Native Corpus Research Articles

Association of lexical and collocation knowledge: A comparative analysis of native speakers and nonnative learners of English

To provide a comprehensive estimate of Korean college students’ lexical competence, this study compared L2 learners’ (EFL) use of single words and collocations with that of native speakers (NSs). The study compiled two text corpora, one from an existing native corpus and the other with texts from Korean EFL learners at three proficiency levels. There were significant differences between the two corpora in lexical diversity, although the difference between advanced EFL learners and NSs was non-significant, indicating that advanced learners were on par with NSs in terms of using a diverse range of words. In a comparison of lexical distribution of single words, however, these advanced learners were found to use words between the 1K and 4K level, whereas NSs used words beyond this level. This suggests the need to cover a wider range of words in classroom teaching and assessment. Regarding collocational knowledge, the difference between the NSs and EFL group was apparent and statistically significant, regardless of learners’ proficiency levels. Namely, EFL learners used far fewer collocations in a smaller range than their counterparts. The learners’ limited collocational competence indicates that collocations should be considered an integral component of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

КОРПУСНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ ФРАЗОВЫХ ГЛАГОЛОВ В ВАРИАНТАХ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Corpus-based studies of phrasal verbs have pointed to different features of phrasal verbs. The aim of this research is to compare phrasal verbs functioning in different varieties of the English language – the varieties from the Inner Circle and the varieties from the Expanding Circle. For this purpose, the corpus data are used. Statistical analysis is carried out with the help of R software environment for statistical computing. The results show that phrasal verbs are used less frequently in the Russian corpus in comparison with native (British and American) corpora. Besides, it is found out that some phrasal verbs are used in the Russian corpus differently from native corpora.

A Corpus-based Study of Semantic Prosody across a Native Corpus

A Corpus-based Study of Semantic Prosody across a Native Corpus

Building a corpus of spoken Chinese interlanguage and some results of preliminary analyses

AbstractThe corpus of spoken Chinese interlanguage in this study consists of over one million characters of transcribed student speech from data collected from nearly ten years of study abroad research. The main research method was a comparison with a similar corpus of spoken Chinese by native speakers. Preliminary analyses show that 11 of the top 20 most frequent words in both the learner corpus and native corpus are the same. Learners used some grammatical function words, such as把(bǎ),了(le),它(tā), and着(zhe) less than native speakers, while other ones, such as我(wǒ) and的(de), much more frequently. Possible explanations for these patterns, as well as pedagogical implications and directions for further research are discussed.

Automatic Speech Recognition and Pronunciation Error Detection of Dutch Non-native Speech: cumulating speech resources in a pluricentric language

• Improving the performance of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) on learner's speech in a non-dominant variety of a pluricentric language by cumulating speech resources from different varieties of the same language. • Through the transfer learning approach, the knowledge from a dominant variety can be transferred to non-dominant variety and this benefits non-native speech recognition. • Introducing plausible pronunciation errors in a native corpus of the non-dominant variety based on knowledge from the dominant variety to evaluate the performance of Pronunciation Error Detection (PED) algorithms. The shortage of large-scale learners’ speech corpora and precise manual annotations are two major challenges for automatic L2 speech recognition and error detection in L2 speech, especially for non-dominant varieties of pluricentric languages. In these cases, collecting and annotating large non-native (L2 learner) corpora for all language varieties is often unattainable. In this study, we investigated ways of addressing these problems through conventional and transfer learning Deep Neural Network (DNN) based Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and ASR-based pronunciation error detection (PED) by cumulating Netherlandic Dutch and Flemish Dutch speech resources. First, we show that for ASR the baseline system can be improved by combining the Netherlandic Dutch and Flemish Dutch datasets. Next, through the knowledge learned from models trained on the Netherlandic Dutch data, the Flemish Dutch learners' ASR model can be further improved. In order to evaluate the performance of the PED algorithms in the absence of learner speech data with pronunciation error annotations, we introduced plausible pronunciation errors in the native corpora based on knowledge from Flemish learner speech, in order to simulate non-native speech errors. For PED we found that the results are much better for a GOP classifier trained on Flemish Dutch data than for one trained on Netherlandic Dutch data. PED produced worse results when the Netherlandic Dutch data were merged with the Flemish Dutch data, while for ASR, lower WERs were attained. Whether adding Netherlandic Dutch data to Flemish Dutch data is beneficial, thus seems to depend on the specific task the data are used for. We discuss these results, compare them to those of related research and suggest avenues for future research.

