Corpus-based Activities for Logical Connectors

Lilian Wagih Farag Allah, Egypt

Lilian Wagih Farag Allah has been an English teacher for 15 years in different disciplines. She has an MA TEFL from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Her expertise is very varied, with special interest in teaching writing and integrating technology in teaching. E-mail:lilian.mina@gmail.com

Menu

Introduction
Method
Rationale
Procedures
DDL activity for the overuse of therefore
DDL activity for the underuse of however in medial position
DDL activity for the misuse of Punctuation marks with however in medial position
Worksheets 1-3
References

Introduction

Brining corpora to the classroom can take a variety of forms according to the level of students and the purpose of using these corpora. While some researchers suggested using raw corpora in class, allowing students to examine them for specific patterns or features themselves (Dodd, as cited in Hunston, 2002), others encouraged the use of Data-driven Learning, DDL, supported by guidance from the teacher (Bernardini, 2004; Hunston, 2002; Nesselhauf, 2004). DDL means giving students opportunities to see for themselves how language is actually used by native speakers through corpus-based evidence. DDL relies in much of its rationale on work done in second language acquisition (SLA) because it is mainly an activity of raising awareness, or what is known as 'noticing' in SLA (Hunston, 2002).

Method

Nesselhauf (2004) suggests a 3-step method of introducing DDL in the classroom: preparing the corpus-based evidence by the teacher, examining data by students, and practicing the target feature. This is the approach used in these activities as there is a need to draw students' attention to some very specific points and features in the use of two logical connectors: however and therefore. Leaving the students to carry out their own agenda in examining a raw corpus may possibly distract them from the main purpose of using the corpus. The specific points of interest might thus go unnoticed by the students. For these reasons, these DDL activities were designed to help students recognize their own problems as well as a way to overcome them.

The activities were designed using a native speaker corpus, FROWN, and a learner corpus made of 27 argumentative essays. Analyzing the learner corpus gives more accurate indications about students’ problems. The analysis resulted in identifying three problems: overuse of therefore at the expense of other connectors of the same type, underuse of however in medial position and misuse of punctuation marks with however in medial position.

Rationale

According to Nesselhauf (2004), the learner corpus-based evidence functions as the negative evidence learners need before receiving the positive evidence from the native corpus-based evidence. It is also argued that learners become more autonomous as they detect (with some guidance from the teacher) the differences between their language and the native speakers’. This is more likely to sensitize them to other differences later, which is a crucial step in their language acquisition and learning.

Procedures

The first step was to decide the type of activities suitable to address each of the aforementioned problems. For the overuse of therefore at the expense of other LCs of the same type, the students will be provided with concordance lines from Frown. These concordance lines will show them other LCs that they can use in place of therefore so that their papers are more native-like.

As for the underuse of however in medial position, the students will examine corpus-based evidence of the use of however in Frown to realize where in the sentence it is used more often. This will guide them, along with the detailed instructions and questions the teacher will provide, with knowledge about not only the position, but also the correct punctuation marks associated with the medial position of however.

Then comes editing the concordance lines from Frown as the second step. This is crucial to help students focus on the target features only. It is equally important not to give students sentences that they will struggle understanding what they mean as this will deteriorate the effect of corpus use.

DDL activity for the overuse of therefore

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students will be able to

• notice other causative logical connectors that native speakers use in their academic writing
• modify their own drafts based on their findings in this activity

Procedure

For the edited concordance lines from Frown, the instructions are as follows:

1. Read the texts below.
2. What, do you think, is the relation between sentences in each text?
3. How do writers of these situations connect their ideas together?
4. What connectors do the writers use? Make a list

This will be followed by concordance lines from the learner corpus. The instructions will be the same. After students finish examining the concordance lines, there will be extra guiding questions to help them compare and notice the differences:

Now discuss your findings with your partners. Is there only one way to show cause and result between sentences? How can this help you improve your drafts?

DDL activity for the underuse of however in medial position

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

1. notice the frequency of using however in medial position in native speakers' writing
2. compare this frequency with the frequency in their own writing
3. modify their drafts to be more native-like in terms of the use of however

Procedure

For the concordance lines from Frown and the learner corpus, the instructions are as follows:

1. Underline the connector 'however' in the following texts.
2. Where does each appear in the text: at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end? Record the number of each.
3. Afterwards, students will be asked to compare the two lists of frequencies and report their findings and inferences to the rest of class.

DDL activity for the misuse of Punctuation marks with however in medial position

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

1. recognize the correct punctuation marks patterns associated with however in medial position
2. correct the punctuation marks in their own papers

Procedure

For examples from Frown, the instructions are:

1. Underline the word 'however' in the following sentences
2. What punctuation marks are used with each one?

Then, students will be asked to look at their own drafts:

3. Now, look at your own drafts and find all instances of however. Are you using the same punctuation mark patterns? If not, how can you make them better?

