CONCORDANCING  IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

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CONTENTS

1. What is a concordancer?
2. Monoconc - our choice
3. Sample task tour, voyage, trip, journey, travel.

4. Concordance-based exercises.
5. Further reference and links to relevant websites.

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1. What is a concordancer?

As far as tools for data and information processing and data-driven learning are concerned,  concordancing tools are probably the most widely usable tools if this kind used in language learning. These tools represent a special kind of application as their use does not necessarily require the use of computers with the learners themselves. Rather, it is more feasable to create innovative worksheets to be discussed in class with the use of computers rather than have learners, particularly at lower levels,  use the software hands-on. Both uses have been described in great detail in a book on the subject of concordancers in language learning by Chris Tribble [Tribble, Chris (1989): Using concordances in  the language classroom. Longman]

A concordancer is basically a tool that allows for "researching the company that words keep" (Tim Johns) and try to discover the language from that angle. Oxford University Press MicroConcord, Longman's MiniConcordancer, or MonoConc provide access to any electronic text, i.e. a text available on the computer or from a CD-ROM based corpus or database and search for the occurance of particular words or structures or combination of words (e.g. verbs and prepositions). These are then listed in one-line contexts.

who, which, that

...ls laid-back approach: Roland Franklin,
...  <p> SLOW developer; confusing thinker
...which would have allowed BIIBA members,
...ra, as the regulatory body of middlemen
...ce borrowings to a consortium of banks,
... head of Pembridge Investments, through
...ike the value of the DRG properties, or 
...h securities market, announced in 1983,
... years he had met very few institutions
... from an agreement made on 18 September
...e merchant bank where he was a director
...responsible for the `casino atmosphere" 
...for his backers. In a takeover campaign
...lic language, he responds to the charge
...s friends by saying: `Nobody could take 

who
who
who
who
who
which
which
which
which
which
that
that
that
that
that

is leading a 697m pound break-up bid fo...
is liable to cause controversy and conf...
held existing professional indemnity co...
sell investment and insurance products,...
aquired 61 per cent of GPG after the c...
the bid is being mounted says, `rule nu...
part of the DRG business he would keep ...
were to lead to Big Bang. There were th...
had not cut back their system budgets f...
would have allowed BIIBA members, who h...
was rescued by the Bank of England. He ...
gripped US corporate life in the early ...
has already seen vitriolic language, he...
he is mounting the bid to enrich himsel...
as a criticism _ this is an investor gr... 

 

A concordancer is an invaluable tool for the language learner and teacher. A concordancer allows you to search for occurrences of terms in any corpus of text. Sorting on words to the right and left of the search term is possible and collocation frequencies can be calculated. A word frequency count can also be calculated. The data can be copied and pasted into a word-processor and used as the basis for a variety of language exercises.

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 2. Monoconc - our choice
Monoconc is one of the best concordancing tools. A concordancer is a tool which selects contexts for a given word or structure from a text or a text corpus.

Click here to see a screenshot of Monoconc.

An example for a Concordance list is:


which

... head of Pembridge Investments, through
...ike the value of the DRG properties, or 
  ...h securities market, announced in 1983,
... years he had met very few institutions 
.rom an agreement made on 18 September
...ers are calling the shots. For a scheme
... complicate the United Airlines buyout,
... changes that have been made at Lincat,
...announced that it was involved in talks 
 ...ment sites into the Retail Corporation, 
 ...ration within two years.    <p> Retail, 
 ... to one last week to back the sell-offs 
 staff have taken part in the buyout,     

which

the bid is being mounted says,
part of the DRG business he would keep
were to lead to Big Bang. There were ...
had not cut back their system budgets f...
would have allowed BIIBA members, 
was claimed to take independent ...
was to close a few days after the 10 Oc...
is now placed to deliver more acceptabl.. 
could lead to a bid. Its share price cl...
plans a nationwide chain of 50 garden c..
refuses to disclose the terms of the de...
will reduce borrowings to a consortium ...
we are very pleased with. It shows they.. 

 

Monoconc is good because it is an open programme. You can use any text with it. Teachers can find application for many of their ideas in all areas of learning ( vocbulary, structure etc. ).
Concordance is a pleasant programme and can be easily used by  both teachers and sdudents.
The teacher chooses the right corpus for the particular learners. He provides his students with tasks according to his teaching objective. The students work on their own, or in pairs, on authentic material or any other kind of material chosen by the teacher.

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3. Sample task.
 

   Concordance: tour, voyage, trip, journey, travel.

The following is an example of a task on vocabulary ( groups of words )The students are asked to find the difference in meaning, connotation and syntax among; the words: travel, journey, trip,voyage, tour. The teacher provides his/her students with authentic material, taken from different sources such as  newspaper articles, journals, etc.  tour

 

tour

...nal Association of Boys' Clubs and will
 ...year. His remarks, during his recent US
... never been firmer, is setting off on a
 ... remain slightly too exotic for package 
...fornia, Arizona and North Carolina. The
 ...vision before leaving on a three-nation
 ...p> Pope John Paul continues his eastern
..EXICO, halfway through its whistle-stop
...d, winding up a four-day Latin American
..ad. Next month he undertakes a European
..President, Dan Quayle, who defended his
 ...sident George Bush flew in yesterday to 

tour

run-down inner-city areas.  <sect> Busi...
, were shown only days after Pravda repr...
of the Far East on Friday. He will star...  operators in the foreseeable future.  <...
will include a look at the air force's ...
as part of Middle East peace efforts. `...
this week, arriving in Indonesia today ...
of the world's bankers, today drops in ... , expressed Europe's support for ...   
<p> The Atlantis space shuttle shou...
yesterday against claims from the... 
the Bay Area, and see damage estimated .. 



