Corpora as a reference for intermediate L2 writers: An investigation into the effects and perceptions of learner concordancing in the L2 writing classroom

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370626
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Quinn Cynthia 神戸大学, 国際文化学研究科, 特任准教授 (00368474)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: L2 ライティング / コーパス / 自己修正

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project was to investigate whether L2 intermediate writers viewed corpus referencing as a practical resource for solving writing-related language problems. Students completed a one-semester EFL writing course that included corpus search and analysis training and composed three essays, each of which was revised for lexical errors based on teacher feedback. Findings indicate that students believed the corpus to be an important tool to the writing process; namely, for referencing accurate collocations, for supplementing dictionary information, and for correcting certain error categories. However, many felt restricted in their ability to make the most of this technology due to difficulties related to computer literacy, time, and language proficiency. A continuation of this project is currently in progress to quantitatively assess the students’ rate of success with corpus-based error correction.

Free Research Field

Applied Linguistics