How research on language can help all educators.

I CREAMS 2015

Transcript

1. How Research on Language Can Help All Researchers Professor Dr. Leslie Barratt Rajabhat Roi-Et University
2. Language Research • How do people learn language? • How do languages work (inside the brain, mouth, etc.)? • How do languages differ? • How do languages change? • How do languages vary among speakers?
3. Common Types of Language Research Survey Interview, self-report, and focus group Case study Experiment Observation Text/speech analysis Corpus study
4. Corpus Research Corpus – a sample of authentic text (written or spoken) – plural = corpora Largest English Corpora • GloWbE - Corpus of Global Web-based English – 1.9 billion words (20 countries) • COCA – Corpus of Contemporary American English – 450 million words • BNC – British National Corpus -100 million words
5. Using Corpora for Language research Myth #1 English Comparatives use –er for 1- or 2-syllable adjectives use more for 3-syllable adjectives NO –fairer and more fair exist at least from 1700s Myth #2 They/them/their cannot be used as third person singular pronouns NO - the student transforms the inert information passed to them (Dewey 1916).
6. Using Corpora for Other Disciplines 1. Precise word meanings and usage 2. Appropriateness for academic writing 3. Usage of word outside of scholar’s country
7. What does doctored mean?
8. The meaning of doctored COCA – 19 “TID then doctored the confession to make it look like Tissainayagam was on the LTTE's payroll.” “Coalition website displays a doctored photograph of…” doctored version; image(s), photos, photograph, pieces, voter rolls, blood, bundles, excerpts, record, copies, lists, sugar = altered/changed version (usually for wrongdoing or misrepresentation)
9. In contrast versus On the contrary COCA total Use In contrast 10,410 Shows difference between X and Y On the contrary 2,361 Y shows rejection/contradiction of X
10. In contrast examples 1. After all, the countries most committed to the traditional family, such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, have the lowest birthrates. Countries with high birthrates, in contrast, usually also have large numbers of children born out of wedlock. 2. Turkish women have lost ground in economic life: Only 22 percent sought employment in 2009, down from more than 34 percent in 1988. In contrast, 54 percent of South Korean women work.
11. On the contrary examples 1. Unlike the Neurosurgery offices, it wasn't lavishly decorated. On the contrary, the carpet was worn in spots, and some of the seats creaked… 2. Your teeth also yellow with age but that doesn't mean they're not healthy. On the contrary, ultra white teeth could be bad…
12. How to choose appropriately formal words
13. unusual or weird COCA total COCA academic unusual 18,245 4,770 (26%) weird 9,000 612 (6.8%)
14. kids versus children Which is more accepted in academic writing? COCA total COCA Academic child 360,478 111,063 kid 111,375 584
15. dust bin – waste paper basket https://www.google.com/trends dust bin waste paper basket
16. garbage can – trash can – rubbish bin garbage can trash can rubbish bin
17. Summary of Geographic Variation • Dust bin – India, UK, (US) • Waste paper basket – UK, US • Garbage can –Canada, US, Philippines, Australia, (India, UK) • Rubbish bin – New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, (UK, Malaysia) • Trash can – US, Philippines, Canada, (New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, UK)
18. Using Google Trends for new words
19. Where people say handy drive
20. Where people say pen drive
21. Using corpora to see if word is used outside Thailand - Freshy = 3 in COCA; 16 in GloWbE Freshman =8,803 in COCA total 1,281 in COCA academic texts 7,187 in GloWbE
22. Conclusion What you might use a language corpus for • meanings • differences between two words or phrases • formal or academic use • geographic limitations
23. Thank you ขอบคุณค่ะ ຂອບ​ ໃຈ Cám ón Terima kasih សូមអរគុណអនក
24. Resources Bennett, Gina (2010). Using corpora in the language classroom: Corpus linguistics for teachers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Coxhead, Averil (2000) Academic Word List. Retrieved at http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academic wordlist/ Davies, Mark Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) retrieved from http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
25. Resources Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education. New York: MacMillan. Google Trends https://www.google.com/trends/explore#cmpt=q& tz=Etc%2FGMT-7 Southeast Asian Languages (SEAlang) Library retrieved from http://sealang.net/library/ SEAlang Thai corpus retireved from http://sealang.net/thai/corpus.htm