Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to determine whether corpora can be used to teach specialized academic language in a similar way for L1 and L2 target groups. We conducted an experimental study where we compare the results of the same corpus teaching intervention in L1 (Romanian) and L2 (English for Specific Academic Purposes) courses at the West University of Timisoara in Romania. Corpora were used as teaching method (through frequency and concordance exercises) and self-directed learning resources (consultation of learner, expert and native speaker corpora) in two courses: (a) a compulsory course of Romanian language for undergraduate students of Philology and (b) a compulsory English for Specific Academic Purposes course for undergraduate students of Geography. The results of a corpus-consultation satisfaction survey also informed our investigation. The analyses of students’ written texts before and after corpus-consultation sessions indicate that corpus-guided exercises are equally effective for both language groups, leading to considerable improvement of students’ writing in terms of specialized language: phraseology, register and discipline-specific terminology. However, the exercises need to be tailored to the language of the course and the language profile of the students.
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Bercuci, L., Pop, AM., Chitez, M., Dincă, A. (2021). Navigating Corpora for Self-Directed LSP Writing: A Comparative Study of Digital Method and Resource Integration in L1 Versus L2 Language Courses. In: Escobar, L., Ibáñez Moreno, A. (eds) Mediating Specialized Knowledge and L2 Abilities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87476-6_14
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