Exploiting Third Language Production Corpora for Pedagogical Purposes
Abstract
Investigating bilingual learners’ learning third language (L3) can be a daunting task for teachers, in the extent of individual differences. However, by documenting learners’ L3 production in a corpus file format, certain analysis can be imparted more easily to examine every possible aspect that is at play during learning process. More specifically, when having a big size of natural speech data, teachers will have loads of empirical evidence of their learners’ language to conduct a variety of scientific exploration on stages of language development, the argument we borrow from O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter (2007). A corpus of this kind is particularly useful for teachers in developing teaching-oriented corpora and for learners in having a direct contact to the corpus data or so-called ‘data-driven learning’ (Timmis, 2015). Our current paper, therefore, focuses on the exploitation of a learner corpus in the teaching and learning of third language in Indonesian context. Our corpus was built within the seven months of the main author’s dissertation fieldwork conducted to the 261 students of grade 3 of six primary schools in East Java that has enriched the previous limited corpus of CBLING (Corpus of Bilingual Language). Collected through a variety of experimental tasks, these corpora compiled the English and Javanese L3 written production. The findings suggest that our learner corpora can be exploited for pedagogical purposes such as to provide learners with primary linguistic resources and authentic materials, to supply teachers with empirical evidence of common language errors and interlanguage performance as to enable them to monitor learners’ L3 acquisition and development, to help teachers construct a more relevant lesson plan, to evaluate existing teaching materials, and so forth. In this way, we aim at promoting an innovative teaching and learning through ‘big data’ exploitation. In the realm of individual differences, the investigation of bilingual learners learning the third language (L3) can be a daunting task for teachers. However, by documenting their L3 production, an analysis that examines every possible aspect that is at play during the learning process can be conducted more easily. More specifically, when having a big size of natural speech data, teachers will have bundles of evidence of their learners’ acquisition necessary to conduct scientific exploration on stages of language development. This is the argument borrowed from McCarthy and O’Keeffe (2010) who refer to the extensive use of CHILDES Language Database as first language research resources dating back as early as the 1960s. A corpus of this kind is especially useful for teachers in developing teaching-oriented corpora and for learners in having a direct contact with the corpus data or so-called ‘data-driven learning’. In this study, our corpus was built during a seven-month dissertation fieldwork involving 261 students of Grade 3 of six Primary Schools in East Java. It compiled the English and Javanese L3 written production of all six schools and the English and Javanese L3 spoken production of two schools collected through a variety of experimental tasks. The findings suggest that learner corpora can be exploited for pedagogical practices such as to provide learners with primary linguistic resources and authentic materials, to supply teachers with empirical evidence of common language errors and interlanguage performance as to enable them to monitor learners’ L3 acquisition and development, and to help teachers construct a more relevant lesson plan. This way, we aim to not only promote an innovative teaching and learning through a ‘big data’ exploitation but also elevate the interface of research and practice.
Keywords: learner corpora, L3 production, pedagogical practices
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