Exploring the Effect of Corpus‐Based Writing Instruction on Learner‐Corpus Interaction in L2 Revision: A Study of Chinese EFL Disciplinary Writers

Abstract

AbstractThe use of academic corpora in second language (L2) writing pedagogy has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in genre‐specific contexts for graduate‐level L2 students (Charles, 2007; Lee & Swales, 2006). However, its overall effectiveness is mainly observed within classroom contexts, influenced by various contextual and participant‐related factors (Vyatkina & Boulton, 2017). Moreover, these investigations have predominantly relied on retrospective data useful for understanding learners' perception of corpus‐analysis experiences, but not for how learners strategically integrate corpora into personal toolkits for self‐directed writing tasks. Addressing these gaps, this study tracks five Chinese EFL graduate students' corpus use through a 5‐week concept‐ and corpus‐based tutoring intervention and investigates how they navigated a discipline‐specific corpus alongside other digital resources during post‐intervention self‐directed revisions. By triangulating screen recordings with retrospective data (questionnaires, interviews, draft revisions, and stimulated recalls), the results showed that while participants were generally favorable toward the specialized corpus and its complementary role to personal toolkits, individual problem‐solving patterns in revision revealed less overall reliance on the corpus and its effectiveness primarily in addressing known linguistic problems. Implications for a relational understanding of digital tools support and the integration of other pedagogical activities in L2 writing instruction are discussed.