The Use and Development of Lexical Bundles in Arab EFL Writing: A Corpus-driven Study

Background. Lexical Bundles (LBs) have become the focus of many recent corpus linguistics studies. Research has found variable use of LBs in terms of quality and quantity pertaining to different linguistic groups or registers. Still, there is a paucity of research investigating Arab EFL writers’ use and development of such a feature.
 Purpose. This study investigates the 4-word LBs use and development by Arab EFL learners and expert writers in a corpus of 250000 words regarding their frequency, functions, and structure.
 Methods. Two corpora were compiled for Arab learners and scholars. The LB use of both groups was compared to investigate the development of LB use. Further, the Arab corpus was analysed against a native reference corpus extracted from the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus to compare LB use across the two corpora.
 Results and Implications. The results imply that there is no noticeable effect of postgraduate education or professional practice on using LBs. The other results, however, are in-line with the previous literature in that native speakers’ use of LBs varies in quantity and quality from non-natives’. The findings reveal that stance LBs are more frequent in the native corpus and that they tend to use more VP-based clausal LBs than their non-native counterparts. These findings offer empirical evidence that EFL writing quality is lower despite the current academic writing instruction they receive. They, therefore, indicate the need to foster academic writing instruction programs to include training on using LBs in learners’ writing at both Bachelor and postgraduate levels. Also, the results are expected to raise teachers’ awareness of how EFL learners use LBs to develop their writing quality and thus to adapt their teaching strategies accordingly. Moreover, Arab scholars are called to reconsider their use of effective writing techniques including LBs for more effective writing.

Development of the use of discourse markers across different fluency levels of CEFR

AbstractFluent L2 English speakers frequently use discourse markers (DMs) as a speech management strategy, but research has largely ignored how this develops across different proficiency levels and how it is related to immersive experiences. This study examines the developmental patterns of three DMs –well,you knowandlike – in the speech of learners at A2-C1 in CEFR with and without immersive experiences in target language environments. The fluency-rated LINDSEI corpus (173 learners) and a parallel native corpus (50 speakers) provided approximately 350,000 tokens and 3,395 instances of the analyzed DMs. Overall, DM frequency (especially withwellandyou know) among C1 speakers increases with rising fluency levels up to almost native-like levels. Immersive experience correlates positively with overall and individual DM frequency (except forlike). As the skillful use of DMs results in more fluent speech production, the didactic implications for L2 instructors should be developed.

