The English Grammar Profile of learner competence
Methodology and key findings
Anne O’Keeffe | Mary Immaculate College
Geraldine Mark | University of Limerick
English Profile (EP) is an ongoing empirical exploration of learner English initiated by Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English, among others. EP aims to create a set of empirically-based descriptions of language competencies for English. ‘Reference Level Descriptors’ already exist as part of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) but are intuitively derived and not designed for one specific language. The English Grammar Profile (EGP, www.englishprofile.org/english-grammar-profile) is a sub-project of EP which aims to profile learner competence in grammar. This paper details the rationale for the study and the methodology that was developed to investigate the Cambridge Learner Corpus to arrive at over 1,200 grammatical competence statements. Key findings which link to existing corpus-based second language acquisition work are also presented.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Corpus studies of learner language
- 3.Methodological issues in LCR
- 3.1Contrastiveness and representativeness
- 3.2Interspeaker variation and proficiency
- 4.The data
-
5.Methodology
- 5.1Establishing a grammar search inventory
-
5.2Developing an iterative process
- 5.2.1Establishing criteria
- 5.2.2Steps in the iterative process
- 5.3Exemplifying the iterative process using a criteria-based methodology
- 6.Discussion of initial findings
- 6.1Lexico-grammatical development and the ceiling effect
- 6.2Pragmatic development
- 7.Conclusion
- Appendices
- Appendix 1.Overview of “styles” and “formats” by level, as defined by the CLC customised version of Sketch Engine
- Appendix 2.Grammar items typically taught and tested in ELT syllabi
-
Appendix 3.ELT pedagogical grammars and courses surveyed as the basis for the list of “superordinate” categories and “subordinate” categories for investigation
- ELT Pedagogical grammar books
-
References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Published online: 01 December 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.14086.oke
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.14086.oke
References
Ädel, A.
Anderson, C.
Burnard, L.
Buttery, P., & Caines, A.
Callies, M.
Callies, M., & Zaytseva, E.
(2013) The Corpus of Academic Learner English (CALE): A new resource for the study and assessment of advanced language proficiency. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin & F. Meunier (Eds.), Twenty Years of Learner Corpus Research: Looking back, Moving ahead. Corpora and Language in Use – Proceedings 1 (pp. 49–59). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
Cambridge University Press
(2015) English Grammar Profile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://www.englishprofile.org/english-grammar-profile/egp-online (last accessed March 2016).
Capel, A.
(2010) A1 – B2 Vocabulary: Insights and issues arising from the English Profile Wordlists project. English Grammar Profile Journal, 1(1), 1–11. Retrieved from http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2F1715_9743C07C92A1D32D9C5923E4578849FE_journals__EPJ_EPJ1_01_S2041536210000048a.pdf&cover=Y&code=b5d9787bd17ae6a4a22b52fd9ff5084a (last accessed November 2014).
Carlsen, C.
Carter, R., McCarthy, M., Mark, G., & O’Keeffe, A.
Council of Europe
(2001b) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment Structured Overview of all CEFR Scales. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/elp/elp-reg/Source/Key_reference/Overview_CEFRscales_EN.pdf (last accessed November 2014).
Díez-Bedmar, M. B.
Ellis, N. C., O’Donnell, M., & Römer, U.
Figueras, N., North, B., Takala, S., Verhelst, N., & Van Avermaet, P.
Fulcher, G.
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., McEnery, T., & Boyd, E.
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., & McEnery, T.
Granger, S.
Granger, S., Gilquin, G., & Meunier, F.
Green, A.
Harrison, J., & Barker, F.
Hawkins, J. A., & Buttery, P.
(2009) Using learner language from corpora to profile levels of proficiency: Insights from the English Profile Programme. In L. Taylor & C. J. Weir (Eds.), Language Testing Matters: Investigating the Wider Social and Educational Impact of Assessment (pp. 158–175). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hawkins, J., & Filipović, L.
Jones, N., & Saville, N.
Kilgarriff, A., Baisa, V., Bušta, J., Jakubíček, M., Kovář, V., Michelfeit, J. Rychlý, P., & Suchomel, V.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E.
Littlejohn, A.
McCarthy, M. J.
McEnery, T., Xiao, R., & Tono, Y.
Meunier, F.
Milanovic, M.
(2009) Cambridge ESOL and the CEFR. University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations Research Notes, 371, 2–5. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/23156-research-notes-37.pdf (last accessed November 2014).
Milton, J., & Meara, P.
Murakami, A.
(2013) Cross-linguistic influence on the accuracy order of L2 English grammatical morphemes. In S. Granger, S. Gaëtanelle & F. Meunier (Eds.), Twenty Years of Learner Corpus Research. Looking back, Moving ahead: Proceedings of the First Learner Corpus Research Conference (LCR 2011) (Vol. 11) (pp. 325–334). Louvain: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
Myles, F.
Negishi, M., Tono, Y., & Fujita, Y.
(2013) A validation study of the CEFR levels of phrasal verbs in the English Vocabulary Profile. English Profile Journal, 31, 1–16. Retrieved from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8663926 (last accessed November 2014).
Osbourne, J.
O’Sullivan, B.
Pienemann, M.
Tavakoli, P.
Thewissen, J.
Tono, Y., & Díez-Bedmar, M. B.
Tracy-Ventura, N., & Myles, F.
Van Ek, J. A., & Trim, J. L. M.
Wang, X.
(2013) Grammatical Development of Chinese among Non-native Speakers: From a Processability Account. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/58986 (last accessed April 2015).
Full-text
Cited by
Cited by 10 other publications
Ballier, Nicolas, Stéphane Canu, Caroline Petitjean, Gilles Gasso, Carlos Balhana, Theodora Alexopoulou & Thomas Gaillat
Berger, Armin
Gaillat, Thomas, Andrew Simpkin, Nicolas Ballier, Bernardo Stearns, Annanda Sousa, Manon Bouyé & Manel Zarrouk
Jones, Christian & Daniel Waller
Pérez-Paredes, Pascual & María Belén Díez-Bedmar
Tam, Hugo Wing-Yu
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.