Data-driven Learning Support for Academic English Writing
This seminar has already occured, watch recording below or view here.
Speaker: Ana Frankenberg-Garcia (PhD in Applied Linguistics, Edinburgh) is a Reader in Translation Studies and Programme Leader of the MA in Translation at the University of Surrey.
Her research focuses on corpus applications in lexicography, assisted writing and translation. Ana has worked as Principal Investigator of the ColloCaid project, Project Leader of the COMPARA parallel corpus, Chief Editor of the bilingual Oxford Portuguese Dictionary, and UK partner in the Supporting the Internationalization of Brazilian Research project. She has recently co-edited a volume on Corpora in ESP/EAP Writing Instruction published by Routledge, and some of her latest work includes open-access journal articles available from ReCALL, Language Teaching, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, International Journal of Lexicography and Target.
Title: Data-driven Learning Support for Academic English Writing
Abstract: Researchers and students with less practice of writing about their work in English may struggle to recall collocations, i.e., word combinations that make their texts sound fluent and idiomatic. Low collocation proficiency can have a negative impact on the readability of student essays, dissertations and theses, and on manuscripts submitted for scholarly publication. Despite the existence of excellent resources that can be consulted to check how words combine in academic English – for example, dictionaries, corpora and certain online tools – users of academic English may be unaware of where or how to look up collocations, or they may simply not realize that their lexical choices could be improved. Moreover, it can be disruptive to stop writing to check a collocation, especially during cognitively demanding tasks such as academic writing.
In response to these challenges, we have developed ColloCaid, a text editor that enables users to access academic English collocation suggestions as they write. ColloCaid enhances autonomous data-driven learning by nudging writers to consult carefully curated academic English collocation prompts and concordances showing how to use those collocations in context. It can help academic writers convey their intended meanings more effectively, it can enhance the vocabulary and fluency of their emerging texts, and it can help them expand their collocation repertoire.
In this webinar, I will demonstrate how ColloCaid works and the research behind it. ColloCaid is free to use and can be accessed at https://www.collocaid.uk/.
Acknowledgements
ColloCaid was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), ref. AH/P003508/1.
The seminars will take pace in the following time zones: 9pm (Brisbane), 8am (Sao Paulo), 11am (UK)
About International Perspectives on Corpus Technology for Language Learning - Seminar Series
Given the challenges to language education posed by COVID-19, increasing collaborative development in online pedagogies and resources ensures continuity of language education throughout the pandemic, while preparing students to succeed in an uncertain post-COVID-19 world. This seminar series is a global initiative spanning multiple time zones, with participants from Brazil, the UK, the USA, France, Poland and Australia, discussing the latest applications of language corpora for (language) learning. Topics include the use of corpora for language education, corpus pragmatics, text analytics for classroom use, data-driven learning, and much more, with a range of famous international speakers.
If you would like to present or have any queries about the CORPUS Seminar series, please contact Peter Crosthwaite.
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The seminars will take place in the following time zones: 9pm (Brisbane), 8am (Sao Paulo), 11am (UK)
