Corpora: corpus linguistics course

[Tony Berber Sardinha]

Dear Beatrice

I've been giving Corpus Linguistics courses here in Brazil to non-native
speakers of English for three years now, in a postgraduate department of APplied
Linguistics. Most students are EFL teachers and teacher trainers.

I stick to Windows - teaching students how to use Linux would just take too
long.

What I'd recommend in terms of software is WordSmith Tools (about 60 pounds for
an individual license) and MicroConcord (free). WordSmith is powerful and
relatively easy to use, although some would object to this and say that it has a
steep learning curve, which is true only if want to do the most 'advanced'
stuff, such as key key words, indexing, clumps, etc.

A tagger such as QTAG or WinBrill is also helpful (both free).

As far as equipment goes, you might want to get hold of a computer projector for
your computer room, so that students can follow you as click along in WordSmith
Tools or any other software. Some students do tend to get lost in the many
windows that WS Tools opens.

As far as contents, one of the things that struck me over the years is how hard
students find to analyze concordances, and so I devote at least 4 3-hour
sessions to concordance analysis workshops, so that students begin to get a grip
on how to identify patterns in concordances, represent these patterns
consistently and evaluate their importance.

You can see some of my course materials at http://lael.pucsp.br/~tony/cursos/
I apologize in advance for bad links on that page since this website is being
transferred from another location

Good luck in your course.!

hope this helps.

cheers
tony.
-------------------------------------
Dr Tony Berber Sardinha
LAEL, PUC/SP
(Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
tony4 at uol.com.br
http://lael.pucsp.br/~tony
[New website]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Beatrice Vautherin" <beatrice.vautherin at wanadoo.fr>
To: <corpora at hd.uib.no>
Sent: sexta-feira, 15 de março de 2002 13:41
Subject: Corpora: corpus linguistics course


> Dear list members,
> I am seeking advice on the best way to organize a corpus linguistics course
> in my English department. Starting in february 2003, 2 hours every other
> week for 12 to 13 weeks (that is our second semester) so about twelve hours
> altogether. I can have a computer room with 10-12 PCs.
> I would like to know what corpora and what tools to buy (my BNC-World
> failed to install and I sent the CDs back). Of course the less money I ask
> for, the happier my head of department will be. Still I want the students
> to have hands-on sessions with software that runs smoothly so as not to put
> them off corpus linguistics for ever. They are second-year students in
> France (Paris-Sorbonne Nouvelle) studying for a degree in English.
> Thanks for your help. I will post a summary of the numerous replies I receive.
> Beatrice Vautherin
>
>
> **************************************************************
> Béatrice VAUTHERIN, Maître de Conférences
> Université Paris 3-SORBONNE NOUVELLE
> Institut du Monde Anglophone
> 13 rue Santeuil 75231 Paris Cedex O5
> Tel Centre Censier et boîte vocale 33 (0)1 45 87 48 12
> **************************************************************
>
>
>
>