The marriage between corpusbased linguistics and grammar instruction: Using advise, recommend, and s

1
The marriage between corpus-based linguistics and
grammar instruction Using advise, recommend, and
suggest as an example

• Presenter Wen-Shuenn Wu (Michael Wu)
• Chung Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
• August 7, 2008 (WorldCALL 2008)

2
Research is too important to be left to the
researchers. (Tim Johns, 1991)
3
Introduction

• What is corpus?
• A collection of naturally occurring examples of
  language, consisting of anything from a few
  sentences to a set of written texts or tape
  recordings, which have been collected for
  linguistic study. (Hunston, 2002, p.2)

4
Classification of corpora

• Closed corpora
• Paid corpora (self-owned servers)
• Free online corpora

5

• Closed Corpora

6
CIC (Cambridge International
Corpus)
7
BNCWeb
8

• Paid Corpora

9
BNC (British National Corpus)
10
ANC (American National Corpus)
11
ICAME (International Computer Archive of Modern
and Medieval English)
12
LDC (Linguistic Data Consortium)
13

• Free online Corpora

14
BNC (British National Corpus)
15
The Collins Wordbanks Online English Corpus
16
JustTheWordSharp Laboratory of Europe
17
VIEW (Variation in English Words and Phrases) --gt
COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English)
18
MICASE (Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken
English)
19
PERC Corpus Online
20
WebCorp
21
Data-driven learning (DDL)

• Students act as language detectives,
  discovering facts about the language from
  authentic examples. (Hunston, 2002)
• DDL serves as consciousness-raising
• DDL does not teach a language feature, but
  presents learners with evidence and asks them to
  make hypotheses and draw conclusions.

22
Corpora and language teaching

• To improve students skills of using real
  language in context to come up with an answer to
  certain grammar and usage problems.
• To investigate the lexico-grammatical
  associations and pattern differences between
  nearly synonymous words.

23
Application of corpora to language teaching

• raw, unedited corpora search
• Advantage
• Disadvantage
• specially-compiled, teacher-edited corpus
• Advantage
• Disadvantage

24
Advantages of using corpora in a language class

• Solve some grammatical and usage problems.
• Additional corpus material may be useful to help
  the learner to see a recurrent pattern rather
  than relying on a single occurrence from a text.

25
Disadvantages of using corpora in a language class

• time-consuming
• wrong conclusion or incorrect interpretation.
• Thats why we suggest you talk to us first.
• In that case I suggest we stick to it, because I
  have the strong feeling that

26
Disadvantages of using corpora in a language
class (cont.)

• Not all the concordance-derived data are
  grammatically correct.
• A teacher has to make a couple of digressions
  from the main topics of a lesson, which
  definitely will interrupt the flow of the lecture
  or discussion.

27
Dictionary definition of advise, suggest, and
recommend (LDCE)

• advise  to tell someone what you think they
  should do, especially when you know more than
  they do about something
• suggest  to tell someone your ideas about what
  they should do, where they should go etc
• recommend  to advise someone to do something,
  especially when you have special knowledge of a
  particular subject or situation

28
Whether these sentences are correct?

• I suggested a new procedure to the committee.
• A broker will advise you how to invest your
  money.
• I would always recommend buying a good quality
  bicycle rather than a cheap one.

29
How about these sentences?

• He suggested us to go for a drink. (LDCE)
• He suggested that we go for a drink.
• He advised to leave as quickly as possible.
  (Collins COBUILD English Usage, p.26)
• Can you suggest something for us to do this
  weekend?
• If you go to London, we recommend you visiting
  Tate Modern. (LDCE)
• They advised him that the tour would proceed.

