ENG26-27 – Learner Corpus Research and Language Teaching
Course name
Learner Corpus Research and Language TeachingUniversity
RUEC
5/6 ECCourse date
semester 2 (2026 - 2027)Registration open until
Location
Nijmegen (RU)Instructor(s)
Dr. Nate Vandeweerd (RU) & Dr. Sanne van Vuuren (RU)Email course coordinator
Dr. Nate Vandeweerd (RU)Course objectives
Upon completion of the course students:
- Will have a comprehensive overview of the field of learner corpus research;
- Will have an understanding of how learner corpus research can contribute to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and language teaching;
- Will be able to interpret the significance of corpus studies of vocabulary, phraseology, grammar and pragmatics for language teaching;
Will be able to design their own corpus study, selecting appropriate corpus resources and corpus linguistic techniques, and be able to show the significance of their study to L2 pedagogy.
Course content
The overarching question addressed by this course is how Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and language teaching can be informed by corpus research. It covers the origins of Learner Corpus Research (LCR) as a field and the applications of LCR for second language development and teaching. Each week will be devoted to a detailed study of one major area of research (vocabulary, phraseology, grammar and pragmatics). During the course, we will also analyze and discuss learner corpus data on the basis of a number of case studies and interpret their significance with respect to the weekly seminar topic.
Educational perspective
The course aims to provide an overview of the domain of Learner Corpus Research, its contributions to L2 acquisition research and its applications in language teaching. As such, it is a course useful for prospective teachers currently enrolled in an English language Educational Master track, but also those who like the more empirical side of English linguistics and language sciences. For those who take the course as part of their Educational Master course the final assignment can also focus on a teaching intervention based on learner corpora and learner corpus research.
Course requirements / Language proficiency
This is an English-medium course and given the target group we assume a very good to excellent command of the English language. We also assume a background knowledge in the domain of language development studies and particularly second language development studies. Having done at least one course on this topic will render the course content much easier to follow. Prior experience with learner corpora is not an entry requirement for the course.
Format
Seminars (7x2h);
First and last session in-person, following sessions online.
Exam
| Research proposal 100%
Student presentation 0% corpus study presentation is mandatory but not graded Although the research proposal is the sole mark for this course, students also present so-called case studies (that is, research papers reporting empirical work done on the basis of learner corpora relevant for that week’s topic). Although not formally assessed, the presentations are mandatory. Presentations can be done in pairs or by a single student. |
Students following the 6 EC version of the course must (additionally) include one (1) of the following elements, in their research proposal either:
- the results of a pilot study in which they carry out the proposed study and analyze the results or;
- a corpus-informed lesson plan and teaching materials based on the topic of the research proposal.
Study load
• 14 contact hours (7 lectures of 2 hours)
• 14 hours lecture preparation
• 6 hours presentation preparation
• 106 hours (preparation) final assignment
Schedule
Friday mornings 10:30 – 12:30
Data on campus: 19 February, 9 April
Data online:
– 26 February
– 5 March
– 12 March
– 19 March
– 2 April
No lecture on 12 Feb. due to Carnaval
Background literature and course materials
Literature will be made available on Moodle.