Using the Sentence Corpus of Remedial English to introduce Data-Driven Learning tasks

Corpus Linguistics has had major effects on English language teaching and learning in the past few decades (Huang, 2011). Its influence can be seen, for example, in the development of modern dictionaries, grammars, course books, and testing design. Data-Driven Learning (DDL), or learning driven by learner access to language data found in corpora, has seen an increase in research interest, too (Cobb & Boulton, 2015). However, this research interest has not resulted in widespread classroom adoption of DDL methods in spite of generally positive findings (Cobb & Boulton, 2015). Objections to DDL often concentrate on the perceived difficulty of corpus language and software. This paper presents a method of introducing DDL tasks into a Japanese college-level EFL classroom using the Sentence Corpus of Remedial English (SCoRE) website in a way that may overcome common objections to DDL. The results of a preliminary, exploratory survey measuring student reactions to and perceptions of SCoRE-based DDL tasks are also presented and discussed.