Research seminar in English linguistics: Corpora and applied linguistics

lgerm2871  2020-2021  Louvain-la-Neuve

Research seminar in English linguistics: Corpora and applied linguistics
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information below is subject to change, in particular that concerning the teaching mode (presential, distance or in a comodal or hybrid format).
5 credits
15.0 h
Q2

This biannual learning unit is being organized in 2020-2021
Teacher(s)
Paquot Magali;
Language
English
Main themes
Corpora, viz. electronic collections of spoken and written data, are playing an ever increasing role in a large number of applied linguistics areas. In this seminar we will examine how applied linguistics has benefited from the use of corpora, in areas such as: language and its acquisition, language and assessment, language and instruction, language and society, language and technology, language and translation, language for specific purposes.
Content will vary according to students' interests. A wide range of corpora will be used (native corpora of speech and writing, learner corpora, multilingual corpora) and different corpus approaches will be compared and contrasted with more experimental methods such as elicitation techniques.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 At the end of the seminar, students should be able to show insight into the use of corpora in different areas of applied linguistics. They should be familiar with the various corpora and methodologies that are available and should be aware of the advantages and limitations each of them presents in a particular context.
 
Content
In 2020-2021, the seminar will focus on the use of learner corpora in various domains of applied linguistics via lectures, the reading and critical examination of scientific articles and practical sessions (and a group project for students specializing in linguistics). Sessions will be devoted to learner corpus design, learner corpus research (LCR) methodology (comparing learner corpora with reference corpora, error analysis, etc.), learner corpus analysis, and the exploitation of learner corpora in various domains of applied linguistics including second language research and language pedagogy.
Special emphasis will be placed in the different steps that constitute a research project in the field of corpus linguistics, and learner corpus research more particularly.
Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Various: lectures, flipped classroom, discussions, students' presentations, group projects, hands-on sessions
Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

5-credit course
The research seminar is evaluated on the basis of a term paper on a topic related to the course content (+ oral defence).
Students who have more than two unjustified absences will not be allowed to register for the exam.
10-credit course
The research seminar is evaluated on the basis of the following activities:

1. Group project on a topic related to the course content (+ in-class oral defence) (50%)
2. Individual term paper on a topic related to the course content (+ oral defence during the exam session) (50 %).  Students whose mark for the term paper is below 10/20 automatically fail for the course.
Students who have more than two unjustified absences or who have not taken part in the group project will not be allowed to register for the exam. In case of resit, the course evaluation will be based on a term paper only.
Bibliography
  • Granger, S., Meunier, F. & G. Gilquin (2015) The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tracy-Ventura, N. & M. Paquot (in press) The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Corpora. Routledge.
Teaching materials
  • Slides, exercices, scientific articles available on Moodle
Faculty or entity
ELAL
Force majeure
Teaching methods
Online teaching via Teams (with a focus on active learning pedagogy)
Evaluation methods
5-credit course
The research seminar is evaluated on the basis of the following activities:
- Continuous assessment (exercices, group project, etc.) (30%)
- A term paper on a topic related to the course content (70%). Students whose mark for the term paper is below 10/20 automatically fail for the course.
Students who have more than two unjustified absences will not be allowed to register for the exam. In case of resit, the course evaluation will be based on a term paper only.
10-credit course
The research seminar is evaluated on the basis of the following activities:

1. Group project on a topic related to the course content. This group project includes continuous assessment activities (exercices, student presentations, etc.) (50%)
2. Individual term paper on a topic related to the course content (50 %).  Students whose mark for the term paper is below 10/20 automatically fail for the course.
Students who have more than two unjustified absences or who have not taken part in the group project will not be allowed to register for the exam. In case of resit, the course evaluation will be based on a term paper only.


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Linguistics

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : German, Dutch and English

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : General

Master [120] in Translation