- INTRODUCTION
- CORPUS & CONCORDANCE IN LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE LEARNING
- READING RESEARCH
- LEARNING RESEARCH: MECHANISMS OF TRANSFER.
- LEXICAL TUTORING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
- SUBJECTS AND NEEDS
- CALL AT SQU
- PET·200: DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
- LEARNING EFFECTS OF PET·200
- PET·2000: CORPUS, ARCHITECTURE, INTERFACE
- PET·2000: IMPLEMENTATION.
- LEARNING EFFECTS OF PET·2000
- ONGOING WORK & PROSPECTIVE .
- CONCLUSION
- REFERENCES
Hands-on concordancing is often described as the future of computer assisted language learning, but first there are two problems. Its benefits have been hard to validate empirically, and it is conceived for advanced learners while the majority receiving formal language instruction are intermediate. This study describes the adaptation of concordance technology to lexical expansion, the development of a suitable interface (a concordance-based lexical tutor), and its testing with intermediate university students in Oman. The tutor exposes learners to 2400 words over two terms, the basic high-frequency words of English. The learners are lexicographers using the concordance to make a dictionary, deciding which words to include (metacognition) and searching for clear example sentences (multicontextual exposure and negotiated input). Results from use of the tutor are strong. Used as directed it replicates features of incidental learning from natural exposure but in a much compressed time frame.
I would like to thank my advisor, Steven Shaw, the members of my committee,
Richard Schmid and Dennis Dicks, and my external examiners, Patsy Lightbown
and Paul Meara, for their help in inspiring and producing this document.
Special thanks to Marlise Horst for patient co-editing and tireless quiz-writing;
and to colleagues and administration at Sultan Qaboos University in the
Sultanate of Oman for the cooperation and resources that made this study
possible.