This study explores the effectiveness of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) in teaching noun collocations to pre-tertiary learners in Hubei Province, China, using the online corpus tool ‘Corpusmate’. Acknowledging the importance and challenge of mastering collocations in learning a foreign language, this study focuses on the effects of DDL on pre-tertiary learners, an area less examined previously due to the complexities associated with using corpus tools. Conducted over two months, the research employed pre-tests, post-tests, and delayed post-tests to measure learners’ comprehension and retention of noun collocations. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed to gather feedback on learners’ experiences with the DDL approach and ‘Corpusmate’. Results indicated that the experimental group, which received DDL training, showed significant improvements in test scores compared to the control group, which used traditional resources. The experimental group’s scores remained high in the delayed post-test, suggesting that the DDL approach facilitated long-term retention of collocational knowledge, although a notable proportion of learners expressed neutral or negative perceptions of the DDL activities. These results highlight the need for further investigation into the attitudes of the participants. Overall, most participants provided positive feedback on the use of ‘Corpusmate’ in learning noun collocations. These results advocate for the incorporation of corpus consultation into language teaching practices. The study underscores that with appropriate training and tools like ‘Corpusmate’, the DDL approach can potently aid in the sustained learning of complex language elements, such as collocations, even for younger learners.

With emerging developments in the use of computer and corpus-linguistic software to analyse language features and linguistic patterns, competent language users frequently rely on a stock of semi-au...

This scoping review identifies the roles of non-textual elements and how these roles have changed in sustaining the teaching and learning of English as an additional language (EAL) in the last five years. Much of the research regarding non-textual elements has shown that they have significantly contributed to learners’ motivation, active participation, and communication. However, a systematic synthesis of how these roles have changed over the last five years, in terms of the types of non-textual elements used as a result of the growing access to technologies, is lacking. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, a scoping review of 50 studies from 2018 to 2022 was carried out, filtered from the ERIC, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. The studies were compiled considering two characteristics: the roles and types of non-textual elements in enhancing English as a second language (ESL)/English as a foreign language (EFL) in classrooms. The results show that 29 out of the 50 studies used non-textual elements in complementary roles and 21 studies used them in supplementary roles to enhance the teaching and learning of ESL and EFL in recent years. Educators prefer to utilize non-textual elements in dominantly complementary roles rather than supplementary roles to create a sustainable EAL (ESL and EFL) learning environment. Non-textual elements help learners capture and recall information far longer than texts alone. A revised dual method using non-textual elements in a combination of both supplementary and complementary roles, and also utilizing both technologically driven and traditional approaches, is the way forward in sustaining effective EAL learning

Collocations are essential for language learning because using collocations naturally and accurately constitutes a key indicator of academic writing success. Past studies have examined collocations in academic genres and created lists of collocations for pedagogical use. However, studies that compile collocation lists often use a wide-angle approach to identify general collocations. There have been concerns about using general academic multiword constructions (MWCs) in English for specific purposes (ESP) courses as there are formalities and conventions in academic texts which are characterised by discipline-specific MWCs. This corpus-based study proposes a common and pedagogically useful microeconomics noun collocation list (MNCL). The MNCL is based on a corpus of microeconomics research articles comprising 1.6 million words. The MNCL is the result of an innovative procedure that involves a four-step selection method. This study produces: (1) a list of the 1 125 most common noun collocations (noun + noun, noun + verb, verb + noun, adjective + noun) in microeconomics research articles identified and classified using the most commonly used nouns, and (2) new findings regarding the types of noun collocations. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications on how collocations should be perceived and approached in ESP classrooms.

Modality in Spoken Malaysian English: A Comparison with the Supervarieties