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Language, Education and Technology pp 181–192Cite as

Data-Driven Learning and Language Pedagogy

Part of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education book series (ELE)

Abstract

Language corpora have many uses in language study, including for learners and other users of foreign languages in an approach that has come to be known as data-driven learning (DDL). This boils down to the learner’s ability to find answers to their questions by using software to access large collections of authentic texts relevant to their needs, as opposed to asking teachers or consulting ready-made reference materials. As such, not only do corpora contain the potential to answer many language questions, the consultation itself is likely to lead to improved language awareness and noticing. This chapter discusses the nature of corpora and their relevance in language learning, outlining the processes involved in DDL, and looks at the history and research development in the field from its beginnings to the present day, taking into account its limitations and gaps in our current knowledge with an eye to the future.

Keywords

  • Corpus
  • Data-driven learning
  • DDL
  • Corpus-based language learning

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ATILF, CNRS and University of Lorraine, BP 13397, 54015 cedex, Nancy, France

    Alex Boulton

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  1. Alex Boulton
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Correspondence to Alex Boulton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Portland, Oregon, USA

    Steven L. Thorne

  2. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Prof. Stephen May

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Boulton, A. (2017). Data-Driven Learning and Language Pedagogy. In: Thorne, S., May, S. (eds) Language, Education and Technology. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02237-6_15

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