<p>With the advent of corpora documenting learner English, a new and interesting field of research has become available. Learner corpora provide a new type of data which can inform thinking both in second language acquisition research and in foreign language teaching research. Analyses of learner corpora normally report on features which are typically ‘overused’ and ‘underused’, when contrasted to comparable native speaker corpora, in addition to those which are ‘misused’ by the learners. Ringbom (1998) conducted a study in which he identified one common aspect of non-native speaker corpora: the high frequency of general nouns, such as people and thing.</p><p>The aim of this paper was to test Ringbom’s findings and attempt to identify how English as a second language learners’ usage of these particular nouns in written production differ from that of native speakers by conducting a corpus comparison of comparable learner and native speaker corpora. The results of this study clearly support Ringbom’s findings; additionally, it was found that the learners’ written production does not appear vaguer and ‘non-native like’ merely because they overuse the general nouns people and thing, but it also seems as if the learners use these nouns in a more restricted range of meanings whereas the natives’ usage is more diversified. Moreover, this study has identified some of the issues that teachers of English as a second language should be aware of when helping their students to avoid using the general nouns people and thing in a non-native like manner.</p>

This corpus-based study examined English and Spanish learner language for ‘heart’ metaphors. Gutiérrez Pérez (2008) compared ‘heart’ metaphors across five languages and that study served as a reference framework for the work presented here. This work intended to find evidence of metaphor transfer and/or new metaphor learning in second language writing. Conceptual metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and linguistic or lexical metaphors (Falck, 2012) from both languages were considered in the analysis. This work analyzed ‘heart’ metaphors taken from two learner corpora, the Cambridge Learner Corpus and the Corpus de Aprendices de Español. Results were compared to the findings of Gutiérrez Pérez (2008) to see whether these metaphors typically occur only in English, only in Spanish, or are found in both languages. The results showed evidence of language learners using several kinds of metaphors that do not typically occur in their first language. The aim of this study was to add a new facet to this body of research by examining these phenomena in learner corpora rather than monolingual corpora. Furthermore, this study also examined both second language English and second language Spanish corpora, addressing potential bi-directionality of transfer or conversely, the use of new linguistic forms.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal investigar como aprendizes brasileiros de língua inglesa usam advérbios com terminação em ly no inglês escrito, e comparar ao uso que deles fazem os falantes de inglês como língua materna. Para tanto, o trabalho encontra suporte teórico e metodológico na Linguística de Corpus e fundamenta-se na área chamada de pesquisa sobre corpora de aprendizes, que se ocupa da coleta e armazenagem de dados linguísticos de sujeitos aprendizes de uma língua estrangeira, para a formação de um corpus que possa ser utilizado para fins descritivos e pedagógicos. Esta área objetiva identificar em que aspectos os aprendizes diferem ou se assemelham aos falantes nativos. Os corpora empregados na pesquisa são o corpus de estudo (Br-ICLE), contendo inglês escrito por brasileiros, compilado de acordo com o projeto ICLE (International Corpus of Learner English) e dois corpora de referência (LOCNESS e BAWE), contendo inglês escrito por falantes de inglês como língua materna. Os resultados indicam que os alunos brasileiros usam, em demasia, as categorias de advérbios que indicam veracidade, realidade e intensidade, em relação ao uso que deles fazem os falantes nativos, além de usarem esses advérbios de forma distinta. Os resultados sugerem que, além das diferenças apresentadas em termos de frequência (seja pelo sobreuso ou subuso dos advérbios), os aprendizes apresentavam combinações errôneas, ou em termos de colocados ou em termos de prosódia semântica. E finalmente a pesquisa revela que a preferência dos aprendizes por advérbios que exprimem veracidade, realidade e intensidade cria a impressão de um discurso muito assertivo. Conclui-se que as diferenças encontradas podem estar ligadas a fatores como o tamanho dos corpora, a influência da língua materna dos aprendizes, a internalização dos elementos linguísticos necessários para a produção de um texto em língua estrangeira, a falta de fluência dos aprendizes e o contexto de sala de aula nas universidades / This research investigates how Brazilian learners of English use adverbs ending in-ly in written English and compares their use to that of speakers of English as a mother tongue. To this end, the work resorts to Corpus Linguistics as both theoretical and methodological support. The research is based on the area called Learner Corpora Research, which deals with the collection, storage and analysis of linguistic data produced by learners of a foreign language, which can then be used for descriptive and teaching purposes. This area aims to identify ways in which learners use of the foreign language is different or similar to that of native speakers. The data used in this research are the corpus of study (Br-ICLE), containing written English produced by Brazilian learners, built according to the ICLE project (International Corpus of Learner English), as well as two reference corpora (Locness and BAWE) containing written English produced by speakers of English as a mother tongue. The results indicate that Brazilian learners overuse the categories of adverbs that indicate truth, reality and intensity in comparison to the use made by native speakers, furthermore they use these adverbs in different ways. The results also suggest that, given the differences in frequency (either by overuse or underuse of adverbs), the learners tend to misuse combinations in terms of collocates or in terms of semantic prosody. And finally, the research reveals that the preference of learners for adverbs expressing truth, reality and intensity creates the impression of very assertive voices. We conclude that these differences may be related to factors such as the size of the corpus, the influence of the learners mother tongue, the internalization of linguistic elements needed to produce a text in a foreign language or even the lack of fluency of the learners and the classroom context in the universities