MP20-16 CLINICAL TRANSLATION OF ENGINEERED PENILE TISSUE

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 May 2022MP20-16 CLINICAL TRANSLATION OF ENGINEERED PENILE TISSUE Sita Somara, Teresa Burnette, Namrata Sangha, Lindsey Creahan, Tsghe Abraha, Kathryn Krupp, Tiana Stewart, Torie Westendorf, Brad Damratoski, Lisa Hinshaw, Todd Meinecke, Darren Hickerson, Cynthia Wilkins-Port, Ryan Terlecki, James Yoo, Julie Allickson, Anthony Atala, and John Jackson Sita SomaraSita Somara More articles by this author , Teresa BurnetteTeresa Burnette More articles by this author , Namrata SanghaNamrata Sangha More articles by this author , Lindsey CreahanLindsey Creahan More articles by this author , Tsghe AbrahaTsghe Abraha More articles by this author , Kathryn KruppKathryn Krupp More articles by this author , Tiana StewartTiana Stewart More articles by this author , Torie WestendorfTorie Westendorf More articles by this author , Brad DamratoskiBrad Damratoski More articles by this author , Lisa HinshawLisa Hinshaw More articles by this author , Todd MeineckeTodd Meinecke More articles by this author , Darren HickersonDarren Hickerson More articles by this author , Cynthia Wilkins-PortCynthia Wilkins-Port More articles by this author , Ryan TerleckiRyan Terlecki More articles by this author , James YooJames Yoo More articles by this author , Julie AllicksonJulie Allickson More articles by this author , Anthony AtalaAnthony Atala More articles by this author , and John JacksonJohn Jackson More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000002553.16AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Loss or damage of penile tissue due to trauma and disease are life-defining injuries for those affected. Restoration of sexual function is necessary to support recovering psychologically and reestablish the prospect of leading a full and productive life. Recently, the concept of tissue engineering has been proposed to address the goal of restoring normal anatomical tissue configuration and erectile function. METHODS: A penile construct has been engineered by seeding autologous, ex vivo-expanded smooth muscle and endothelial cells seeded onto a naturally derived acellular corporal tissue matrix that possesses the same architecture as native corpora. The proposed clinical indication for the engineered product was for treatment of damaged penile corpora cavernosa. Autologous endothelial cells (EC) and smooth muscle cells (SMC) were isolated from a biopsy obtained from the patient’s cavernosum. Scaffolding was generated by decellularizing a donor penile body. This acellular scaffold was seeded with cells isolated and expanded from the patient’s biopsy. Once seeded, the engineered penile tissue construct was matured in a bioreactor. RESULTS: A robust process, developed in WFIRM RMCC Process Development, is being translated into GMP Manufacturing for the production of a clinical grade engineered penile tissue construct. In-process and release testing procedures have been established for the utilization of autologous cells and decellularized donor scaffold, to deliver a sterile engineered penile tissue final product. Cells were characterized by studying growth kinetics, identity and purity through immunophenotyping and viability assessments. Decellularized scaffolds are evaluated for acellularity through the absence of DNA and cell nuclei. The final product construct has been characterized for cell viability and distribution on the donor scaffold. CONCLUSIONS: Processes for isolating and expanding the cells, decellularization of a donor penile body and production of a final product construct is currently being been optimized and validated to conform to FDA requirements. An investigational New Drug (IND) application for the project has been approved from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for carrying out Phase I safety study for this engineered penile tissue product. Source of Funding: This work was supported by the Army, Navy, NIH, Air Force, VA and Health Affairs to support the AFIRM II effort, under Award No. W81XWH-13-2-0052. The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense © 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 207Issue Supplement 5May 2022Page: e324 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Sita Somara More articles by this author Teresa Burnette More articles by this author Namrata Sangha More articles by this author Lindsey Creahan More articles by this author Tsghe Abraha More articles by this author Kathryn Krupp More articles by this author Tiana Stewart More articles by this author Torie Westendorf More articles by this author Brad Damratoski More articles by this author Lisa Hinshaw More articles by this author Todd Meinecke More articles by this author Darren Hickerson More articles by this author Cynthia Wilkins-Port More articles by this author Ryan Terlecki More articles by this author James Yoo More articles by this author Julie Allickson More articles by this author Anthony Atala More articles by this author John Jackson More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF DownloadLoading ...

Native English and non-native authors’ utilisation of lexical bundles: A corpus-based study of scholarly public health papers

: This study examined the use of lexical bundles in the results and discussion sections of public health research articles (RAs) by comparing the native English writers with Iranian non-native English writers. To this end, four-, five-, and six-word lexical bundles were contrastively investigated in two different sub-corpora i.e. a native English corpus (NEC) and a non-native English corpus (NNEC). The corpus contained 496 985 words, and each sub-corpora included 100 RAs. The RAs were then examined structurally and functionally. The data were analysed both quantitatively, using frequency count and chi-square analyses, and qualitatively through content analysis. Based on the results, from among the lexical bundles, 29 four-word, 17 five-word, and one six-word bundles were identified in the NEC, while 52 four-word, 27 five-word, and five six-word bundles were found in the NNEC. The findings highlight that Iranian non-native English authors employed more four-word, five-word and six-word lexical bundles than native English authors. The descriptive and overall findings also suggested some differences in the two groups’ functional and structural patterns of lexical bundles, whereas statistically insignificant differences were identified in the structural patterns of bundles in the groups. These findings lay considerable emphasis on the central part that lexical bundles play in English for academic purposes (EAP) and English for specific purposes (ESP) courses.

