30.2643, FYI: Improving writing through Corpora SPOC: Version 2

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2643. Thu Jul 04 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.2643, FYI: Improving writing through Corpora SPOC: Version 2

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Date: Thu, 04 Jul 2019 18:37:20
From: Peter Crosthwaite [p.cros at uq.edu.au]
Subject: Improving writing through Corpora SPOC: Version 2

 
Dear LinguistList members

I'm happy to share with you news that after substantial revisions, Version 2
of the Online Data-Driven Learning SPOC ''Improving Writing Through Corpora''
is now live at the following address:

https://edge.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UQx+SLATx+2019/about 

Created by Dr. Peter Crosthwaite (University of Queensland, Australia), this 8
hour course aims to provide you with the tools, knowledge and skills to become
a 'language detective', using special software to improve your academic
writing. As a novice writer for your discipline, you may make mistakes with
your writing that you don't know how to solve. If you are a second-language
user of English, this can be even more difficult. But what if there was a
data-driven solution to your language problems? It just so happens that there
is such a solution... 

The use of CORPORA, or large, principled collections of electronically
searchable text - has been proven to really help writers understand how
academic language is actually used across a wide range of contexts. Advances
in technology have now made it much easier to get online access to this kind
of data, numbering in the millions (or even billions) of words - provided
through the excellent corpus of British Academic Written English (BAWE).
Better still, we can search for examples of language in use across different
disciplines, like engineering, the arts, physics, and so on, ensuring we can
use the right terminology for the subjects we are writing. 

By completing this course, you will be an expert at manipulating millions of
words of academic writing data to provide all the answers you need to many
problems you might be having with your writing, and boost your knowledge of
academic words and phrases to improve your vocabulary and written fluency. You
will also receive a certificate of completion for completing all the
activities on this course.

Improvements in Version 2 include:

A) All course images and functionality have been updated for the 'new' Sketch
Engine interface.

B) New functions specific to the 'new' Sketch Engine interface are now
included in the course (e.g. Good Dictionary EXamples (GDEX))

C) Course is now completely self-contained - no need for external assessments.
 Certificates of completion generated automatically upon completion of online
activities.  

D) Improved reflective component and opportunities for peer discussion.

Anyone is eligible, whether a student, lecturer, or anyone with an interest in
language and technology.  To enrol, follow the instructions at the link
provided.  Please contact the course creator Dr. Peter Crosthwaite at
p.cros at uq.edu.au with any questions or technical problems.
 



Linguistic Field(s): Text/Corpus Linguistics





 



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