University of WarwickELTAM

Tilly HarrisonWeek 7

Concordances and Data-driven learning

Overview

Issues with corpora and concordancers

Examples and tasks Problems arising Three types of data-driven learning Examples of exercise types Hands-on practice

Corpus Basics Plural = corpora A body of text (Now) held in electronic form Data for linguistic research No upper or lower limit for size Large enough to yield useful data Smaller corpora are less

overwhelming

Why Corpora? Supplement to dictionaries and

grammar books Data is fresh and authentic New insights are possible Frequent use and typical collocations

are memorable The teacher need not be the

authority Language awareness is enhanced

Corpus Use for Teaching Pedagogic purposes differ from research

purposes – the corpus should reflect the task.

Familiar corpora are better for learners Learners should be capable of reading the

texts used in the corpus Smaller corpora yield fewer examples of

common lexical words (eg pavement, ceiling)

Corpus search results can be unpredictable – prepare students for this.

How is the Corpus searched? Special software is needed - concordancers Concordancers vary in type, purpose,

complexity and price Two main approaches - indexing text /

calculating ‘on the fly’ Not all concordancers can carry out all

tasks The simplest concordancers are best for

beginners

Types of Concordancer

Lookup SARA Longman Mini

Concordancer Conc AntConc

MicroConcord

MonoConc Pro

WordSmith Tools

MultiConcord

Example - advanced student writing an academic essay

“This situation is deeply related with Japan’s foreign policy…”

Deep: of great intensity; extreme Related: connected,

associated

Task - look at the sets of concordance lines (Query results) for ‘related’ and ‘deeply’.

Discuss in pairs / groups What can a learner find out that would not be

in a dictionary? How could you show this to the learner?

Closely - 13/40 lines

To - only preposition used

No ‘related’.Often used to express emotions, impressions

Problem Sentence

‘The letters [to the editor] normally end up with the name of the author’ Teacher underlined ‘end up with’ Student now checks the dictionary….

Longman (CD ROM) for ‘end up’

end up phrasal verb to be in a particular

situation, state, or place after a series of events, especially when you did not plan it

He came round for a coffee and we ended up in bed together.

I wondered where the pictures would end up after the auction.

end up doing something Most slimmers end up

putting weight back on.

end up with Anyone who swims in the

river could end up with a nasty stomach upset.

end up as He could end up as

President.

end up like I don't want to end up

like my parents

Task - look at the sets of concordance lines (Query results) for ‘end up with’ and ‘end with’.

Discuss in pairs / groups What differences do you notice? Is this something it would be easy to find in a

dictionary?

Cobuild Concordance for ‘end+up+with’

hat you will sometimes end up with unsaleable seats; we cost

edge. You are likely to end up with a patch of bare earth, but

Will the public end up with no adult education? This

00 - and valuations and end up with nothing if somebody outbid

after Kentucky he could end up with egg all over his face. The

in the Bible, too. Some end up with more, some with less." And

two ways about it. You end up with a gun-law mentality.

`trial" will probably end up with Spurs getting 10 bonus

basically you'll end up with chaos which is what's

his may mean `So we may end up with fewer people getting

ever know what you will end up with until it is too late. The

ot count coins, so they end up with a pocket full of change

Cobuild Concordance for ‘end+with’

t deadlock with John Barnes will end with the England star ex

Ferguson that looks certain to end with him having to move

e a life could pass so fast and end with open circles. He

y is to be continued. It does not end with chart success for

t spate of horse-slashing may not end with a criminal convicti

der Herve Garel, will start and end with time trials, in

ughly rejuvenating morning will end with a healthy buffet

had not intended the offensive to end with the capture of

be his last journey, which would end with his death in 1873 w

Jensen, what went right?" and to end with the words, `Never

mind, Mr Jensen, it's

Problem Sentence

If a man and a woman apply for the same job, it is no doubt that in many cases the woman will be accepted . Teacher underlined ‘it is no doubt’ Student now checks the dictionary….

Longman (CD ROM) for ‘no doubt’

no doubt used when you are saying that you

think something is probably true No doubt you'll have your own ideas. She was a top student, no doubt about it

(=it is certainly true) .

Cobuild Concordance for ‘no+doubt+that’

he progress? [/h] [p] There is no doubt that important advance

of anti-stress therapy There's no doubt that coming home with

ound on these stands, there is no doubt that Turner's painting

egnancy and birth [/h] There's no doubt that facing pregnancy

oreign affairs chief. There is no doubt that the talks will be

ke fewer than ten There can be no doubt that the result is an

said -- none the less, he left no doubt that he was delighted

pressure to step down: There's no doubt that the inconclusive

in the opinion polls. There's no doubt that many people are

had given him away. There was no doubt that he was clever. It

nevitable embroidery, there is no doubt that Haig played a ma

tful of our soldiers. There is no doubt that we have, in this

Problems

Concordance lines are unfamiliar and off-putting

Cultural context and unfamiliar vocabulary can make the task more difficult

No data or conflicting data Training is needed for the use of

the concordancer

Corpus Creation Representing the whole language? BUT for LT not all text types are suitable Examples of unsuitable texts:

Poetry Dialect Archaic Technical Artificial (ELT textbooks)

Think about your students’ reading level. What kinds of text would make a suitable corpus for them?

Discuss in small groups.

Corpus Creation The natural use of

function words can be seen in a very small corpus.

Many common content words may not be found even in a very large corpus.

The ideal corpus is made up of the texts your students need to read / write / say.