voyage

.. Rose Noelle on 1 June for a three-week
...ce probe on the first leg of a six-year 
Columbus began his fourth  
of their own single, `Bon  
chart Captain Cook's final  
Plant set off on his fatal
of the QE2's disastrous
 convinced, planned his
  Join us on this unusual  
60 passengers on each  
homeward bound from a
iberal was beginning a   
ship record for the 

voyage

to Tonga, but were reported overdue
to Jupiter this afternoon. But a fault ... 
[p] [h] How Charles pays the ,
a disco-goes-house sound full of  --
achieved the remarkable feat of
across the Atlantic, his Rodger
after a refit in a German shipyard.
along routes first envisioned by
and experience `Kimberley Time!"
are not told is that next spring #
around the world. When the ship put
back to his first political home.71
from San Francisco to Boston when 


 

 NOTE: In the case of  voyage we found only two examples from our CD and we enriched our list from the Corpus Research Group , Bank of English , on the Internet. So in addition to using local corpora you can also accesss on line corpora such as the Bank of English via the Internet.

See website: COBUILD Bank of English!  trip 


 

trip

...  <p> Mr Pell issued the report after a 
... drunkenness and high-living during the
...g the Joint Declaration. He delayed the
...n statehood.    <p> For some while, the
  Mikhail Gorbachev on his momentous 
...ute to Prague, and thus qualify for the
 ...es discussed by Mr Greenspan during his
 ... Ik Hwan, 71, who made an unauthorised
 ...o Asia yesterday on a 10-day visit. The 

trip

to Pakistan in August and talks with Pa...
<sect> Foreign News Page 8 </sect> </...
by two days, arrived in London on 8 Jun...
has had uncomfortable similarities to t...
to Peking in May, considers ...
to West Germany. The trains were not al... Wayne Angel, one of the five governors...  
to North Korea in March to discuss reun... begins at a Eucharistic Congress in Seo... 

 


journey

...ul long-distance travellers, thecoming
...the Ob river swamps to begin a perilous
 ... rules were followed.    <p> During the 
..leo space probe on the first leg of its
... link have threatened to make the train 

journey

may prove their last.    <p> Some.
south. One small group heads for Iran;
East German officials will enter the ..
to Jupiter. Galileo's instruments ...
from London to Paris more expensive. 


 
 

travel

.s and completions (August). UK overseas
...is is so that the energy can be made to 
...uld seriously disrupt international air
e of the undergrowth from the villas. A
...e small khat traders from Djibouti, who
...interest-free loans, subsidised foreign
...oslovakia was the last place they could  
...sought political asylum in the West, to
... consulate issued a visa for Mr Yang to
 ...y local politicians for letting Mr Yang to
...ng extended for British businessmen who
 ...ble air package holidays business". The 

travel

and tourism contribution to invisible e... 
a much greater distance.    Radio w... 
if it lasts for more than a few weeks...
company from Thailand has contacted...
the route as if it were the local bus,...
and an income of about $40,000, half ..
to without restrictions. Now their coun..
to the United States. It said the move ...
to San Francisco. Hong Kong's decision
to the US, was criticised after police ... 
to the States.    <p> The pagers are al... 
industry expects more cutbacks as ... 

 

 

The students draw their own conclusions about the use of the given words by focusing on certain points in the context these words appear. The students may present their conclusions to their class.

This method of using computers and technology in language learning is again very much in line with constructivist approaches to language learning which propose to provide learners with an opportunity to develop strategies which they can build on once the language class is finished. A multitude of ideas for using concordancers are provided in Chris Tribble's publication.

What is important is the fact that concordancers can be used with any textual source. Therefore, it opens language classes to the use and integration of up-to-date and often authentic language even at lower levels. All the CD-ROM based text corpora and databases mentioned above can be used to search for suitable texts and subsequently form the basis for applications of the kind described here, thus greatly enriching the scope of classroom activities and its content. Furthermore, as in many cases only one computer plus printer is needed to prepare materials in hardcopy, this seems to be a very feasable application even where budgets are low.

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4. Concordance-based exercises

In addition to exploiting texts with concordancing tools for discovery-based learning projects and process-oriented forms of learning, computer assisted exercises can be generated on the basis of searches with a concordancer using an authoring tool "CONTEXT" (why not look up Tim John's website to download the program and look at his ideas on this type of exercise?) . Looking at this exercise format, one is at first sight very much reminded of of simple gap filling exercises built around one-line concordance contexts. However, by allowing the learner to gradually access up to 10 contexts for a given item, the importance of thinking in terms of contextualized concepts and the need for cross-referencing becomes apparent. This puts the learner in a position where (s)he has to apply and practice various such strategies while at the same time acquiring a much wider and diversified understanding of the item to be entered into the gap.

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5. Further reference and links to relevant websites.

 

For further information, we recommend the following sites on the Internet:

Joseph Rezeau is a teacher who uses computers in language learning. His website is very useful:
Go directly to his examples for concordances.
Look at Joseph's sample exercise on is feeling vs. feels:
The father of data-driven learning, Tim Johns, has lots of useful information on his website:
Here are a few websites with access to on-line texts and corpora:
COBUILD Bank of English:
The British National Corpus:
Where to buy the software? Go to CAMSOFT or to WIDA SOFTWARE!!!

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