The Learner Corpora of Spoken English: What Has Been Done and What Should Be Done?

Abstract

The number of spoken learner corpora is smaller than that of written corpora; however, demand for spoken corpora has continuously increased. This study investigates the current state of spoken English-language learner corpora both in the world and in Korea, with a focus on their size, speakers, and genres. Based on this survey, the study discusses factors to consider when building and publishing a spoken learner corpus, especially with respect to the issues of conversation genre, proficiency level, and annotation.