Sunday, February 15, 2009
"The Use of Corpora in the Vocabulary Classroom"
After reading the article, "The Use of Corpora in the Vocabulary Classroom", turn to page 2 of the article. Search online for one of the three corpora listed in the article: BNC, VLC, or ICE. Check out the webpages of these corpora and tell us what you found. Do you think it could be useful in your classroom? If you think it could be useful in your classroom, tell us how you would use it. If you do not think it would be useful in your classroom, tell us why not.
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As I mentioned in my post for Chapters 3&4, I would definitely like to incorporate corpora and concordances in my teaching. This is mainly because I think that authentic language examples can contribute far more than artificial examples. That is why I always use authentic texts in my teaching. Particularly concordances are very useful in this respect. If there were computers in the classroom students could use a concordance to search for any unfamiliar words they come across in texts, or focus on the target words for that class. There could be follow-up activities related to this kind of search. This is sort of far-fetched as there are no computers in the classrooms where I teach, but hopefully there will be in future.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I can use corpora for gap-filling sheets which I tend to use often in my classes. So far, I’ve been taking ready-made gap-filling exercises from certain vocabulary books, but using corpora for the same purpose is certainly not a bad idea. I could also assign homework to students, to use these concordances to search for examples of using target words in contexts.
Incorporating corpora into ELT seems like a must for teachers worldwide for many reasons. I am going to mention some that I find most relevant.
ReplyDelete-Teachers can not always provide students with authentic, accurate and inventive examples
-The search for such examples without organized leading through the endless data of resources is time consuming
-Students enjoy using computers in their learning
-It fully engages students in the learning process
I have gone quickly through the three proposed corpora given in the article and I found VLC most attractive, straight forward and easiest to manipulate. There is an infinite number of possibilities I could use in the classroom from dictionaries, collocational frameworks, concgrams, idiom games, picture books and many more. What I found most interesting was that the search could be made according to preferable genre and that I could select it according to the interests of my students. This tool can be very useful in the phase when students know the basic meaning of a word (expression, word phrase) and they have/want to explore and find its most frequent collocations and see it used in sentences they find interesting.
However, it takes time for us (teachers) to master these new tools and implement them in our teaching. It also depends on how the schools we work at are equipped with the needed technical support . Nevertheless, we should try to modernize our teaching if we want to keep up with the students’ needs and interests.
I have searched online for the BNC, VLC and ICE and I could only see how the VLC works, because it takes a license to use the other two corpora. From what I've seen I can say that I liked it very much and I wished I had an opportunity to use it while I was a student. It would've helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhile dictionaries are boring to use and do not usually give appropriate, authentic examples, corpora is actually an interesting way of second language learning. It gives the use of a new word and its definitions and all that in a few seconds.
Nowadays, most of the students know how to use computers and they love using them, so I am sure that they would handle this easily. This way they would have a completely different perception of learning a foreign language. They would enjoy learning, which is a very rare phenomenon.
I find it especially useful for vocabulary learning, for focusing students' attention to lexis. I think that there is no better way for developing student's ability to infer from the context, because of the authenticity of the uses of the word. It could also be used for fill in the gap exercises.
If the school is equipped properly there is no reason not to use it in classes.
Of course, teachers should be careful while using it, because it depends on the students themselves, their age, interests and ability to work on computers. Teachers should be careful not to overuse it, and not to make students over rely on the use of corpora, because the process of learning a language can not be covered with only one technique or tool.
Using corpora in the classroom is very important and useful because it directs the learners to a greater independence. Using only dictionaries, does not provide the learners with a lot of context, but only definitions and examples, which might be boring for the learners. The learners need to try something else that will make them interested in the language, to do researches for it.
ReplyDeleteIf I would use corpora in my classes, first I would not give them too many aspects of a particular word, because the learners feel more comfy if we give them less data.
However, the important is that we have to make sure if all the learners have knowledge on computers, even though nowadays most of the learners know how to use computers. If we want to incorporate corpora in our classes then we have to train the learners, and not just to tell them to search for a data in the computer, because they might get confused. In the beginning I would give them a simple task, so they can find them easily. For instance, the learners should recognize the usage of connotations. After they get used of this and learn the finding aspects, then I would tell them to go to the complex ones. Of course that depends on the learners' level of performance. It is good if the students work in groups or in pairs because they can help each other and also they can compare their findings to see whether there are similarities or differences.
