Corpora in the LSP classroom

A learner-centred corpus of French for biotechnologists

Ornaith Rodgers | National University of Ireland, Galway

Angela Chambers | University of Limerick

Florence Le Baron-Earle | University of Limerick

While there is a growing body of research in the use of corpora in the teaching of languages for specific purposes (LSP) since the late 1960’s, learner evaluations of the activity are rarer (see, for example, Yoon & Hirvela 2004 and O’Sullivan & Chambers 2006). This study investigates the use of a corpus of articles on biotechnology in French with native English-speaking university students of biotechnology. After situating the study in the research context, we investigate the issues involved in the creation of an appropriate corpus, describe the integration of the corpus in the French language course, and evaluate the learners’ reactions through questionnaires and semi-structured group interviews. Finally, the implications of studies such as this for applied corpus-based research are discussed, including the need for specialised pedagogic corpora.

Keywords: biotechnology, learner-centred, French, language learning, vocabulary

Published online: 24 October 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.16.3.06rod

Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

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Jablonkai, Reka, Luciana Forti, Magdalena Abad Castelló, Isabelle Salengros Iguenane, Eva Schaeffer-Lacroix & Nina Vyatkina

2020. In CALL for widening participation: short papers from EUROCALL 2020, ► pp. 132 ff.

Parodi, Giovanni

2015. Corpus de aprendices de español (CAES). Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 2:2 ► pp. 194 ff.

Rodgers, Ornaith & Labhaoise Ni Dhonnchadha

2018. Digital Video Creation in the LSP Classroom. The EuroCALL Review 26:1 ► pp. 43 ff.

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