Nina Vyatkina

The University of Kansas

Corpus-based approaches to instructed second language acquisition 


In my talk I will focus on the interfaces between Data-Driven Learning (DDL) and Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA). ISLA is a subdomain of SLA that investigates how the systematic manipulation of the mechanisms or conditions of learning enables or facilitates L2 development (Loewen, 2015). In turn, DDL appears to be largely a subdomain of ISLA based on its definition as research into the effectiveness of using the tools and techniques of corpus linguistics for second language learning and use (Boulton & Cobb, 2017). Although the two disciplines have been developing mostly tangentially since their emergence about thirty years ago, a number of recent DDL studies have been explicitly situated within specific theoretical and methodological frameworks of ISLA. In particular, DDL has been shown to be compatible with usage-based SLA theories, the noticing hypothesis, form-focused instruction, and inductive teaching methods. I will review this research and summarize what corpus-based methods and tools have been found effective for the acquisition of different linguistic targets (e.g., L2 vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics) and aspects of L2 knowledge (depth and breadth, reception and production), as well as for the development of learner autonomy.