LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:7 July 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Incorporating Corpus Linguistics into ELT in MENA Countries:
Bridging the Gap

Dr. S. A. Shanavas
Basheer Ahmed Hamood Mufleh, Research Scholar

Abstract

There have always been debates on how to teach, what to teach and when to teach what. Over time, teaching methods have frequently been revisited and updated. Recently, with the advent of computer technology, there emerged some new teaching methodologies like corpus-based learning (also called Data-Driven Learning (DDL)) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL). This means that the practices and the attitudes towards English teaching need to be updated, too. This is not, however, the case in English classes in MENA countries where teachers predominantly use the traditional methods of teaching.

Consequently, recent reports have shown that MENA countries have the very lowest proficiency in English language in the world. This paper introduces corpus linguistics and corpus-based learning to the MENA English classrooms in order to improve the English language learning process and make, for the time being, a balance between traditional and modern teaching methods. This balance can be realized in incorporating inductive learning with ductive learning one the one hand, and student-centered classes and teacher-centered classes on the other. In order to showcase the advantages of using corpus-based method in the language classroom, corpus-based materials and concordances are designed using the Sketch Engine and the Brown corpus.

Keywords: Corpus Linguistics, Corpus-Based Learning, Concordances, ELT, Inductive Learning.

1. Introduction

The interest in language learning has always been there since time memorial. While new approaches to language teaching keep emerging, the previous ones keep getting updated in order to cope with the time and demands and to provide better options. In the past few decades, some recent approaches like the Suggestopedia, the Total Physical Approach and the Silent Way provide new and revised methods to language teaching. These methods have been a subject to a lot of debates and controversies. The reason seems to have been the familiarity of traditional approaches to educators worldwide and the fear of trying something new. Boulton (2009, p. 02) argues that “their limited adoption world-wide is perhaps partly due to dogmatic adherence to ideology which remains impervious to evidence and experimentation and insufficiently able to adopt to local cultures.”

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Dr. S. A. Shanavas, Associate Professor
Department of Linguistics
University of Kerala
drsasha2002@yahoo.com


Basheer Ahmed Hamood Mufleh, Research Scholar
Department of Linguistics
University of Kerala
bmufleh@gmail.com

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