Teaching English with Corpora: A Resource Book

395 Pages·2022·79.186 MB·English

by  Vander Viana

Teaching English with Corpora
Teaching English with Corpora is an accessible and practical introduction
to the ways in which online and offline corpora can be used in English lan-
guage teaching (ELT).
Featuring 70 chapters written by an international range of researchers
and practitioners, this book:
• provides readers with clear, tested examples of corpus-based/driven les-
son plans;
• contains activities relevant to English for general purposes and English
for specific purposes;
• caters for the needs of English language teachers working with learners
at different proficiency levels;
• features flexible teaching suggestions that can be explored as part of a
lesson or as a full lesson.
This book is an essential purchase for pre- and in-service English language
teachers as well as those studying corpus linguistics in undergraduate/Mas-
ter’s courses in applied linguistics, ELT and Teaching English to Speakers
of Other Languages (TESOL).
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 ex-
pertise include corpus linguistics, English for academic purposes, TESOL
and language teacher education.

Teaching English with Corpora
A Resource Book
Edited by Vander Viana
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Vander Viana; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Vander Viana to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Viana, Vander, editor.
Title: Teaching English with corpora: a resource book /
edited by Vander Viana.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022021146 (print) | LCCN 2022021147 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032252995 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032252971
(paperback) | ISBN 9781032253008 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: English language—Study and teaching—
Foreign speakers. | Corpora (Linguistics) | LCGFT: Essays.
Classification: LCC PE1128.A2 T44256 2023 (print) |
LCC PE1128.A2 (ebook) | DDC 428.0071—dc23/eng/20220608
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022021146
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022021147
ISBN: 978-1-032-25299-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25297-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25300-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/b22833
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
Access the Support Material:
https://www.routledge.com/9781032252971
Contents
At-a-glance chapter taxonomy xii
List of figures xiv
List of tables xx
List of abbreviations xxii
List of appendices xxiii
Acknowledgements xxiv
Introduction 1
Corpora in and for TESOL 3
VANDER VIANA
PART A
English for general purposes 31
1 Using concordance lines to teach participial adjectives 33
SEAN SUTHERLAND
2 Starting out with phrasal verbs 36
ROSIE HARVEY AND IRENE MARÍN CERVANTES
3 Teaching collocations with “Survey Says” 39
ROBIN SULKOSKY
4 A grand problem and a jolly solution: unmasking false
friends with corpus analysis 44
NATALIE FINLAYSON
vi Contents
5 Raising awareness of first-language interference using
parallel corpora of subtitles 49
ELEN LE FOLL
6 If you speak English, take one step forward: teaching
conditionals through kinesthetic activities 55
RIAH WERNER
7 Preposition repair: empowering learners to fix their errors 58
AMY TATE
8 KWIC searches for quick answers: solving word choice problems 62
PAMELA EVERLY
9 She said she told him: patterning in reported speech 65
MICHAEL H. BROWN
10 Using VocabProfilers to select texts for extensive
reading activities 69
THI NGOC YEN DANG
11 Talking about the weather: exploring adjective use with
Sketch Engine for Language Learning 74
JOHN WILLIAMS
12 Food talks: using corpus data to link cooking methods with
types of food 78
VANDER VIANA
13 Profiling let and make with the Corpus of Contemporary
American English 83
BEN NAISMITH
14 Corpus exploration of phrasal and Latinate verbs 88
ERIC NICAISE
15 Minimal prep quizzes: using online corpora to foster
vocabulary learning 92
NICK CANNING
16 Helping learners identify high-frequency words 96
SHOAZIZ SHARAKHIMOV AND ULUGBEK NURMUKHAMEDOV
Contents vii
17 Writing online reviews 99
NATALIA MORA-LÓPEZ
18 Exploring similes in corpus data 104
NATALIE FINLAYSON
19 Exploring register variation in the use of indefinite pronouns 108
IRINA PANDAROVA
20 Using corpora to explore varieties of English 114
NATALIE FINLAYSON
21 Searching for frequent words for pronunciation activities 118
ROGER W. GEE
22 Abstract nouns in picture descriptions 122
TOMÁŠ MACH
23 Tell me what your collocates are, and I will tell you
who you are 127
TÜLAY DIXON AND DANIEL DIXON
24 I feel kinda blah! Investigating language use in blogs 131
MARISTELLA GATTO
25 I see what you mean: exploring figurative uses of language 139
SALLY ZACHARIAS AND JANE EVISON
26 I was able to learn a new point: examining the difference
between could and was/were able to 143
MARTHA MICHIEKA AND THERESA MCGARRY
27 Learning about words in use with StringNet Navigator 146
ANASTASIIA KRYZHANIVSKA
28 Investigating adverbials in British English: although vs.
though in spoken and written language 150
LU LU
29 Using Voyant Tools to enhance learners’ reflections on their
writing 155
NAUSICA MARCOS MIGUEL
viii Contents
30 Gender equality in the TESOL classroom: exploring news
stories from around the world 158
VANDER VIANA
31 Phrasal verbs in use: investigating meaning and form 163
VANDER VIANA
32 Keywords in amateur online film reviews 166
CHAD LANGFORD AND JOSHUA ALBAIR
33 Formulaic language in amateur online film reviews 171
CHAD LANGFORD AND JOSHUA ALBAIR
34 Exploring semantic prosody with trainee teachers 176
JENNY KEMP AND LUKE TIMMS
35 A smile which melted her heart: exploring metaphors in
English corpora 181
WENDY ANDERSON
36 Small words? Discourse markers in spoken language 185
LORETTA FUNG
37 I’m so sorry: intensification in American English across time 188
ANNE BARRON
38 Thanking and responding to thanks in American English:
language patterning and contextual appropriateness 193
ANNE BARRON
39 Whilst I do not object, I strongly believe… Exploring
spoken argumentative and persuasive discourse 198
ELEN LE FOLL
40 Register variation in newspapers: working with
multidimensional analysis in English language
teacher education 203
VANDER VIANA
Contents ix
PART B
English for specific purposes 215
41 Exploring terms in English for specific purposes 217
NICOLE BRUN-MERCER
42 Teaching verbs using learner-compiled corpora 224
PETER DYE
43 Is there a better choice? Verb–noun combinations in
academic writing 228
VALDÊNIA ALMEIDA, BÁRBARA MALVEIRA ORFANÒ AND
DEISE DUTRA
44 Problem and solution markers: exploring lexical combinations 233
EMAN ELTURKI
45 Cloze exercises for mixed-ability groups: using the
Academic Word List Gapmaker 237
LORETTA FUNG
46 Signaling transitions in academic writing 241
NICOLE BRUN-MERCER
47 Boosting your message: using adverbs for impact in
business writing 245
LINDA SLATTERY, CATHERINE PREWETT-SCHREMPF,
ANDREW PULLEN AND MATTHEW URMSTON
48 Using the British National Corpus to teach phrases from
spoken and academic English 249
PAWEŁ SZUDARSKI
49 Using keyness to teach about academic speaking 254
MICHAEL SUHAN AND KYLE LUCAS
50 Teaching small-group academic discussions 261
VALERIA BOGOREVICH AND ELNAZ KIA