Last but not least, to let the learners have a responsibility for their learning. Once the learners have an attitude on using corpora, they will be motivated to do more exploring.
Using corpora when teaching English Language is considered to be a very important issue for both the teachers and students. From all the Corpora mentioned, I found the VLC more useful and worthwhile to be used.
ReplyDeleteFinding words from dictionaries and finding appropriate examples regarding to the words that the students learn takes a lot of time. Moreover, students cannot always find interesting and authentic examples and materials. This is why VLC is considered to be a very important method to learn new vocabulary words as good and as fast as possible. The VLC method helps the students speed the process of learning new vocabulary improvement and makes the process as easy as possible for the students to learn the new language. Nowadays, computers are considered to be the most useful and important tools, used by most of the students. This is why engaging the students to search the internet, find authentic materials and learn new words by having their definition and examples online, may be an interesting activity for the students and may raise their interest in learning the new language. I would use this with the students of the seventh and eighth grade, because they have more knowledge on computers and may not find this method stressful. With little children, this method would be abstract, since they do not have knowledge about these kinds of things, and they cannot use the computer. So, when using this method we should take into account the level of the students, their age, the circumstances they are living in, the conditions and their desires.
Using coropra in the classroom is good first for the studnet's they will change their way of learning because if we work all the time just with one technique it will get borring first for the studnet's and also for the teacher.
ReplyDeleteWe should be concious that all the students doesn't know to work with computers and if they are familiar with that way of learning.
My opinion is that it would be useful to use this strategie in my classroom for my student's it would be more interesting and they may be more motivated to learn and to work, they could lear and remember better the unfamiliar words usign corpora in the classroom.
I would use it with gap-filling exercises also another example that i could use it in my classroom is by giving them a word and that word the students to use it in different senteces in different context so when they will face that word in another context for them to be more clear and to understand that one word has different meanings and that it depends form the context of the sentences.
Hopefully that one day we will have computers in classrooms and we could use corpora.
I searched on the Internet for BNC, VLC and ICE. And, I think that VLC is very useful method of teaching and learning a second language. Nowadays, almost all the students can use the computer; therefore, I think that students will not find difficulties to use the VLC method. Moreover, I think that it is appropriate for different levels. Students often waste a lot of time in finding words from dictionaries. On the other hand, VLC method is very useful; moreover, it speed the process of learning. Furthermore, this method is especially useful for learning vocabulary because there are different activities that can help the students to practice the new vocabulary. For example, the students can use vocabulary matching quizzes to learn new words. In these quizzes the students should match the words with picture. These quizzes are very useful because in the same activity the students can see the written form of the word, the picture that refers to the word, and also listen how the word is pronounced. In this way, the students will remember the words better. It will be very enjoyable way for the children to learn new words. Fill in the gap exercises will be an interesting activities for the students. If they find unknown word while they are reading a text or an example, they just need to double-click the word and immediately they will have the explanation of the word. In these activities, the computer checks the students’ answer immediately. If the first answer is incorrect then the students will have to try again, and so on, until they find the correct answer. In this way the learners will learn the correct answers. When teachers decide to use VLC method in their classes, they should take in consideration the age of the students, their level of English, and also their ability in using the computer. I teach different level of students; therefore, I would take into account all these factors when I will decide to use this method. First, I will try to use this method with students who are able to use the computers and also are motivated to use this method.
ReplyDeleteI recognized that students like changes during their learning process, they like to learn in different methods, using different tools including computers. I think that using corpora in the vocabulary classroom it is very important because that would raise the student’s interests concerning their second language, it will motivate them more. I think that it is time to change the old techniques with which we teach vocabulary, therefore, VLC may help to my students to learn new vocabulary in an easier way without wasting time in searching in their dictionaries about the meaning of the word. All my students can work with computers, and all of their classrooms have computers so that it is not difficult to implement these methods in their classrooms and I think that they will enjoy. Fill in the gap activities may help them a lot, because they will check their progress and get the results immediately. If they find any unknown word while reading the text they can just click on the unknown word and get the meaning. After all, I think that any method which is related to computers would help students a lot, because it is the tool that students are using mostly and which they think that is the irreplaceable one.
