Bridging the Gap between Applied Corpus Linguistics and the Reality of English Language Teaching in Germany

Abstract

The starting point for the present paper is the results of a survey among English language teachers in German secondary schools. The survey shows that the practice of English language teaching in Germany is still largely unaffected by descriptive corpus-linguistic research into authentic language use and applied corpus-linguistic suggestions of using corpus resources and corpus-based methods for teaching purposes. In the light of this gap between applied corpus linguistics and the reality of English language teaching in Germany, it is suggested that a concerted effort is needed to popularise the languagepedagogical potential of corpus linguistics, preferably under the auspices of the local state teaching boards. In this context, particular attention should be paid to the preconceptions and needs of the vast majority of teachers who, for a variety of reasons, have not yet worked with corpora. In particular, it is necessary to implement teacher-centred corpus activities in the classroom before truly learner-centred methods are envisaged.