Why use language corpora for ESL lessons

From time to time I find my students making the same mistake in their essays. They get the meaning of the word, its form  but use it in the wrong context, so their sentence simply doesn’t work. 

Meanwhile, teachers may struggle too. Sometimes it is hard to come up with the context that accurately represents the meaning I want my students to understand. Inaccurate examples lead to more and more questions and extensive explanations as well as some misunderstandings, as we all know. 

However, there is one thing that can solve both problems that I have just mentioned, and it is called a language corpora.

The Brown University Standard Corpus of Present-Day American English, sometimes referred to as the Brown Corpus, assembled by linguists Henry Kučera and W. Nelson Francis in the 1960s,  became the first systematically structured computer corpus.

As for now, the most distinctive examples of English language corpora are:

However, COCA might be one of the most popular ones.

We have already defined a corpus as a collection of linguistic material.

Of course, dictionaries do not serve this purpose. They are organized by certain people to present definitions, translations or some related words.

The main question, however, is the following: how can an ESL teacher use corpora for the benefit of their students and the whole studying process?

Your word or phrase is there 100%, so the only thing you need to do is pick up the most relatable example. 

This practice can also be adapted as an activity for your students. You can ask them to find some examples of your target language in corpora and compare what they got after.

Students may often guess the meaning of the word or phrase on their own if they are presented with two or three examples together with a piece of target language.

We all know that learning a word out of its context can be tricky, especially when it comes to more advanced vocabulary. One word can simply mean absolutely different things in two different texts.

First of all, even a simple dictionary can be a savior as every definition is followed by an example. However, corpora contain an endless supply of such examples.

Finally, with so many examples of that one word of interest, it is easier to see certain patterns in the sentence.

The practice of noticing certain patterns is familiar to people who read a lot. Eventually, you start seeing them after you come across certain structures several times.

As you can see, incorporating  language corpora into your lesson plan can become a useful additional practice that increases the students’ level of interaction with  authentic  material. 

If you are interested in more tips on how to make the most out of some additional tools, Grade University professionals are always there to assist you with even more helpful recommendations.