Guidelines for the Design and Generation of Corpus-Based Terminology-Oriented Instructional Material

Abstract

A great deal of research has been conducted to exploit linguistic corpus data for language learning and teaching use. In the integrative corpora and language pedagogy stream of research diverse practical purposes coexist at the front and have presently become consolidated practice -learner corpora, ELT dictionary-making corpora, learner dictionary corpora, EAP corpora, specialised domain corpora, English-taught programmes corpora such as Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or English-medium Instruction (EMI). This paper outlines a framework for corpus exploitation process towards the design of instructional material for the learning of terminology of a specialised domain which is applicable to ESP courses. Our proposal advocates for a protocolised use of written corpora to devise a resource for teaching terminology and, accordingly, suggests guidelines to ESP teachers/ practitioners who undertake the tasks of extracting corpus data and adopt the role of material designers and, occasionally, of computer programme developers. To accomplish this, in the first place, specialised corpus compilation and design criteria have been customised to guarantee consistency across the pedagogic ends, the functional language needs of the ESP user and the specific learning objects within the DDL approach framework. In the second place, search strings used for semi-automatic text mining actions are illustrated as well as samples of terminology-oriented activities that can be automatically generated using concordancers and annotating computational tools. Future research might apply our proposal to further language contexts.