Improving Modal Verb Treatment in English Textbooks Used by Chinese Learners: A Corpus-Based Approach

This study demonstrates how native and learner corpora can enhance modal verb treatment in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) textbooks used in mainland China. Data analysis compares modal verbs in the textbook and native corpus by referring to distributional features, semantic functions and co-occurring constructions; and the analysis of the learner corpus refers to the use/misuse of modal verbs. A corpora comparison considers the authenticity of textbook language; and examination of learner use/misuse of modal verbs provides a learner perspective for textbook presentation that is applicable to learning difficulties. In this regard, this study highlights discrepancies between textbook treatment of modal verbs and authentic modal use in constructions, distributions and semantic functions, and its application of error analysis reveals inter/intra-linguistic interference in the use of modal verbs. This study can thus contribute to a corpus-informed and learner-centered design of grammar presentation in EFL textbooks that enhances the authenticity and appropriateness of textbook language for target learners.

A Comparative Corpus-based Study on the Use of Phrasal Verbs by Turkish EFL Learners and L1 English Speakers

This quantitative study aims to reveal the most frequently used phrasal verbs (PVs) by L1 speakers of English and Turkish EFL learners in written and spoken registers. With the purpose of spotting any overuse and/or underuse by Turkish EFL learners, it compares their usage to L1 English speakers’ through four corpora – two learner corpora and two native corpora. Additionally, the study investigates the most frequent adverbial verb particles (AVPs) and lexical verbs (LVs) in phrasal constructions comparing learners and native speakers. The results show that although LV types differ to a large extent, Turkish EFL learners display a similar profile to L1 English speakers in terms of types of PVs and AVPs. However, these verbs and particles are significantly underused, especially in spoken register – a result that contradicts previous research. Specifically, within the scope of this study, regardless of the register Turkish learners tend to favour few AVPs out of the mostly used ten while leaving out the others. The findings might be of use to EFL teachers regarding raising their students’ awareness on the contextual use of PVs in different registers with a combination of both implicit and explicit teaching in mind. In addition, learners can benefit from the ready-made PV lists to enhance their prospective usage in meaningful contexts.

An exceptive account of unless clauses: corpus-evidence

This paper provides a corpus evidence to prove that unless clauses act like exceptive constructions (ECs). Adopting Galal et al (2019) categorization of ECs: paradigmatic ECs (connected/regular exceptive) and hypotactic ECs (free exceptives). The current analysis tries to apply this classification on unless clause to examine its behavior. Corpus evidence shows that unless clauses always display a fixed position in relation to its antecedent just like paradigmatic ECs, however the two constructions differ in that: unless occurs before the antecedent regardless the position of the consequence ( q statement), whereas paradigmatic ECs occur after the antecedent. In addition to that, unless allows universal and non-universal quantifiers, but universal quantifiers are more commonly used. Regarding coordinating sequences, unless accepts coordinating like hypotactic ECs. Some statistical analyses of use of unless conditionals in two native corpora: Contemporary Corpus of American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus (BNC), are presented showing that unless is more commonly used in BNC assuming that it is a characteristic of British English. Results demonstrated that this construction is more frequently used in the written proportions of COCA, whereas they are more commonly used in the spoken proportion of BNC.