ReplyDeleteI went through the three corporas on the web
ReplyDeletepage.All of them were useful.But,I found the VLC(Virtual Language Center) mostly useful.
There were picture books quizzes.This was interesting because there were pictures and different faces.I would incorporate this in my classroom.My pupils or students would search for different things,find new words,do gap-filling activities.Students will have to select an adjective that fits to thatparticular
picture such as amazed,boring,sleepy,pleased.
It is very useful the computers to be included in the teaching programme.It is a fact that they are included in our schools(in Kumanova).
But,they aren't installed yet.I believe that it is very useful to use them in class.In VLC corpora,I found a lot of grammar,games,reading for fun,collocations,comprehension,even shopping online.I would use this type of
corpora in my classroom.I liked it a lot.
My pupils are very happy because they have the computers in front of them.They like to start using them.They cannot wait for that day to come,the day when they will type an english word on the computer.Definitively,this is a very good idea.The computers should be included in every school.I am sure that this way our pupils or students will learn the english language,the way of writing,read external materials and progress in the language field.
Using corpora in classroom is very important because it contributes the second language learning. I searched on internet for BNC, VLC, or ICE and I found VLC as the most useful. It is a very useful method for learning new vocabulary since it supplies the learner with authentic language examples, which is something that makes students more motivated for leaning. Therefore, it motivates students for learning since they face up with words they need to acquire for their personal needs or use in their lives in real life situations. Another advantage for using VLC in learning vocabulary is that it aloud students to be more engaged in the learning process since they may find this way of learning much more interesting to use rather to use dictionaries, which is something quite boring to use. In addition, VLS corpora not only supplies learners with the definitions of the words as they are in the dictionaries, but it also supplies learners with many examples with the usage of the words. Moreover, using VLS corpora is also very efficient to use because it is time consuming, since learners may find the meaning of the words easily for a very short time. All to all, I consider it as very important method to use since it benefits the language learning a lot.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, another very important thing to consider before using it is that we need to have in mind students’ knowledge regarding computer and students’ level as well. Therefore, if students have not enough knowledge or have no knowledge at all about computer using, they would not be able to use it appropriately rather they would be confused and it would result with their failure in learning the new vocabulary words. Regarding this, teacher may help them if learners face up such difficulties by guiding them, and showing them how to use this method appropriately. Moreover, we should also have in mind students’ level as for example the children. Children cannot use this method since they have no knowledge about computers and its usage. As an outcome, even though I consider it as very important method to use I would not use in my classroom since I teach small children. Therefore, children are not familiar with this issue and as an outcome they are not able to use it.
As Milkica mentioned in her post, to view the BNC and the ICE one needs a license, so I wasn’t able to actually explore them. I was able to open the VLC, and look through the materials, and activities it is composed of. Virtual classes, activities, and games are very common lately, and I think that students often explore such web pages on their own and come across many interesting activities and games and take an advantage of them in a positive way. I have never used any of the activities from this VLC, but I have used many other online activities that are free to use and download, for which there is no license, and the students loved them. A positive characteristic about these virtual activities is that it provides the students with a score immediately as soon as they submit the answers.
ReplyDeleteActivities from VCL and other virtual pages are motivating, challenging, they have a lot of pictures and graphics, they are very colorful and nicely organized, i.e. there is an activity for every type of leaner, and for all the levels. There are several advantages for using these VLC activities. First of all, they are different from the ordinary activities; they are nice and innovative because they are virtual activities. Young learners get the thrill while playing the games, but what is more important, they learn unconsciously. I think that even adults love playing games on the Internet. Second, everything is already organized and it would be a shame if teachers wouldn't explore the VLC and use it accordingly. And finally, these activities are for all types of learners, visual, auditory and kinesthetic, so there is no amiss with these exercises.
