From input to output: the potential of parallel corpora for CALL

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the potential of a parallel corpus in the context of (computer-assisted) language learning. In order to do so, we propose to answer two main questions (1) what corpus (data) to use and (2) how to use the corpus (data). We provide an answer to the what-question by describing the importance and particularities of compiling and processing a corpus for pedagogical purposes. In order to answer the how-question, we first investigate the central concepts of the interactionist theory of second language acquisition: comprehensible input, input enhancement, comprehensible output and output enhancement. By means of two case studies, we illustrate how the abovementioned concepts can be realized in concrete corpus-based language learning activities. We propose a design for a receptive and productive language task and describe how a parallel corpus can be at the basis of powerful language learning activities. The Dutch Parallel Corpus, a ten-million word sentence aligned and annotated parallel corpus, is used to develop these language tasks.