Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:13:44.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Teaching grammar again after twenty years: corpus-based help for teaching grammar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Tony McEnery
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Paul Barker
Affiliation:
Lancaster University

Abstract

In this paper we consider how corpora may be of use in the teaching of grammar of the pre-tertiary level. Corpora are becoming well established in teaching in Universities. Corpora also have a role to play in secondary education, in that they can help decide how and what to teach, as well as changing the way in which puplis learn and providing the possibility of open-ended machine-aided tuition. Corpora also seem to provide what UK goverment sponsored reports on teaching grammar have called for – a data-driven approach to the subject.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aarts, J. (1991) ‘Intuition-based and observation-based grammars’. In Aijmer, K. and Altenberg, B. (eds), English Corpus Linguistics. Longman: London, 4462.Google Scholar
Alderson, J. C.Clapham, C. M. and Steel, D. A. (1996) Metalinguistic Knowledge, language Aptitude and Language Proficiency. CRILE Working Paper 26, Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language, Lancaster UniversityGoogle Scholar
DES (1988) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of English Language, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
DES\Welsh Office (1989) English for ages 5 to 16, Lodon: DES\Welsh Office.Google Scholar
DES\Welsh Office (1990) Modern foreign language for ages 11 to 16, London: DES\Welsh Office.Google Scholar
Greenbaum, S. (1988) Good English and The Grammarian, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Kennedy, G. (1992) ‘Preferred ways of putting things’. In Svartvik, J. (ed), Directions in Corpus Linguistics, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 335373.Google Scholar
Leech, G. N. & Svartvik, J. (1994) A Communicative Grammar of English, London: Longman.Google Scholar
McEnery, A. M. & Wilson, A. (1993) ‘The role of corpora in computer-assisted language learningComputer Assisted Language Learning 6 (3), 233248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEnery, A. M. & Wilson, A. (1997) ‘Teaching and language corpora (TALC)ReCALL 9 (1), 514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEnery, A. M., Baker, J. P. (1995) ‘A statistical analysis of corpus based computer vs traditional human teaching methods of part of speech analysis’, Computer Assisted Language Learning 8 (2–3), 259274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEnery, A. M., Baker, J. P. & Hutchinson, J. (1997) ‘A Corpus Based Grammar Tutor’. In Garside, R. G., Leech, G. N. and McEnery, A. M. (eds), Corpus Annotation, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, P. (1992) ‘CALL, the foreign-language undergraduate and the teaching of grammar: a linguistic and political battlefield’. ReCALL 7 (3–5).Google Scholar
Mindt, D. (1987) Sprache – Grammatik – Unter – richtsgrammatik: futurischer Zeitbezug im Englischen I, Frankfurt\Main: Diesterweg.Google Scholar
Mindt, D. (1992) Zeitbezug im Englischen: eine didaktische Grammatik des englischen Futurs, Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Mindt, D. (1995) An Empirical Grammar of the English Verbs: Modal Verbs, Berlin: Cornelsen.Google Scholar
Mindt, D. (1996) ‘English corpus linguistics and the foreign language teaching syllabus’. In Thomas, J. A. and Short, M. H. (eds), Using Corpora for Language Research: Studies in the Honour of Geoffrey Leech, London: Longman, 232247.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. N. & Svartvik, J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Schmied, J. and Fink, B. (forthcoming) ‘Corpus based contrastive lexicology: the case of English with and its German translation equivalents’. In Botley, S. P., McEnery, A. M. and Wilson, A. (eds), Multilingual Corpora in Teaching and Research, Rodopi, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Smith, B. (1995) ‘Annotated computer corpora and the learning of German grammar: implications for foreign language teaching’. Unpublished MA Dissertation, Lancaster University.Google Scholar
Stubbs, M. (1996) Text and Corpus Analysis, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Wichmann, A., Fligelstone, S., McEnery, A. & Knowles, G. (eds). (1997) Teaching and Language Corpora, London: Longman.Google Scholar