BUT a corpus of mainstream English (mass media) is adequate for teaching general English

Data-driven Learning 1- prepared exercises Learners as researchers – inductive

approach Types of Teaching / Testing

Collocation Colligation Cultural Associations Semantic Prosody Connotations

Needs teacher training and teacher time!

Concordance - Based Exercises Inductive Follow-up exercises Can be needs / error analysis driven BUT it takes time at first Corpus should be at reading level of

students Genre of corpus should be suitable

Exercise made using MicroConcordFill in the gaps with words from the list below.Answersabort, communist, culturally shared, digital, his officials, minor, mixtures of liquid and crystals,

molten rock, people who struggled with O-level, silicon chips, speed limits, worse,

1 on of TV, whether analogue or ____________, could offer better and bigger 2 stimates, whether better or ____________. Taking the best possible outcome of 3 ocieties, whether capitalist or ____________, have given only lukewarm 4 he melts, whether completely liquid or ____________, would fl5 ndustry), whether he or ____________ had seen the recent Channel 4 programme 6 crucial. Whether idiosyncratic or ____________, they inform and mediate ou7 y address whether load or ____________ should be adjusted for the machine's 8 isorder - whether major or ____________ - if nothing can be done about the 9 fluids - whether oil, water or ____________ - seep through rocks where 10 people - whether professional scientists or ____________ 11 made of, whether protoplasm or ____________, but how the material is12 to choose whether to attempt or ____________ a pregnancy; they would make the

ContrastLook carefully at the following citations from New Scientist. What do they have in common?

ena from more dubious data, we propose that they should be renamed "UAPs", for unidentifiehen his advisory committee recommended that last year Depo-Provera should get a licence. Ceir drinking water. The EEC recommends that tap water should not contain more than 5 microhe scale of the problem. It recommends that the government should set a firm date for thesolol. The Greenfield report recommends that prescrition forms should contain a box, whichf the road plan was the recommendation that for half its length it should be routed through a name for the strategy. He suggests that the term "porpoising" should be used to descriput an absolute veto on-any suggestion that Post Office canvassers should be remunerated b

Now look at the following citations. How are they different from citations 1) - 8)? Can you explain the difference?

sed, and with it, speed. They proposed that Harward create a super-track tuned to hum ed voice: 'Then will somebody propose that this paper be rejected irrespective of it conunder review. An HSE document proposes that GMAG be turned into ACGM - an Advisory apolis. They said: "......we recommend that the dose of benoxaprofen be decreased mistic. The committee also recommended that the government clarify the rules covering thesing plants breaks down. It recommends that France take a second look at following the h. The coordianting committee suggests that the appeal panel ask why this change has beenof the University of Bristol, suggests that a group of babies be trained to use a "baby-

Gapped Lines 1What's the missing word?

infected people are prone to almost infection that happens tothat plasticity would have scarcely influence on failure in ththose who would like to see hardly movement at all. Haroldhave, it is to be assumed, little if relevance to the actual, ovember. He did not, however, detect pulses. The newly-discovered

Gapped Lines 2

What's the missing word? Choose from the list below.

Nouns : agreement, announcement, assurances, comment, proof, suggestion, warning

AN team does give them a ___________ that another Richter-7 earthquake is due in 7 or 11

ints could strengthen the ___________ that Britain needs to frame more acceptable noise l

schemes require detailed ___________ that applications for grants are soundly based, the

"We shall need cast iron ___________ that the work does not leak abroad," said Jenkin. T

t, 10 March, p 630). Your ___________ that the central thesis of my lecture does not stan

Last week's ___________ that a gigantic cloud of dark gas has been found in

e main network. Serpell's ___________ that this line should close could cost British Rail

e well. There was general ___________ that the struggle began much earlier -in the school

Gapped Lines 3 What's the missing word? Choose from the list below.

Words a, any, one, that, the

Conventional serial machines do only one processing job at time. With its enhanced ability, the computer s of will also cut training needs at time when people no longer want to serve longputers proved groundless. The microcomputer has arrived at time of high unemployment. Thus the issue of new

That being so, why not eliminate lead from petrol? At time it seemed that the best approach to the mp it platforms are natural formations, although at time Maya farmers grew crops on them. According never heard of anyone driving as many as 100 elephants at time," Douglas-Hamilton told the task force when

Xian city (the capital of China, then known as Chang'an at time of Christ) the annual rainfall is low (750nto the late l9th century but the upheaval finally came at time of Vietnam, flower-power and the campus rons the materials of a fusion reactor and at same time produce a radiation hazard for workers.

ike a human's. It was the world's first true robot. At time I was working for Hawker Siddeley Dynamics in cold 4.5 x lO9 years ago. Nost stony meteorites formed at time as did the irons, which had alreadywhose name is commemorated in Boolean algebras). Chairs at time were not well endowed, and Smith supported

is commonly used. Because tin lodes are apt to end at time, miners have to be continually ready to openargues that this is unimportant, as meters can be read at time, and switching operations can bes too. The seas around California are today warmer than at time since 1957 and there are record high tides.

And Many More!

Matching Cohesion Cause / Effect Lexical Sets Fixed Phrases Superordinates/Hyponyms/

Antonyms

Data-driven Learning 2 – teacher using computer with students

As above (inductive approach etc.) Responsive to immediate needs Authentic materials Focus on form Needs confident teacher Many examples in Johns’ ‘

kibbitzers’

Data-driven Learning 3 – students using concordancer

As above (inductive approach, authentic materials, focus on form, immediate response to queries etc.)

Learner autonomy Needs learner training Presupposes advanced level

students

Conclusion

What is it to know a word? Exercises can focus on collocation Concordancing reveals patterns - a

new way of reading Self access gives learners

numerous native-speaker examples