LEARNER CORPORA AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION RESEARCH
Abstract
Learner corpora have become one of the most powerful tools in contemporary Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. As collections of authentic language produced by L2 learners, these corpora allow researchers to examine linguistic patterns, developmental sequences, learner errors, and cross-linguistic influence with a level of precision that traditional qualitative methods cannot achieve. The integration of learner corpora into SLA has resulted in new approaches to studying inter language, language pedagogy, and curriculum design. This research article examines the major contributions of learner corpora to SLA, the methodological approaches used in corpus-based studies, and the pedagogical implications of corpus findings. The article reviews key learner corpora such as ICLE, LOCNESS, and the Cambridge Learner Corpus, and highlights how they have shaped contemporary theories of acquisition, especially regarding error analysis, phraseology, and the development of writing proficiency. The findings demonstrate that learner corpora provide reliable evidence for identifying persistent learner difficulties, validating teaching materials, and creating data-driven learning tools. Ultimately, learner corpora support a more empirical and learner-centered approach to SLA, bridging the gap between linguistic theory and real classroom needs.
References
Granger, S. (1998). The computer learner corpus: a new resource for foreign language learning and teaching. Applied Linguistics, 19(4), 529–553.
International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) — project page (UCLouvain / CECL).
Cambridge Learner Corpus (CLC) — Cambridge Research / demo & documentation.
Dagneaux, E., Granger, S., & Meunier, F. (1998). A learner corpus approach to error analysis. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 3(2), 161–182.
Nesselhauf, N. (2005). Collocations in a Learner Corpus. John Benjamins.
Boulton, A., & Cobb, T. (2017). “Corpus use in language learning: A meta-analysis.” Language Learning, 67(2), 348–393.
The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research (eds. Granger, Gilquin, Meunier), Cambridge University Press (2015).
