Exploring big educational learner corpora for SLA research

Theodora Alexopoulou · Jeroen Geertzen · Anna Korhonen · Detmar Meurers

54 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Learner Corpus Research

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Second Language Acquisition and Learning EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Natural Language Processing Techniques

Abstract

We consider the opportunities presented by big educational learner corpora for Second Language Acquisition (SLA). In particular, we focus on theEF Cambridge Open Language Database(EFCAMDAT), an open access database of student writings submitted toEnglishtown, the online school ofEF Education First. EFCAMDAT stands out for its size (33 million words, 85 thousand learners) and a range of 128 writing tasks covering all CEFR levels with data from learners from varying nationalities. We discuss methodological issues arising from analyzing big data resources generated in educational contexts and argue that Natural Language Processing (NLP) is essential for the automated processing of such datasets. As a study case, we follow the developmental trajectory of relative clauses, a construction that necessitates deeper syntactic analysis. We consider specific issues that can affect the developmental trajectory, including task effects, formulaic language and national language effects.

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2009Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment 1972INTERLANGUAGE 2002Formulaic Language and the Lexicon 2000The Syntactic Process 2014Understanding Second Language Acquisition 2008Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition 1989What is the logical problem of foreign language learning?2009Corpus Linguistics An International Handbook

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2017Evidence and Interpretation in Language Learning Research: Opportunities for Collaboration With Computational Linguistics 2019A corpus perspective on the development of verb constructions in second language learners 2021Applied corpus linguistics for language acquisition, pedagogy, and beyond 2016A phrase-frame approach to investigating phraseology in learner writing across proficiency levels 2025Language, people, classrooms, world: Blending disparate theories for united language education practices 2022

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