There is a pronounced shift in English language teaching policy in Japan with the recognition not only of the importance of spoken English and interactional competence in a globalised world, but also the need to emphasise it within English language pedagogy. Given this imperative to improve the oral communication skills of Japanese users of English (JUEs), it is vital for teachers of English to understand the cultural complexities surrounding the language, one of which is the use of vague language, which has been shown to serve both interpersonal and interactional functions in communications. One element of English vague language is the general extender (for example, or something). The use of general extenders by users of English as a second language (L2) has been studied extensively. However, there is a lack of research into the use of general extenders by JUEs, and their functional differences across speaking proficiency levels and contexts. This study sought to address the knowledge gap, critically exploring the use of general extenders spoken by JUEs across speaking proficiency levels and task types. The study drew on quantitative and qualitative corpus-based tools and methodologies using the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Japanese Learner English Corpus (Izumi, Uchimoto, & Isahara, 2004), which contains transcriptions of a speaking test. An in-depth analysis of individual frequently-occurring general extenders was carried out across speaking proficiency levels and test tasks (description, narrative, interview and role-play) in order to reveal the frequency, and the textual and functional complexity of general extenders used by JUEs. In order to ensure the relevance of the application of the findings to the context of language education, the study also sought language teachers’ beliefs on the use of general extenders by JUEs. Three general extenders (or something (like that), and stuff, and and so on) were explored due to their high frequency within the corpus. The study showed that the use of these forms differed widely across the JUEs’ speaking proficiency levels and task types undertaken: or something (like that) is typically used in description tasks at the higher level and in interview and description tasks at the intermediate level; and stuff is typical of the interview at the higher level; and so on of the interview at the lower-intermediate level. The study also revealed that a greater proportion of the higher level JUEs use general extenders than do those at lower levels, while those with lower speaking proficiency level who do use general extenders, do so at an high density. A qualitative exploration of concordance lines and extracts revealed a number of interpersonal and discourse-oriented functions across speaking proficiency levels: or something (like that) functions to show uncertainty about information or linguistic choice and helps the JUEs to hold their turn; and stuff serves to make the JUEs’ expression emphatic; and so on appears to show the JUEs’ lack of confidence in their language use, and signals the desire to give up their turn. The findings suggest that the use of general extenders by JUEs is multifunctional, and that this multi-functionality is linked to various elements, such as the level of language proficiency, the nature of the task, the real time processing of their speech and the power asymmetry where the time and floor are mainly managed by the examiners. The study contributes to extending understanding of how JUEs use general extenders to convey interpersonal and discourse-oriented functions in the context of language education, in speaking tests and possibly also in classrooms, and provides new insights into the dynamics of L2 users’ use of general extenders. It brings into questions the generally-held view that the use of general extenders by L2 users as a group is homogenous. The findings from this study could assist teachers to understand JUEs’ intentions in their speech and to aid their speech production. More importantly, it may raise language educators’ awareness of how the use of general extenders by JUEs varies across speaking proficiency levels and task types. These findings should have pedagogical implications in the context of language education, and assist teachers in improving interactional competence, in line with emerging English language teaching policy in Japan.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal investigar como aprendizes brasileiros de língua inglesa usam advérbios com terminação em ly no inglês escrito, e comparar ao uso que deles fazem os falantes de inglês como língua materna. Para tanto, o trabalho encontra suporte teórico e metodológico na Linguística de Corpus e fundamenta-se na área chamada de pesquisa sobre corpora de aprendizes, que se ocupa da coleta e armazenagem de dados linguísticos de sujeitos aprendizes de uma língua estrangeira, para a formação de um corpus que possa ser utilizado para fins descritivos e pedagógicos. Esta área objetiva identificar em que aspectos os aprendizes diferem ou se assemelham aos falantes nativos. Os corpora empregados na pesquisa são o corpus de estudo (Br-ICLE), contendo inglês escrito por brasileiros, compilado de acordo com o projeto ICLE (International Corpus of Learner English) e dois corpora de referência (LOCNESS e BAWE), contendo inglês escrito por falantes de inglês como língua materna. Os resultados indicam que os alunos brasileiros usam, em demasia, as categorias de advérbios que indicam veracidade, realidade e intensidade, em relação ao uso que deles fazem os falantes nativos, além de usarem esses advérbios de forma distinta. Os resultados sugerem que, além das diferenças apresentadas em termos de frequência (seja pelo sobreuso ou subuso dos advérbios), os aprendizes apresentavam combinações errôneas, ou em termos de colocados ou em termos de prosódia semântica. E finalmente a pesquisa revela que a preferência dos aprendizes por advérbios que exprimem veracidade, realidade e intensidade cria a impressão de um discurso muito assertivo. Conclui-se que as diferenças encontradas podem estar ligadas a fatores como o tamanho dos corpora, a influência da língua materna dos aprendizes, a internalização dos elementos linguísticos necessários para a produção de um texto em língua estrangeira, a falta de fluência dos aprendizes e o contexto de sala de aula nas universidades / This research investigates how Brazilian learners of English use adverbs ending in-ly in written English and compares their use to that of speakers of English as a mother tongue. To this end, the work resorts to Corpus Linguistics as both theoretical and methodological support. The research is based on the area called Learner Corpora Research, which deals with the collection, storage and analysis of linguistic data produced by learners of a foreign language, which can then be used for descriptive and teaching purposes. This area aims to identify ways in which learners use of the foreign language is different or similar to that of native speakers. The data used in this research are the corpus of study (Br-ICLE), containing written English produced by Brazilian learners, built according to the ICLE project (International Corpus of Learner English), as well as two reference corpora (Locness and BAWE) containing written English produced by speakers of English as a mother tongue. The results indicate that Brazilian learners overuse the categories of adverbs that indicate truth, reality and intensity in comparison to the use made by native speakers, furthermore they use these adverbs in different ways. The results also suggest that, given the differences in frequency (either by overuse or underuse of adverbs), the learners tend to misuse combinations in terms of collocates or in terms of semantic prosody. And finally, the research reveals that the preference of learners for adverbs expressing truth, reality and intensity creates the impression of very assertive voices. We conclude that these differences may be related to factors such as the size of the corpus, the influence of the learners mother tongue, the internalization of linguistic elements needed to produce a text in a foreign language or even the lack of fluency of the learners and the classroom context in the universities

