“I WISH COCA HAD…” – LEARNER PERCEPTIONS ON HANDS-ON CORPUS USE IN EFL CONTEXT

Abstract

A growing body of research has examined the integration of corpora into foreign language classrooms in the last few decades. A sub-line of research concerning the interaction between the two fields has been student perceptions. Additionally, the growing integration of online learning into curricula, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, has aroused a necessity to explore the application of data-driven learning (DDL) in online learning environments. The current study, therefore, attempted to elicit learner perceptions on learning vocabulary targeted particularly for speaking skill through direct DDL in an online learning context. The data gathered from the participants (N=28) through a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview revealed that the participants found the use of DDL activities in conjunction with the coursebook and production tasks helpful to boost their learning. They did not evaluate corpus consultation as a very challenging task to tackle in general. Overall, the study revealed two significant findings: First, it highlighted that collaborative learning might play a significant role in DDL applications. Second, the findings emphasized the necessity for integration of the audio data to the large, publicly available corpora, such as COCA, which could significantly contribute to future research on exploring the efficiency of DDL for speaking skills.