Worksheets 1-3

Worksheet 1

Procedure

1. Read the texts below.
2. What, do you think, is the relation between sentences in each text?
3. How do writers of these situations connect their ideas together?
4. What connectors do the writers use? Make a list

• Although he was slightly scornful of the group and eventually decided not to show with them, at that point he wanted to and as a result planned to remain in Paris at least until May.
• In the legitimate forms of sports, one can lose. Also, many forms of available sports are supervised by adults and hence do not fit well with the emphases of the adolescent subculture.
• Money for modifications and maintenance can then be effectively directed, resulting in real safety improvements. As a result, today's plants, even older ones, pose less risk than the plant used in the Reactor Safety Study.
• Some Republican senators said they had advised Bush not to sign or veto the cable legislation but instead let it go into law without his signature, thus avoiding the high-profile veto fight.
• They quickly learn the importance of intelligent information gathering and manipulation and, as a result, information systems are the lifeblood of these professions.
• To describe the boys as "more forceful" in pursuing their own agenda is ambiguous as well as politically loaded. It is ambiguous because forceful means both 'effective' as well as "overpowering ... using force." It is political because it implies that girls are not as effective as boys in conflict situations; hence, girls are not good at verbally managing conflict, at furthering their own interests when opposed by someone. It is also a political conclusion because it values and emphasizes a masculine mode of brute force over a feminine mode of conflict mitigation.
• When the state supreme court spoke on the issue over the course of the nineteenth century, Connecticut citizens heard and understood but did not absorb its judgments. Thus conflicting views of towns' rights continue to endure side by side,
• You know: This or that program or regulation will make us healthier or smarter or better behaved, and therefore will make us more productive, so economic growth will increase and so will revenues, and thus everything will "pay for itself."

Now look at the following texts and follow the same instructions.

• The amendments, therefore, require people’s support instead of their criticism
• As a whole, the disadvantages of the revisions greatly outweigh the advantages and therefore the package should not be passed.
• With such a power the president can select his supporters to ensure the outcome an election goes as desired, making fair elections almost impossible to exist. Therefore, the president of Egypt can control the country as a dictator legally
• Another major logical fallacy that is observant is the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy which is an “after this, therefore caused by this” fallacy.

Now discuss your findings with your partners. Is there only one way to show cause and result between sentences? How can this help you improve your drafts?

Worksheet 2: DDL activity for the underuse of however in medial position

Procedure

1. Underline the connector 'however' in the following texts.
2. Where does each appear in the text: at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end? Record the number of each.

• And drug arrests played a role in the city's decision to close down Sugars altogether. However, the owner, Mr. Bishop, said the arrests didn't lead to any convictions.
• ARAC was charged with the task of identifying 3 percent of each college's budget for Reallocation; however, Norris said the committee's report is already dated.
• As the rest of the exhibition shows, however, it was not so easy to break the patterns of convention - even for a surrealist.
• In 1848, however, the Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor, running as a Whig, was elected President, and when he assumed office in 1849 Hawthorne was replaced.
• Most of the Vineyard's renowned beaches are open only to town residents. Hotel guests, however, get local beach privileges.
• Shorenstein, who is leading the effort, declined further comment. However, a source close to the negotiations said investors had reached an accord to present to Major League Baseball by week's end.
• They are mostly technical measures, such as changing the way securities dealers calculate their inventory to bring in more tax revenues. In this campaign, however, Bush has made an issue out of saying that anything that brings in more money to the government is a tax increase.
• Today, however, the wage-earner is as expendable to the capitalist as any other piece of equipment.

Now follow the same instructions for the following texts

• These terms disable the Muslim Brotherhood from interfering in the elections as they don’t apply to the rule. However, there are some negative view points which should have to be considered
• They must adhere to the citizens’ desires more so than before in order to receive their vote. However, this will not matter because the president has the power to appoint officials to monitor
• Neusener tried to critic students, professors and system hoping that this would help them to improve and present a better educational level. However, Neusener failed in conveying his message effectively as he had some major weaknesses
• He could find statistics from other studies that would apply to the situation. However, his inability to provide any form of evidence throughout the text continually damages the persuasiveness of the article.

Now compare the numbers. What can you conclude from these numbers? Report to the rest of the class

Worksheet 3: DDL activity for the misuse of punctuation marks with however in medial position

Procedure

1. Underline the word 'however' in the following sentences.
2. What punctuation marks are used with each one?

• ARAC was charged with the task of identifying 3 percent of each college's budget for Reallocation; however, Norris said the committee's report is already dated.
• As the rest of the exhibition shows, however, it was not so easy to break the patterns of convention - even for a surrealist.
• In 1848, however, the Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor, running as a Whig, was elected President, and when he assumed office in 1849 Hawthorne was replaced.
• Most of the Vineyard's renowned beaches are open only to town residents. Hotel guests, however, get local beach privileges.

Now, look at your own drafts and find all instances of however. Are you using the same punctuation mark patterns? If not, how can you make them better?

References

Bernardini, S. (2004). Corpora in the classroom: An overview and some reflections on future developments. In J. Sinclair (Ed.), How to use corpora in second language teaching [Electronic version]. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nesselhauf, N. (2004). Learner corpora and their potential for language teaching. In J. Sinclair (Ed.), How to use corpora in second language teaching [Electronic version]. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Please check the What’s New in Language Teaching course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.