However, we should bear in mind that teachers must be computer literate and acquainted with the research steps of how to find these virtual activities. Students are already computer literate because computers have become their best friends. Even I played several games from the VLC. I played the grammar roulette game and it was really exciting. And, having in mind the fact that learning a foreign language is very ambiguous and difficult at times, the VLC makes it enjoyable and stimulating. I also did one of the idiom games, and I really thought my answers through because I wanted to win. And if teachers have a pleasurable time, students will definitely have fun too. All of the activities have a certain difficulty level, and we can use the appropriate difficulty level for our groups. I am glad that I found this VLC page; I honestly haven’t seen it before.
I think that the use of corpus data in the vocabulary classroom is very effective way about language teaching and learning. I don’t use corpora with my students, but I would like to use them because they present the real language use. Using corpora in classroom will motivate students; they will be more interested to learn the language through their computers, because computers have become their closest friends. If we want to use corpora with our students, first we should have knowledge about them in order to direct students, to give them clearer instructions how to use corpora. In VLC (Virtual Language Centre) I found very useful things in this corpus such as: Idioms (Pictorial Idioms, Idioms Directory, Idiom Exercises, and Idiom Games), texts to speech, pronunciations exercises, conversations with every day situations, picture books, different puzzles, games, grammar exercises, dictionaries... In VLC students can find a lot of useful things about their learning. I think that the use all these things will be useful in my class. E.g. conversations with every day situations by native speakers will be very interesting for students. They will have the chance to listen native speakers but in the same time they will understand how the native speakers treat everyday matters, so in this way they also can understand their way of living and mentality.
ReplyDeleteI think that using corpora helps the teachers and students in their teaching or learning, by using the corpora teachers/students are more exposed to word forms, structure of the sentences or meanings. So if I was ordered to choose what corpora to choose for sure I will decide for the VLC (Virtual Language Center) corpora .
ReplyDeleteThis kind of corpora is a kind of all purpose use, so it can be used at a time as a dictionary, grammar , but we have give them enough explanation on how to use the corpora.
The students will be more motivated to use the computer as a learning tool. Using the corpora helps the students in their based skills that are the reading, listening, writing and also speaking (by seeing and hearing the intonation of the sample word).
I agree with all the colleagues. The using of corpora helps the teaching and the learning process a lot. Students, as well as teachers, like it because it contains different kinds of games and other stuff, which makes the learning and teaching interesting. Learners like this and they do not get bored while learning a language, on the contrary they get motivated.
ReplyDeleteI do not use it right now with my students, but I would like to. In my near teaching future, I will be using this as well.
As for the three corpora listed in the article: BNC, VLC, or ICE, I find VCL more useful. It seems to me more easy to use. As Adriana says, the activities that are included in such kind of corpora are challenging, well organized, colorful. And students love to use them.
I’ve checked the “Virtual Language Center” and I think that this is going to be very effective and helpful for my classes. First of all, the webpage is easy to guide and map through it. There is a concordance online archive and collocation archive. The concordance archive has several options like the field of interest like: Health, Business and Economy, Computing texts, as well Language and teaching. This way is easier for users to search their concordance in which field the words occur. In my opinion this will be effective in my classroom for the final stages of the lessons. This could be helpful for my learners in final stages because it provides information about the context in which the word occurs. I could not use this in first stages because I usually present vocabulary items and students deal with recognition and pronunciation. But, in latter stages where the students learn how and where the words are used in the language and sentence this could be very effective. They can learn various situation and contexts in which the word is used. We know that knowing the collocation of the word is one of the important features of knowing a word notion.
ReplyDeleteAlso I’ve checked “The International Corpus of English” and I haven’t checked all features of the webpage but I’ve found some interesting features. I like that it provides links for online newspapers like: “The Times”, “The Guardian” and “The Independent”. The Times has articles from several fields of interested like: Weather, Politics, Technology, Sport, Money, and Business. ESP students will have more benefit from these articles, but I think I could use this is my classroom, too. My courses are designed around lexical content, so I would use some of the articles for appropriate lessons. For example I would use weather article from the page for my weather lesson. Students will benefit from it since they would use authentic language. These kinds of articles could be used for pre-lesson activity or final stage activity. In the first step of the lesson, I would use an article to introduce the new vocabulary items, and for the final steps I would use the context of the article for gap-filling activities.
