What’s out there? A literature study on the typology of English corpora and their contribution to ELT

Srifani Simbuka, Fuad A. Hamied, Wachyu Sundayana, Deny A. Kwary

Abstract


One of the recent challenges for ELT practitioners is to respond to innovations in technology such as the growth of web-based English corpora. These corpora are rich resources for ELT since they contain most current, empirical data on the dynamic English language. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the typology of English corpora by describing and exemplifying “what English corpora are out there” for ELT practitioners to explore and harness their benefits. The analysis was conducted by collecting and selecting literature containing the concepts and characteristics of corpora. The result is a synthesis of the literature outlining three main bases for determining the types of corpora. First, there is a criterion related to the design and use of corpora and refers to the ‘age’ of their sources. The second criterion is the scope of corpora, and the third is ‘flexibility’ toward changes in their surroundings.  Based on the first criteria, corpora are labeled as synchronic from diachronic corpora. By the second criteria, corpora are distinguished into general versus specific ones. Static versus dynamic corpora are the types of corpora that indicated their ‘flexibilities’. Based on this result, it is recommended that corpora users are fully aware of the specific characteristics of each type of corpora, and hence they could choose the ones that best suit their needs.


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References


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Biber, D. (2015). Oxford Handbooks Online Corpus-Based and Corpus-Driven Analyses of Language Variation and Use. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199677078.013.0008

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Flowerdew, L. (2012). Corpora and Language Education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ibrahim, E. H. E., Shah, M. I. A., & Abudukeremu, M. (2019). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Frequency, Coverage, and Distribution of Academic Vocabulary in Islamic Academic Research Articles. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, (SPI 2), 570–577. https://doi.org/10.32861/jssr.spi2.570.577

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O’Keeffe, A., & McCarthy, M. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. (A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy, Eds.) (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

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Simbuka, S., Hamied, F. A., Sundayana, W., & Kwary, D. A. (2019). A Corpus-Based Study on the Technical Vocabulary of Islamic Religious Studies. TEFLIN Journal, 30(1), 47–71. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v30i1/47-71

The ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS). (2013). Corpus : Some key terms (No. 1). Lancaster.

Vivanet, G. (2012). Book Review: The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. Humana Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 23, 183–188.

Weisser, M. (2016). Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis (1st ed.). Malden: Wiley & Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119180180

Xiao, Z., & McEnery, T. (2012). Corpora and language education. English for Specific Purposes (Vol. 23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2003.12.001

Abudukeremu, M. (2010). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Frequency, Coverage, and Distribution of Academic Vocabulary in Islamic Academic Research Articles. International Islamic University Malaysia.

Biber, D. (2015). Oxford Handbooks Online Corpus-Based and Corpus-Driven Analyses of Language Variation and Use. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199677078.013.0008

Coxhead, A., & Demecheleer, M. (2018). English for Speci fi c Purposes Investigating the technical vocabulary of Plumbing. English for Specific Purposes, 51, 84–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.03.006

Flowerdew, L. (2012). Corpora and Language Education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ibrahim, E. H. E., Shah, M. I. A., & Abudukeremu, M. (2019). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Frequency, Coverage, and Distribution of Academic Vocabulary in Islamic Academic Research Articles. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, (SPI 2), 570–577. https://doi.org/10.32861/jssr.spi2.570.577

McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2012). Corpus linguistics : method, theory, and practice. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics, xv, 294 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Nation, I. S. P. (2016). Making and Using Word Lists for Language Learning and Testing. (I. S. P. Nation, Ed.) (e-Book). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.208

O’Keeffe, A., & McCarthy, M. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. (A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy, Eds.) (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

Shabani, M. B., & Tazik, K. (2014). Coxhead ’ s AWL across ESP and Asian EFL Journal Research Articles ( RAs ): A Corpus-Based Lexical Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 1722–1728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.599

Simbuka, S., Hamied, F. A., Sundayana, W., & Kwary, D. A. (2019). A Corpus-Based Study on the Technical Vocabulary of Islamic Religious Studies. TEFLIN Journal, 30(1), 47–71. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v30i1/47-71

The ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS). (2013). Corpus : Some key terms (No. 1). Lancaster.

Vivanet, G. (2012). Book Review: The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. Humana Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 23, 183–188.

Weisser, M. (2016). Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis (1st ed.). Malden: Wiley & Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119180180

Xiao, Z., & McEnery, T. (2012). Corpora and language education. English for Specific Purposes (Vol. 23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2003.12.001

Abudukeremu, M. (2010). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Frequency, Coverage, and Distribution of Academic Vocabulary in Islamic Academic Research Articles. International Islamic University Malaysia.

Biber, D. (2015). Oxford Handbooks Online Corpus-Based and Corpus-Driven Analyses of Language Variation and Use. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199677078.013.0008

Coxhead, A., & Demecheleer, M. (2018). English for Speci fi c Purposes Investigating the technical vocabulary of Plumbing. English for Specific Purposes, 51, 84–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.03.006

Flowerdew, L. (2012). Corpora and Language Education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ibrahim, E. H. E., Shah, M. I. A., & Abudukeremu, M. (2019). A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Frequency, Coverage, and Distribution of Academic Vocabulary in Islamic Academic Research Articles. The Journal of Social Sciences Research, (SPI 2), 570–577. https://doi.org/10.32861/jssr.spi2.570.577

McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2012). Corpus linguistics : method, theory, and practice. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics, xv, 294 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Nation, I. S. P. (2016). Making and Using Word Lists for Language Learning and Testing. (I. S. P. Nation, Ed.) (e-Book). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.208

O’Keeffe, A., & McCarthy, M. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. (A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy, Eds.) (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

Shabani, M. B., & Tazik, K. (2014). Coxhead ’ s AWL across ESP and Asian EFL Journal Research Articles ( RAs ): A Corpus-Based Lexical Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 1722–1728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.599

Simbuka, S., Hamied, F. A., Sundayana, W., & Kwary, D. A. (2019). A Corpus-Based Study on the Technical Vocabulary of Islamic Religious Studies. TEFLIN Journal, 30(1), 47–71. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v30i1/47-71

The ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS). (2013). Corpus : Some key terms (No. 1). Lancaster.

Vivanet, G. (2012). Book Review: The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. Humana Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 23, 183–188.

Weisser, M. (2016). Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis (1st ed.). Malden: Wiley & Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119180180

Xiao, Z., & McEnery, T. (2012). Corpora and language education. English for Specific Purposes (Vol. 23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2003.12.001




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30870/aiselt.v3i3.11129

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