Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing
This article shows one specific object of study using Corpus Linguistics: adjectives from a corpus of academic texts from EFL students collected between 2017 and 2018 revealing a dissimilar variety compared to native speakers’ corpus in similar types of texts. This nearly half a million corpus comp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Anuario de Letras Modernas |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://revistas.filos.unam.mx/index.php/anuariodeletrasmodernas/article/view/1708 |
| _version_ | 1797421532701523968 |
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| author | Natin Guzmán Arce Jimmy Ramírez Acosta Sonia Rodríguez Salazar |
| author_facet | Natin Guzmán Arce Jimmy Ramírez Acosta Sonia Rodríguez Salazar |
| author_sort | Natin Guzmán Arce |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This article shows one specific object of study using Corpus Linguistics: adjectives from a corpus of academic texts from EFL students collected between 2017 and 2018 revealing a dissimilar variety compared to native speakers’ corpus in similar types of texts. This nearly half a million corpus comprises students’ academic writings from two English Teaching majors and one English BA from the School of Literature and Language Sciences in Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica. What the lexical unit of the study displays and what it reveals is surprisingly interesting because, as EFL teachers, we expected a more diverse and profound use of adjectives as they are an important device in academic prose. Written texts seem to reflect a fault in the teaching and learning of this skill, calling for immediate attention to the matter. The use of the concordancer AntConc© as the linguistic analysis software selected to manage the lexical categories that the researchers picked as a starting point was truly significant in the methodological process. A corpus-driven approach was followed in this initial attempt to illustrate word choice in academic writings developed in the composition courses during the time period: English Integrated I, English Integrated II, Composition, and Essay. This study was longitudinal as it involved the same students’ writings during the two years of the corpus collection. General findings also show that lexical complexity is deficient and suggest that more didactic efforts should be made to encourage the learning and acquisition of vocabulary, being the use of native speakers’ corpus one example of such strategies.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:18:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ff6ecc1d61f46fcaa44c960ac52a784 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2683-3352 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:18:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Facultad de Filosofía y Letras |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anuario de Letras Modernas |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ff6ecc1d61f46fcaa44c960ac52a7842023-12-03T08:03:18ZengUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Facultad de Filosofía y LetrasAnuario de Letras Modernas2683-33522022-05-0125110.22201/ffyl.01860526p.2022.25.1.1708Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are WritingNatin Guzmán ArceJimmy Ramírez AcostaSonia Rodríguez Salazar This article shows one specific object of study using Corpus Linguistics: adjectives from a corpus of academic texts from EFL students collected between 2017 and 2018 revealing a dissimilar variety compared to native speakers’ corpus in similar types of texts. This nearly half a million corpus comprises students’ academic writings from two English Teaching majors and one English BA from the School of Literature and Language Sciences in Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica. What the lexical unit of the study displays and what it reveals is surprisingly interesting because, as EFL teachers, we expected a more diverse and profound use of adjectives as they are an important device in academic prose. Written texts seem to reflect a fault in the teaching and learning of this skill, calling for immediate attention to the matter. The use of the concordancer AntConc© as the linguistic analysis software selected to manage the lexical categories that the researchers picked as a starting point was truly significant in the methodological process. A corpus-driven approach was followed in this initial attempt to illustrate word choice in academic writings developed in the composition courses during the time period: English Integrated I, English Integrated II, Composition, and Essay. This study was longitudinal as it involved the same students’ writings during the two years of the corpus collection. General findings also show that lexical complexity is deficient and suggest that more didactic efforts should be made to encourage the learning and acquisition of vocabulary, being the use of native speakers’ corpus one example of such strategies. http://revistas.filos.unam.mx/index.php/anuariodeletrasmodernas/article/view/1708corpora (linguistics)English language teachingacademic writinglexicologyforeign speakers |
| spellingShingle | Natin Guzmán Arce Jimmy Ramírez Acosta Sonia Rodríguez Salazar Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing Anuario de Letras Modernas corpora (linguistics) English language teaching academic writing lexicology foreign speakers |
| title | Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing |
| title_full | Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing |
| title_fullStr | Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing |
| title_short | Lexical Analysis Using Corpus Linguistics: Comprehending How EFL Students Are Writing |
| title_sort | lexical analysis using corpus linguistics comprehending how efl students are writing |
| topic | corpora (linguistics) English language teaching academic writing lexicology foreign speakers |
| url | http://revistas.filos.unam.mx/index.php/anuariodeletrasmodernas/article/view/1708 |
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