A Corpus-Based Study on Reporting Verbs Used in Tesol Research Articles by Native and Non-Native Writers

This corpus-based research aimed to compare the use of reporting verbs in TESOL research articles between non-native and native English writers. Two corpora including 30 for the non-native corpus and 30 for the native corpus were constructed for analysis. The data in the form of plain text were processed via AntConc software version 3.5.7. The findings indicated significant differences in terms of frequency, function, and position between the two corpora. Specifically, more reporting verbs were found in the non-native corpus than in the native corpus. Of four verb groups of Argue, Find, Show, and Think, Argue group was the top priority used in TESOL research articles by both non-native and native English authors. The results of the functional and positional analysis in both the corpora also showed that two most common functions of reporting verbs were (1) presentation and (2) evaluation and examination, and most of the observed reporting verbs were in neutral position.

A Comparative Functional Analysis of Discourse Markers in the Native and the Non-Native English Newspaper Business Corpus

Abstract The current study explores the functional nature of Discourse Markers (DMs) in the newspaper business corpus. DMs function as cohesive devices which, additionally, carry pragmatic and semantic meanings present in both the written and the spoken discourse. The focus of this study is to comparatively highlight the differences in the functions of DMs in the business discourse of the native and the non-native newspapers. The study has employed Fung’s (2003) multi-categorical comprehensive framework of DMs. The framework functionally divides DMs into interpersonal, cognitive, structural, and referential categories. These major categories have further been divided into many subcategories of DMs. Based on this comprehensive framework; the current study identifies different functional DMs and compares them for their quantitative and qualitative differences in use. For the analysis of this study, a corpus of one million words was collected from the native business newspapers (The Daily Mail and The Telegraph) and the non-native business newspapers (The Dawn, The Business Recorder, The Nation and Daily Times). Data analysis shows that the most frequently used functional categories of DMs among the native writers are referential and structural, while the least frequently used functional category is cognitive. On the other hand, non-native Pakistani writers make more use of functional DMs of referential, structural and cognitive categories, while the least frequently used functional category is interpersonal. This quantitative difference in the use of DMs makes the native business corpus more coherent and interactive than that of the non-native business corpus. It is expected that the findings of the study may help understand the differences of textuality in the native and the non-native newspaper corpus. It is also expected that the findings of the current study can assist curriculum developers and ESL instructors in developing better teaching materials for second language learners.

Linking or delinking of ideas?

AbstractThis paper explores the use of adversative Linking Adverbials (LAs) in the academic writing of advanced English Foreign Language (EFL) learners with different linguistic backgrounds. The learner corpus used in this study consists of 50 argumentative essays which are contrasted with a native corpus: the American university students’ corpus (LOCNESS).Liu’s (2008)comprehensive list of adversative LAs has been used for the analysis. Findings reveal that both non-native (NNS) and native speakers of English (NS) use similar types of adversative LAs, but NNS place them regularly in sentence- and sometimes in paragraph-initial position, which often results in punctuation issues and misuse. A total of 9 LAs were found to be overused (e.g.,nevertheless) and underused (e.g.,actually) by NNS. The analysis performed according to L1 has yielded unexpected results in terms of preference, frequency, and placement of adversative LAs. The so-called ‘teaching effect’ is considered one of the main factors influencing the learners’ choices.

Using corpora to foster L2 construction learning: A data‐driven learning experiment

AbstractThis paper adopts a construction grammar approach to test the efficiency of data‐driven learning (DDL) when applied to constructions. High‐intermediate learners of English as a foreign language took part in an experiment consisting, for each construction, in (i) a pre‐test, in which the learners had to produce as many sentences as possible illustrating the constructions, (ii) a DDL intervention, which involved various concordance‐based activities, and (iii) several post‐tests, similar to the pre‐test, performed at regular intervals. The analysis looks at the number of (valid and invalid) constructions produced as well as the native‐like nature of these constructions, as established through a comparison with native corpus data. The analysis also examines the evolution of these results over the different post‐tests. Finally, it considers learners’ attitudes towards the DDL interventions, as evaluated through a questionnaire.

