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Learner Corpora and Language Teaching
Edited by Sandra Götz and Joybrato Mukherjee
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 92] 2019
► pp. 7–28

The Trinity Lancaster Corpus

Applications in language teaching and materials development

| Lancaster University
| Lancaster University
| Lancaster University

Corpora and corpus techniques have long been an important source of knowledge about language; they have also been increasingly used for language teaching purposes. This chapter discusses the role of spoken learner corpora in language pedagogy and in development of language teaching materials. In particular, it focuses on the Trinity Lancaster Corpus (TLC) and its pedagogical applications. With over four million words, the TLC is one of the largest corpora of L2 spoken English, representing language from L2 English speakers engaged in different speaking tasks. The chapter uses data from the TLC to illustrate the use of corpus findings in teaching pragmatics in spoken language use, focusing on three case studies: expression of disagreement, ability to adjust language choice according to linguistic setting, and engaged listenership.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Trinity Lancaster Corpus: Description of the resource
    • 2.1Corpus overview
      • 2.1.1The nature of interaction: Linguistic setting and the speaking tasks
      • 2.1.2Linguistic and cultural background
      • 2.1.3Proficiency in spoken English
      • 2.1.4Sociolinguistic characteristics: Age, gender and education
      • 2.1.5Learning experience: Age of acquisition, learning history and patterns of use
    • 2.2Accessing and searching the TLC
  • 3.Issues in the corpus analysis of learner language
    • 3.1Transcription: Capturing spoken learner language
    • 3.2Comparison of (sub)corpora
  • 4.Applications of spoken learner corpora in language teaching
    • 4.1The use of spoken corpora in language teaching
    • 4.2Using learner corpora in language teaching
  • 5.Using the TLC for pedagogical purposes
    • 5.1Comparison across proficiency levels: Expression of disagreement
      • Corpus findings
      • Pedagogical implications
    • 5.2Comparison across tasks: Ability to adjust linguistic choice according to situation
      • Corpus findings
      • Pedagogical implications
    • 5.3Comparison between less and more successful learners: Active and engaged listenership
      • Corpus findings
      • Pedagogical implications
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.92.02gab
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