At the Intersection of Internet-Mediated Foreign Language Education and Learner Corpus Analysis
by Julie Belz, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and German, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Center for Advanced Language Proficiency and Education Research, The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania
Corpus-based approaches to linguistic analysis have emerged as a valuable tool for the description of language use across registers and speakers. Native English corpora have been utilized for the enhancement and production of dictionaries, thesauruses, textbooks, and other language teaching materials. More recently, learner corpora have been compiled, enabling researchers and teachers to conduct large-scale comparisons of native and learner language use with respect to the lexicon and grammar. The utilization of learner corpora in the investigation of L2 development (i.e, change over time), however, has been limited because the majority of learner corpora to date tend to represent synchronic collections of learner productions. Furthermore, little is known about the ways in which the incorporation of learner corpora in tutored instruction may influence L2 development. On the basis of a bilingual, integrated learner corpus of diachronic NS-NNS collaborations in the context of Internet-mediated intercultural learning partnerships, this presentation examines four corpus-based techniques for the interpretation of L2 development with regard to address form competence in L2 German that differ with respect to the element of time: (1) single-moment cross-sectional analysis; (2) extrapolation of single-moment cross-sectional analysis; (3) multi-wave analysis; and (4) microgenetic analysis. Quantitative corpus data are complemented with qualitative ethnographic data as an additional interpretive resource. Furthermore, it is shown how the use of an Internet-mediated learner corpus may address the issue of discourse authentication in corpus-driven L2 learning by means of developmental pedagogical intervention for the case of German modal particles in the context of blended instruction.
Friday, February 17, 2006
3:00-5:00pm, 370 Dwinelle Hall