A Corpus Study of Modal Verbs in Korean Learners' Speech

Modality, one of the central components of English grammar, speakers’ evaluations and emotions is known to be important in verbal communication but difficult to use accurately. The purpose of the study is to investigate the pattern of modal verbs used by Korean learners in their speaking. In the present study, a comparative analysis of a learner corpus of Korean undergraduates’ speech and an American native corpus was performed. More specifically, this study explored the use of six core modal verbs in both corpora using the AntConc 3.5.8 software. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was observed the tendency of Korean L2 learners to overuse 'can' and 'will' while underusing 'could' and 'would'. Second, it was revealed that English proficiency predicted learners’ versatility in using modal verbs. Based on these findings, several reasons were discussed underlying these differences. This paper provides valuable insights for teaching of modal verbs in the English classroom.

MulTINCo: multilingual traditional immersion and native corpus. Better-documented multiliteracy practices for more refined SLA studies

ABSTRACT Whilst the links between learner corpus research (LCR) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have long been debated, McEnery et al. (2019. “Corpus Linguistics, Learner Corpora, and SLA: Employing Technology to Analyze Language Use.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 39: 74-92. doi:10.1017/S0267190519000096) claim that learner corpus data are not yet sufficiently integrated in SLA research. This article aims to go one way towards bridging the LCR/SLA gap by illustrating the benefits of collecting and analyzing data sets that better document multiliteracy practices. We first contextualize our work within the field of LCR where calls for more multidimensional data sets have been made. We then present a new database called MulTINCo - Multilingual Traditional, Immersion, and Native Corpus - collected in the framework of a project on Content and Language Integrated Learning in French-speaking Belgium. As our data set contains rich metadata and blends corpus data with other data types, we illustrate its potential for SLA research. In Sections 3 and 4, we describe the data collected and the interface. In the last section of the paper, we wrap up with a discussion on the methodological assets of such multidimensional data sets for SLA studies, and present directions for future research.

Concessive Connectors though and however in Writing of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

This paper focuses on connectors though and however in Serbian EFL writing. The logical relationship established by the two connectors is concessive, the concept of concessiveness ranging from the very transparent cases, referred to as the strong ‘contrary-to-expectations’ implicature, to less transparent ones, referred to as the weak ‘contrary-to-expectations’ implicature. Besides, the two lexemes, though and however, can be used in other functional roles in the contemporary language; while though is more frequently used as a conjunction than as a connector, however is more frequently used as a connector than as an adverb.The research followed Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis (Granger, 2015). The data includes the three corpora of argumentative essays: a non-native one, ICLE-SE, belonging to the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium), and two native ones, British English and American English subsets of the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS-BE and LOCNESS-AE, respectively). The research is mainly qualitative.The results have shown that though is almost never used as a connector in the non-native corpus—only 1.7% of the total number of uses occupy this functional role. In the native corpora, conversely, every second or third use is as a connector. The case of however is different. Although it is almost exclusively used as a connector in all the three corpora, there are striking differences in its uses. The initial position is strongly favoured by non-native writers, unlike native writers, who use the medial and the final positions considerably more frequently. Apart from the striking differences, there is also a similarity in the three corpora: there are cases of however directly following the so-called ‘run-on’ comma, which is seen as non-grammatical in the referential descriptive grammars.Finally, we conclude that logical connectors though and however are challenging for both descriptive linguistics and applied domains. It is quite expected, then, that they are a very demanding part of the language learning process, as the research has shown. It is suggested that the research results should be complemented by the classical contrastive analysis, focusing on the two connectors and their equivalents in Serbian.

A Comparative Analysis of Reporting Verbs in Research Papers authored by Pakistani and Native Writers

Decorous exploitation of reporting verbs is a fundamental component of academic writing. It facilitates in constructing authors’ assertions as well as situating those assertions with the previously published literature in the field (Bloch, 2010). This study has been carried out to examine the phenomena of reporting verbs in the research articles of Education and English written by Pakistani and native speakers of English. A corpus-based approach has been adopted in this study. The corpus of the study comprises of 152 research articles, authored by native and Pakistani researchers in the fields of Education and English. The findings of the study exhibited dissimilarities in the ways the authors accredit the other sources in their work and demonstrate the reported statements in Pakistani and native corpora. This study will assist the research scholars to enhance their awareness regarding an appropriate selection of reporting verbs in their academic writings.