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Corpora in Applied Linguistics
Susan Hunston

Corpus linguistics is leading to the development of theories about language which challenge existing orthodoxies in applied linguistics. However, there are also many questions which should be examined and debated: how big should a corpus be? Is the data from a corpus reliable? What are its applications for language teaching? Corpora in Applied Linguistics exams these and other questions related to this emerging field. It discusses these important issues and explores the techniques of investigating a corpus, as well as demonstrating the application of corpora in a wide variety of fields. It also outlines the impact corpus linguistics is having on how languages are taught in the classroom and how it is informing language teaching materials and dictionaries. It makes a superb and accessible introduction to corpus linguistics and is a must read for anyone interested in corpus linguistics and its impact on applied linguistics.

Susan Hunston

Professor Susan Hunston is Head of School of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. She has a wealth of experience working in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Corpus Linguistics and is author of numerous publications, including Corpora in Applied Linguistics. She was Chair of the British Association for Applied Linguistics until 2009, and is currently co-editor of the Cambridge Applied Linguistics series, with Carol Chapelle.

Exploring teacher corpora (PDF)
Anne O'Keeffe, Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter
(Chapter 11 of From Corpus to Classroom, 2007)

'Here we are not looking at what we can learn about language use from a corpus, rather we are looking at what corpora can tell us about our own teaching and ourselves as part of a professional cohort.'