scholarly journals Constructing a Collocation Learning System from the Wikipedia Corpus

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Ian H. Witten ◽  
Alex Yu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Syntactic Pattern ◽  
Related Text

The importance of collocations for success in language learning is widely recognized. Concordancers, originally designed for linguists, are among the most popular tools for students to obtain, organize, and study collocations derived from corpora. This paper describes the design and development of a collocation learning system that is built from Wikipedia text and provides language learners with an easy-to-use interface for looking up collocations of any word that occurs in Wikipedia. The use of this corpus exposes learners to contemporary, content-related text, and enables them to search for semantically related words for a given topic. The system organizes collocations by syntactic pattern, sorts them by frequency, and links them to their original context. The paper includes a practical user guide to illustrate how to use the system as a language aid to facilitate academic writing.

scholarly journals Constructing a Collocation Learning System From the Wikipedia Corpus

2019 ◽  
pp. 1018-1037
Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Ian H. Witten ◽  
Alex Yu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Syntactic Pattern ◽  
Related Text

The importance of collocations for success in language learning is widely recognized. Concordancers, originally designed for linguists, are among the most popular tools for students to obtain, organize, and study collocations derived from corpora. This paper describes the design and development of a collocation learning system that is built from Wikipedia text and provides language learners with an easy-to-use interface for looking up collocations of any word that occurs in Wikipedia. The use of this corpus exposes learners to contemporary, content-related text, and enables them to search for semantically related words for a given topic. The system organizes collocations by syntactic pattern, sorts them by frequency, and links them to their original context. The paper includes a practical user guide to illustrate how to use the system as a language aid to facilitate academic writing.

scholarly journals Re-orienting CALL through the lens of complexity theory

2019 ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Godwin-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
The People

Complexity Theory (CT) provides a useful framework for understanding Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Using an ecological model, CT studies the dynamic processes of change and emergent outcomes over time, tracing back how trajectories may have been affected by changes in and interactions among multiple variables and subsystems. Language learners do not follow linear learning paths, but rather their progress depends on a variety of interlocking variables. Developmental trajectories will look different for each learner. That is particularly the case for informal language learning, in which learners co-adapt from a wide variety of resources, leading to divergent outcomes (Godwin-Jones, 2018a). A CT approach emphasizes the dynamics of the interplay between learner variables and the people, artifacts, and services constituting the L2 learning system. It aligns well with usage-based linguistics. Viewing language learning from a CT perspective has a number of consequences for Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research, explored here.

scholarly journals AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN ACADEMIC WRITING

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Restu Winarsih ◽  
Urai Salam ◽  
Dwi Riyanti
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Language Learning Strategies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
English Academic Writing

This research was aimed to investigate students’ writing strategies in enhancing their English academic writing skills. This case study interviewed two students from English Department to reveal students’ strategies in academic writing. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and document reviews. The findings showed that the two students who categorized as good language learners in writing skills employed all five writing strategies as proposed by Mu (2005) in their writing process. The data showed that metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies were used most by the students. The strategies were organizing strategies, resourcing, setting goals, reviewing and editing, and avoidance strategies. The data also indicated that the two students were not achieving the goal of learning instantly. They employed strategies effectively in their individual learning in enhancing their writing skills.

A Systematic Review of Using Discipline-Specific Corpora for Lexico-Grammatical Pattern Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Ian Witten ◽  
Alex Yu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pattern Learning ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Program

This article reports on a language learning system and a program designed to help students with academic vocabulary in the New Zealand university computer science department. The system is a learner-friendly corpus-based tool that allows students to look up lexico-grammatical patterns of a given word in academic writing. The program, based on a data-driven learning approach, comprises tutorials, workshops, and follow-up exercises that help students learn useful formulaic patterns of academic words that are typical in computer science. The authors' results capture students' awareness of language patterns in academic text and their growing confidence in using academic words with the assistance of the tool. Not surprisingly, interpreting and transferring the corpus data into students' own writing requires training and practice. The effectiveness and limitations of the resources and tools used in this learning program are examined, and suggestions are made for further improvement and future research.

