other related areas. Study-unit Aims The study-unit aims at: - sensitizing students to the complex nature of using appropriate English in different situations, texts and contexts (the appropriate use of register); - introducing students to the pros and cons of using large corpora for research in Language Studies; - introducing students to corpora which are already available; - introducing students to the key concepts of corpus design and textual markup; - assisting students in applying the tool to different language contexts. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - compare English language usage in different contexts; - grasp key concepts of using appropriate registers; - develop self-awareness regarding own choice of vocabulary, structure and cohesive devices when writing; - describe the different methods for analysing language change using concordances, collocations, frequency lists, keyness. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - develop the skills to search a learner corpora in a methodical and constructive way; - analyse and draw conclusions from text search results; - create different language tasks based on the data collected from learner corpora; - apply a new understanding of patterns of language usage identified across different learner corpora to revising their own patterns of language usage. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings - Biber, D., Conrad, S., Reppen R. 1998. Corpus Linguistics, Investigating Language Structure and Use, Cambridge: Cambridge UP. - O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M. and Carter, R. 2007. From Corpus to Classroom: Language Use and Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Other texts as required |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Qualifications: BA (Hons), BA or B Ed (Hons) with a specialisation in English or equivalent Pre-requisite Study-units: Students will be encouraged to attend related units on offer in the Institute of Linguistics, but not on a compulsory basis. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Tutorial | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Odette Vassallo |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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