Learner construction of corpora for general English in Taiwan
This exploratory study describes a framework for data-driven learning (DDL), inGeneral (non-major) English university classes, in which learners construct linguistic corpora instead of merely consulting them. Prior related work has addressed the needs of language specialists, in particular trainee translators who are learning how to compile glossaries, rather than non-major students of English. It is argued in this article that the process of creating a corpus inculcates a sense of ownership in the learner and therefore has a motivational impetus. This is especially true, it is claimed here, when the topic of the corpus is of personal interest to the learner, or coincides with their major field of study. Learners may pursue language study for only a short period of their university career, but once the corpus is constructed, some students may be sufficiently motivated to consult it and add to it when needed. Moreover, the process of compiling the corpus may lead to the acquisition of not only language but...