Corpus Linguistics and Language Pedagogy
Abstract
There is no doubt that corpus linguistics will revolutionize grammar teaching in fundamental ways in the future (Conrad 2000) and there is no doubt that corpora can be used for various ends in language pedagogy. The suggestion of using corpus analysis in language teaching has resulted from rapid advancement in computer technology and corpus linguistics in recent years, which has shown unprecedented potential for language learning and teaching. Conrad (2000) argues that corpus linguistics offer us a new way of describing grammar, for example, on the basic level of frequency and register variation (varieties of language which are used for different situations). The use of linking adverbials such as however, therefore, and in other words that explicitly connect two units of discourse is one aspect of English grammar that demonstrates register variation. „Corpus-based research has consistently shown that grammatical patterns differ systematically across register‟ (ibid: 549), for example, the use of the above linking adverbials, as stance markers, varies across registers (academic prose, conversation, newspaper/press and academic writing) and the implication of this corpus research for pedagogy is that grammatical study needs to take place within the context of a register or by comparing the patterns of use across registers (Hyland 2008). In view of this reality, this paper will discuss the debate on corpus linguistics and highlight some of the insights derived from corpus linguistics which may have some potential effect on pedagogic grammar. Finally, it will discuss how these insights can be applied to teaching grammar in Nigerian secondary schools.