Corpus-aided language pedagogy : the use of concordance lines in vocabulary instruction

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of the use of a concordance software and concordance lines as a pedagogical tool to learn the target vocabulary of a text book. The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of corpus-aided vocabulary instruction with traditional vocabulary teaching methods. This study also examined the extent to which students used the target vocabulary in paragraph writing exercises. Students’ perception as to the use of concordance lines in their vocabulary learning was explored as well. Eighty-two students from four intermediate level EFL classes at Karadeniz Technical University School of Foreign Languages participated in the study. The quantitative data were collected through the administration of three tests, three writing assignments and a student questionnaire. The statistical analysis of the test results revealed that results revealed that using concordance lines in vocabulary instruction was more effective and yielded higher scores when compared to traditional vocabulary instruction with the text book. Additionally, it was found that using concordance lines in learning the target vocabulary produced similar results when compared to using a text book in less controlled paragraph writing exercises. The analysis of the student questionnaire showed that the students had positive perception about using concordance lines in learning English vocabulary. Key words: Corpus-aided language pedagogy, corpus-based approach, concordance lines, concordance software, vocabulary instruction, English vocabulary learning.