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Lexical Priming: Applications and advances
Edited by Michael Pace-Sigge and Katie J. Patterson
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 79] 2017
► pp. 273–296

Concordancing lexical primings

The rationale and design of a user-friendly corpus tool for English language teaching and self-tutoring based on the Lexical Priming theory of language

| Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China

Lexical Priming (Hoey 2005) brings together a range of linguistic patterns that should be an important focus of language learning and teaching. But it also adds an additional load to learners and teachers, demanding attention to different primings of words and nested combinations of words. With many tendencies difficult to observe in dictionary entries or other concordancing software, learners and teachers will face difficulties finding and presenting information about these primings. This chapter introduces the design of a concordancer (The Prime Machine), created for a doctoral degree project and developed to be firmly based on the theory of Lexical Priming. It introduces the pedagogical rationale for the development of some key features, including the search screen interface and the display of concordance lines.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Developing learner-friendly design criteria for The Prime Machine
    • 2.1Claim 1: The design should help language learners explore differences between words and phrases
    • 2.2Claim 2: The design of the display for concordance lines should help language learners notice textual colligation, co-text and contexts
    • 2.3Claim 3: The design should help language learners notice features in the patterning of words and phrases
  • 3.Further work and concluding comments
  • Notes
  • List of Corpora
  • References
Published online: 14 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.79.11jea
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Jeaco, Stephen
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Jeaco, Stephen
2020. Key words when text forms the unit of study. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 25:2 ► pp. 125 ff. DOI logo
Jeaco, Stephen
2020. Calculating and displaying key labels: the texts, sections, authors and neighbourhoods where words and collocations are likely to be prominent. Corpora 15:2 ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
Jeaco, Stephen
2021. Exploring register with The Prime Machine . Register Studies 3:2 ► pp. 279 ff. DOI logo
Jeaco, Stephen
2021. Concordance line sorting in The Prime Machine . International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 26:2 ► pp. 284 ff. DOI logo
Jeaco, Stephen
2023. How can we communicate (visually) what we (usually) mean by collocation and keyness?. Journal of Second Language Studies 6:1 ► pp. 29 ff. DOI logo
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