With the advent of corpora documenting learner English, a new and interesting field of research has become available. Learner corpora provide a new type of data which can inform thinking both in second language acquisition research and in foreign language teaching research. Analyses of learner corpora normally report on features which are typically ‘overused’ and ‘underused’, when contrasted to comparable native speaker corpora, in addition to those which are ‘misused’ by the learners. Ringbom (1998) conducted a study in which he identified one common aspect of non-native speaker corpora: the high frequency of general nouns, such as people and thing. The aim of this paper was to test Ringbom’s findings and attempt to identify how English as a second language learners’ usage of these particular nouns in written production differ from that of native speakers by conducting a corpus comparison of comparable learner and native speaker corpora. The results of this study clearly support Ringbom’s findings; additionally, it was found that the learners’ written production does not appear vaguer and ‘non-native like’ merely because they overuse the general nouns people and thing, but it also seems as if the learners use these nouns in a more restricted range of meanings whereas the natives’ usage is more diversified. Moreover, this study has identified some of the issues that teachers of English as a second language should be aware of when helping their students to avoid using the general nouns people and thing in a non-native like manner.

Les méthodologies de constitution de corpus linguistiques ont été amplement étudiées, mais sont moins abondantes quand il s’agit de corpus oraux ; ces méthodologies sont encore plus rares en ce qui concerne l’interlangue orale. Le projet CIL (Corpus Inter Langue), en cours de finalisation à l’Université Rennes 2 et sous la supervision de l’équipe d’accueil LIDILE (EA 3874), vise à la constitution d’un corpus de productions écrites et orales d’apprenants en FLE et ALE. Cette thèse concerne le corpus oral de FLE du projet global (CIL-FLE). Partant du constat que l’intérêt des linguistes pour la langue orale a systématiquement été en retard par rapport à celui porté à la langue écrite, nous nous intéressons dans un premier temps à l’étude de l’oralité dans différents domaines de la linguistique d’un point de vue historique et épistémologique. Le second chapitre est consacré à la linguistique de corpus de manière générale et au corpus en tant qu’objet linguistique en particulier. En ce qui concerne la linguistique de corpus, nous tentons de présenter les différentes méthodologies auxquelles les linguistes ont recours lorsqu’il s’agit de consulter des données : introspection, élicitation ou consultation de données authentiques. Le concept de corpus est ensuite analysé selon un ensemble de critères définitoires que nous étudions en détail, afin de proposer une définition du corpus linguistique. Le troisième et dernier chapitre est la mise en application des constats théoriques dans la constitution du corpus CIL-FLE : nous détaillons lesconstituants du corpus, les protocoles de collecte et d’archivage. C’est au protocole de transcription que nous nous intéressons en particulier, en insistant sur les difficultés de la transcription de l’interlangue. Le corpus CILFLE, qui représente environ 105000 mots, représente le fruit de ce travail et sera ainsi détaillé. / The need to design linguistic corpora to support research in linguistics has triggered the development of numerous studies exploring various approaches and methodologies regarding good practices for written corpus building. Fewer studies are available when it comes to spoken data and those that concern the interlanguage of learners are even rarer. The CIL project (Corpus Inter Langue), under completion at the University of Rennes2 and supervised by a research team specialising in the fields of linguistics and pedagogy (LIDILE), aims at building a large corpus of written and spoken productions in EFL and in FFL. This phd dissertation mainly focuses on the FFL (French as a Foreign Language) corpus (CIL-FLE).The first chapter of the thesis is dedicated to the study of oral speech as a linguistic object from both a historical and an epistemological perspective. The second chapter tackles the question of corpus linguistics generally speaking as well as the concept/ notion of corpus as a linguistic object. Regarding corpus linguistics, we will review and explore the diverse approaches and methods that are used so as to carry out research enquiries: introspection, elicitation or consultation of authentic data. The concept of corpus is then analysed according to/following a series of criteria which we will closely examine in order to propose a definition of the linguistic corpus. The third and last chapter will implement the former theoretical findings through the description of the CIL corpus design. Thus, corpus constituents, transcription and archiving protocols will be described in detail. We are particularly interested in the transcription protocol and we will insist on the difficulties encountered when attempting to transcribe learners ‘data. Finally, the CIL-FLE corpus, which contains approximately 105 000 words and was developed all along this phd, will be described.

