Use of corpus-based classroom activities in developing academic awareness in doctoral students

Abstract

The corpus-based approach in language education has driven an array of studies over the past few decades, including its application in developing academic awareness in second-language learners of English for academic purposes. Most publications that show ways of incorporating corpus-based classroom activities (C-BCA) concern concordance lines and lexico-grammatical studies with reference to teacher feedback. The present study examines postgraduates’ perception of C-BCA in English for academic purposes classes. A class of 10 postgraduate students from Samara University, Russia, participated in the research. Questionnaire results showed a positive perception of using C-BCA as a tool for writing assignments. The study also concerns an analysis of the students’ results in the writing assignments as a part of their academic awareness. Specifically, this sample study shows interdependence between the positive dynamics of postgraduates’ perceptions of C-BCA and good results of a writing examination.