30
Pilot Study

• Find out the whether advise, suggest, and
  recommend can be used in the following patterns?
• V N (not) to-V
• V wh-clause/phrase
• V that-clause
• V -ing
• V for/to someone to-V

31
Pilot Study (cont.)

• What is the commonest modal (e.g. would, should,
  might, can, could, etc.) that is used in the
  that-clause of the third sentence pattern (i.e.,
  V that-clause)? Which adverbs are usually used
  with these three words
• modal
• adverbs
• advise
• suggest
• recommend

32
V N (not) to-V

• He advised me to put my money in the bank.
• I would recommend anyone to read two books.
• suggest??
• Could you suggest someone to advise me how to do
  this? (Collins Cobuild Advanced Learners English
  Dictionary, 4th edition, 2003, p.1449)

33
V wh-clause/phrase

• He may need to advise how to obtain legal help or
  financial guidance. (BNCWeb) (1 target pattern
  out of 2021 examples)
• I keep trying to suggest where he could get work.
  (BNCWeb) (136 target patterns out of 8778
  examples)
• The trust will also recommend whether the
  investment costs should be passed on to
  consumers. (BNCWeb) (16 target patterns out of
  1784 examples)

34
V that-clause

• We advised that they should start early.
• I suggested that he leave the room. (fml esp.
  AmE)
• I recommend that you get some professional advice.

35
V -ing

• I advise waiting till the proper time.
• He suggested taking the children to the zoo.
• I would always recommend buying a good quality
  bicycle rather than a cheap one.

36
V for/to someone to-V

• He suggested for her to take the money.
• I suggested to her to go to France with me.
• advise??
• recommend??

37
modal

• What is the commonest modal (e.g. would, should,
  might, can, could, etc.) that is used in the
  that-clause of the third sentence pattern (i.e.,
  V that-clause)?
• should

38
adverb

• Which adverbs are usually used with these three
  words
• advise strongly
• suggest strongly
• recommend highly, thoroughly, strongly

39
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspective
(1)

• native speaker intuition vs. non-native speaker
  competence
• Many more experimental studies require to be done
  before we can say that (Owne, 1996)
• decided that a large number of laws would
  require to be passed by a two-thirds majority
  (from a corpus)
• Yes, your cordon pears do require to be pruned in
  summer (from a corpus)

40
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspective
(2)

• Although REQUIRE to be is found in the Bank of
  English, and fairly frequently, the past
  participle that follows is usually that of a verb
  with a specific meaning, not a general verb such
  as do. There are plenty of examples of the type
  These roses require to be pruned each spring but
  very few indeed of require to be done (only 3 out
  of 302). Thus Owens intuitions are backed up by
  evidence of the corpus, but on phraseological
  rather than grammatical grounds (Hunston, 2002,
  p.21-22).

41
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspective
(3)

• the absence of some target patterns and rare
  instances of target patterns
• suggest N to V (8 target patterns out of
  8778 examples from BNCWeb)
• I would suggest you to ask that question in fact
  youll ask Gordon afterwards.
• suggest medicines to help reduce your symptoms.
• suggest ways to help my weight reduction
• suggest strategies to increase the safety of

42
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspctive
(4)

• recommend N V-ing (Longman Grammar of Spoken
  and Written English, p.742) (2 target patterns
  out of 1784 examples from BNCWeb although she
  would recommend you using more tact than Judith
  did.)

43
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspective
(5)

• suggest N V-ing (Longman Grammar of Spoken
  and Written English, p.742) (4 target patterns
  out of 8778 examples from BNCWeb Perhaps I could
  suggest her getting someone in to look after him
  and she could come..)

44
pedagogical and research issues EFL perspective
(6)

• real language Where the example sentences from
  corpora are real language in a meaningful
  context?
• In the classroom setting, EFL students are
  unlikely to be motivated by corpus-based data if
  the instances of language use that they are
  studying are taken from contexts which are
  detached from their interests and concerns
  (Tribble, 1997).

45
Conclusion

• It is certainly true that I do not believe (and
  do not think the research demonstrates) that
  there is just one preferred approach to teaching
  grammar. The acquisition of the grammatical
  system of an L2 is a complex process and almost
  certainly can be assisted best by a variety of
  approaches. (Ellis, 2006, p.103)

46
Conclusion (cont.)

• The marriage between corpus-based linguistics and
  grammar instruction might have a happy ending if
  competent English teachers are fully prepared and
  find adequate methods to integrate corpus-based
  materials into relevant grammar learning.

47
My Website in Google USA
My Website in Google Japan
My Website in Google France
My Website in Google Australia
My Website in Google Germany
My Website in Google Korea
My Website in Google Spain
My Website in Google Taiwan
48
(No Transcript)