This work deals with the possibilities of building and exploitation of a corpus of Czech Learners' French. The first part presents the learner corpora in the context of corpus linguistics on the basis of literature and scientific articles relevant to this subject with a special attention for corpora of French L2. Furthermore, the work focusses on the methodological principles of building a learner corpus (e.g. the specific metadata about the respondents and the material) and the error taxonomy. Next section of the work is devoted to analysis of a sample of learner's written productions with a critical description of the error taxonomy.

First outlined by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) continues to thrive (e.g. Lakoff&Johnson 1992, Lakoff, 1993, 1999, 2008), by first challenging the traditional view on metaphor as a matter of language and something extraordinary and poetic. CMT claims that metaphor is pervasive and essential in language and thought. Furthermore, metaphor is considered as the locus for abstract reasoning in this theory.Since its proposal, CMT has triggered plethoric research. However, few empirical studies have examined metaphors in second language (L2) acquisition and the importance of metaphor has not been fully recognized as an indispensable dimension in second language teaching and learning (Littlemore, 2009; Littlemore&Low, 2006b). However, metaphors present a hurdle for L2 learners (Danesi, 1992); L2 learners misinterpret metaphors for cultural reasons (Littlemore, 2003); teaching conceptual metaphor as a learning strategy facilitate language learning (Littlemore&Low, 2006a; Li, 2009).Thus, the current study investigates metaphor in learner language in light of CMT via a corpus-based approach. The study particularly examines how L2 learners of Chinese and English express vertical spatial metaphors in L2 English and L2 Chinese writings and how they differ from learners' target languages and learners' native languages.The findings reveal that L2 language development is a dynamic process and four key factors are found to interplay in learners' acquisition of conceptual metaphors: frequency of the metaphor, L2 proficiency, topic familiarity, and linguistic factors. In particular, the frequency of the metaphor as reflected in the target language has the most important impact on learners' acquisition of conceptual metaphors, overriding the factor whether a metaphor is shared in L1 and L2 or not; secondly, L2 proficiency influences how learners are affected by their first languages: learners with lower proficiency are more affected; thirdly, learners acquire the metaphors associated with a familiar topic; finally, L2 learners are constrained by the main semantic unit in the metaphorical expressions. Overall, the study demonstrates that figurative language development is a dynamic process: learners' metaphoric competence demonstrates a developmental pattern, in particular, a pendulum effect and it eventually emerges over L2 proficiency.

The aim of the thesis is to propose a tagging system for a learner corpus of spoken English which would, apart from tagging errors, focus also on the features specific for spoken language. Theoretical part, therefore, introduces basic concepts including learner language, the development of learner corpora in the last 20 years and both classical and computer-aided error analysis. Features typical of spoken language are described in the theoretical part as well since these are the focus of the research part of the thesis. The Louvain tagging system used for error-tagging of a leaner corpus of written language is used as the basis for the tagging system proposed in this thesis. Based on the analysis of 20 transcriptions taken from the Czech part of spoken learner corpus LINDSEI, modifications of the categories taken from the Louvain error-tagging system are proposed and new categories necessary for a better description of spoken language are introduced. The tagging system proposed in this thesis should make further analysis of the tagged corpus easier.