Article published in:
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics
Vol. 22:4 (2017) ► pp. 457–489

The English Grammar Profile of learner competence

Methodology and key findings

| Mary Immaculate College
| 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.
Keywords: learner corpus, learner competence, learner grammar, CEFR, English Grammar Profile
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
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