Student approaches and attitudes towards writing in German as a foreign language, using corpus-linguistic tools

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Gwyndolen J. Ortner ◽  
Undine S. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
German Studies ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Corpus Tools

Linguistic researchers are optimistic about what corpora can offer language learners; however, very little empirical assessment of the direct use of corpus tools is reported on in context, especially for languages other than English. One method of assessing the effectiveness and value of corpus tools is by collecting students’ experiences of using them and establishing if they perceive benefits through using corpus tools. Following a qualitative questionnaire which examined student approaches to writing in German as a  foreign language, and a quantitative analysis of their writing, a writing module was designed and instituted at Rhodes University for third-year German Studies students. The writing module made use of both indirect (paper-based) and direct (computer-based) corpus-based methods to teach everyday academic vocabulary and formulaic expressions, based on materials developed for the WHiG project in the UK. This study presents an overview of the students’ attitudes and perspectives (as recorded in questionnaires and interviews), in order to give voice to the qualitative and subjective dimension of foreign language learning, which is often neglected in corpus-based studies. The participating students perceived an improvement in their writing through a changed approach to researching and using everyday academic German. Keywords: German as a foreign language; student perceptions; teaching with corpora; everyday academic language; Deutsch als alltägliche Wissenschaftssprache; academic writing; students as co-creators of teaching materials.

scholarly journals Second Language Learners’ Family Background and Their English Writing Competence: The Case of a Private Tertiary Institution in Ghana

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Edward Owusu ◽  
John Agor ◽  
Evershed Kwasi Amuzu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Tertiary Institution ◽  
Writing Competence ◽  
At Home

<p><em>This work assesses the effects of</em><em> </em><em>family background of second language learners on their academic writing competence in English. A cursory</em><em> </em><em>study of some examination scripts of first-year students reveals some poor writing skills of students in areas such as concord, spelling, capitalization, and fragmentation errors.30 participants were selected from a class of 121 students</em><em> </em><em>from the Ghana Baptist University College, a private</em><em> </em><em>institution in Kumasi, Ghana. Initially, the class of 121 was sorted out into three groups—those who said they used only English at home, those who said they used only Ghanaian language(s) at home, and those who said they used both English and Ghanaian language(s) at home. Each group was further divided along gender lines and 5 students from each of the 6 sub-groups were picked randomly. The participants</em><em> </em><em>were then made to write a sit-in assessment on a topic and were graded by an independent assessor. The findings of the study reveal that the performance of the bilingual English and</em><em> </em><em>Ghanaian language learners outweighed those of their contemporaries. The study also revealed a positive correlation between attitudes of parents about English and learners’ academic writing skills. These have pedagogical and theoretical implications for the teaching and learning of English as a second language in Ghana. Language proficiency involves the development of skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All these four aspects of language development are equally vital in the language learning process, but the current paper focuses on the development of writing skills by second language learners of English in Ghana.</em></p><p><em><br /></em><em></em></p>

scholarly journals Pre-Service Teachers’ Views on the Implementation of Game-Based Learning for Academic Writing Skills

Sains Insani ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Nur Yasmin Khairani Zakaria ◽  
Melor Md Yunus ◽  
Harwati Hashim ◽  
Norazah Mohd Nordin ◽  
Helmi Norman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Classroom Learning ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Writing Instructors

Implementation of game-based learning has been perceived by educators as a means to enhance effective classroom learning. Aspects in games have been identified to motivate learners to actively engage throughout the learning as it provides a fun, engaging, and rewarding experience for the learners. Despite the widespread of games implementation in classroom learning, limited exposure has been noted in the context of language learning particularly in ESL classrooms. In regard to the aforementioned situation, the current study aims to discover the implementation of game-based learning in the context of language learning. Research related to writing skills found to be limited in nature; therefore, the current study has discovered a need to further investigate the implementation of game-based learning in writing classrooms. In this study, a total of 32 pre-service teachers have participated in a survey conducted to discover their views on the implementation of games in a writing classroom. Data were analyzed quantitatively using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) by evaluating the mean value of the findings. The analysis from the data obtained showed that these students responded positively to the use of games in the writing classroom. The students also believed that engagement among peers in the classroom appeared to be less threatening; therefore, knowledge transfer became naturally favorable throughout the pedagogical process. These results implied a useful insight for writing instructors to further equip language learners with the use of games in classroom learning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document