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ReplyDeleteI’ve checked only the VLC corpora and I agree with my colleagues that this is very helpful not only for the students in class but also for us as teachers. I would love to use corpora because I think my students would enjoy working with and have fun and feel motivated. A VCL is good because it has got different kinds of games and exercises and also explanations of all levels of English which according to the material that I teach can be used very easily at any time.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree that now day’s students might have problems using them. Most of them have computers at home and know how to use computers. The ones that might have problems can be the teacher’s especially older teachers here in Macedonia. That would be because of the lack of using computers and they are used to older methods and techniques and they are afraid of changes. It would be good to train them first and then bring computers in to classes.
Unfortunately we don’t have computers in classes in the school that I work. But I hope we will have in the near future. Despite of this I am going to use VLC to provide my self with materials and extra exercises and definitely let my students know about VLC and other corpora so they can check them on their free time.
Unfortunately in these situations there is no possibility to visit such kinds of internet addresses for advising about different and attractive ways of learning a language because first of all we do not possess computers in the classroom. Virtual Language Centre in Hong Kong I think is the best for learners how to learn second language. That’s such an attractive way of learning which will make the learners feel they are relaxing and not searching for a language expressions. First of all in front of me I found media files which means that the language is organized in form of clips where the is demonstrated what is learnt but also using songs is presented here, which means that using Virtual Language Centre gives a great importance on learner’s motivating skills playing games, listening to music, acting different dialogues having in mind developing language skills because it is true that the best and successful way of learning is the use of exercises through songs and playing games. These methods have double role, developing learners’ skills and making them feel relaxed. There are different games such as puzzles, memory games, fill letter gaps, finding the wanted things and many other games.
ReplyDeleteThe more I read my colleagues comments, the more i get convinced that inorporating corpora into ELT nowadays is a must. Our school is provided with computers which students have access to, and there are many good reasons for using them, as the following list shows:- A word-processing package removes the problem of poor handwriting that some students suffer from. - A word processing package allows the competent user to edit his or her material at great speed and with great facility. - Spellcheckers can ease the task of achieving correct spelling. - If students are working in groups, a computer screen can sometimes be far more visible to the whole group than a piece of paper might be. An important use of the computer is as the means of creating “mouse-pals”, the e-mail equivalent of pen-pals. I’ve noticed that getting my students to write e-mails in English to others around the world was extremely motivating. The communication was immediate and exciting, and well motivated my students where other letter writing failed to do so. Students react positively to computer assisted language learning, because they find revision easier, they enjoy working with the computers, and they believe that the use of word processors, invention programs, and revision aids helps to improve their language. But we should be cautios because many socially conscious educators have feared that computers will alienate learners Others have described positive social changes that occur when computers are introduced into classrooms. I have noted, for example, that classrooms with computers are buzzing with communication. The causes of these social changes, however, are not clearly related to the features of the computer hardware of software. I think that studies of student use of learning strategies in learning the language with the help of computers indicates that ESL writing students use specific coping strategies in computer-assisted instruction, but that the strategies are in many ways inadequate. One solution to this problem is, of course, teaching appropriate strategies for using computers in an ESL class. Or, as others indicate that teachers must not leave intervention solely to the computer programs; teacher feedback remains the most important part of the ESL writing class.
ReplyDeleteI checked these new programs for teaching and I must say that using corpora, integrating computers and multimedia in general in teaching is a must nowadays. The technology is definitely helping out the teaching-learning process. Unfortunately, I'm not using any of these programs but I can see how these could be helpful in my process of teaching.
ReplyDeleteOne point could be the dictionary issue, it is meaningless to say how much easier it would be to search for a word on the online dictionary of the VLC rather than looking for it in the ordinary dictionary, it is definitely more time consuming. The games are also very attractive, learners love to learn the language through games, and being evaluated for your answer so quickly is very positive, because the learners get their feedback immediately and have the chance to realise their gaps and mistakes at the same time while doing the exercise or game. They are also very well organized. I can say that if I had computers in my classroom I would definitely use one of these programmes in my teaching, and I can almost certainly say that my students would love it, especially the younger ones.