Discovering formulaic language through data-driven learning: Student attitudes and efficacy

Abstract

Corpus linguistics has established that language is highly patterned. The use of patterned language has been linked to processing advantages with respect to listening and reading, which has implications for perceptions of fluency. The last twenty years has seen an increase in the integration of corpus-based language learning, or data-driven learning (DDL), as a supporting feature in teaching English as a foreign / second language (EFL/ESL). Most research has investigated student attitudes towards DDL as a tool to facilitate writing. Other studies, though notably fewer, have taken a quantitative perspective of the efficacy of DDL as a tool to facilitate the inductive learning of grammar rules. The purpose of this study is three-fold: (1) to present an EFL curriculum designed around DDL with the aim of improving spoken fluency; (2) to gauge how effective students were in employing newly discovered phrases in an appropriate manner; and (3) to investigate student attitudes toward such an approach to language learning. Student attitudes were investigated via a questionnaire and then triangulated through interviews and student logs. The findings indicate that students believe DDL to be a useful and effective tool in the classroom. However, students do note some difficulties related to DDL, such as encountering unfamiliar vocabulary and cut-off concordance lines. Finally, questions are raised as to the students’ ability to embed learned phrases in a pragmatically appropriate way.

Effects of Corpus‐Aided Language Learning in the EFL Grammar Classroom: A Case Study of Students' Learning Attitudes and Teachers' Perceptions in Taiwan

“…To begin with, this improvement in itself corresponds to many previous studies reporting favorable comments from their students on the use of DDL (e.g., Leńko‐Szymańska, ; Phoocharoensil, ; H. Yoon & Hirvela, ). In particular, it echoes the strong belief held by DDL language learners that such an approach is useful and effective (Charles, ; Geluso & Yamaguchi, ; Phoocharoensil, ). In addition, the fact that only Treatment C had such an overall effect justifies the researcher's method design, recalling that the use of DDL in what may seem trivial differences of proportion (20% variance) in this project did, as predicted, generate different results, but in a positive way with regard to the DDL students.…”

“…The great majority of language learners have generally reacted positively to DDL‐centered treatments (Leńko‐Szymańska, ; H. Yoon & Hirvela, ). Specifically, students enjoyed the process of discovering the linguistic rules themselves (Phoocharoensil, ) and found this a useful and effective approach to language learning (Charles, ; Geluso & Yamaguchi, ; Phoocharoensil, ). Students' positive attitudes to the value of DDL are also reflected in their actual language skills, with improved collocations (Rezaee, Marefat, & Saeedakhtar, ), retention of vocabulary (Jalilifar, Mehrabi, & Mousavinia, ), command of grammar rules (Smart, ), and ability to self‐correct and revise linguistic errors when consulting a corpus (Todd, ; Tono, Satake, & Miura, ).…”

“…Obvious examples are the time needed before students can use and be familiar with a corpus (Gilquin & Granger, ). This issue is often found interwoven with students' struggles to draw language features accurately from the cut‐off sentences, partly due to their unfamiliar vocabulary (Geluso & Yamaguchi, ; H. Yoon & Hirvela, ). These challenges, as the students of Kennedy and Miceli () experienced, are at times discouraging and frustrating.…”

A comparison of the effectiveness of EFL students’ use of dictionaries and an online corpus for the enhancement of revision skills

“…Other research on participants' use of corpora (e.g., Geluso & Yamaguchi, 2014) has reported similar difficulties. This issue was reflected in the following response to the final survey question:…”

Vocabulary Learning through Data-driven Learning in an English as a Second Language Setting

“…The results should be carefully considered, though, especially because only one data collection instrument was used in the study, which was a multiple-choice test that might possibly have favored the students in the decontextualized group. Geluso and Yamaguchi's (2014) study explored the attitudes of 30 Japanese university students toward a DDL approach, in which the students were asked to investigate words and phrases using the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), a corpus tool. Then, the students were given a questionnaire, interviewed, and asked to write reflection logs.…”