The Process Corpus of English in Education: Going beyond the written text

Abstract

The Process Corpus of English in Education (PROCEED) is a learner corpus of English which, in addition to written texts, consists of data that make the writing process visible in the form of keystroke log files and screencast videos. It comes with rich metadata about each learner, among which indices of exposure to the target language and cognitive measures such as working memory or fluid intelligence. It also includes an L1 component which is made up of similar data produced by the learners in their mother tongue. PROCEED opens new perspectives in the study of learner writing, by going beyond the written product. It makes it possible to investigate aspects such as writing fluency, use of online resources, cognitive phenomena like automaticity and avoidance, or theoretical modelling of the writing process. It also has applications for teaching, e.g. by showing students screencast video clips from the corpus illustrating effective writing strategies, as well as for testing, e.g. by establishing a corpus-derived standard of writing fluency for learners at a certain proficiency level.