Corpus-driven esp pedagogy: A preliminary case study

Abstract

The study explores application of a freely available EcoLexicon online corpus in specific language classes at Environmental studies faculty of RUDN University, Russia. Although corpus tools are traditionally used by linguists, I intend to demonstrate how they can be offered to non-linguist students to facilitate better understanding of inherent semantics, depart from generic surface understanding of professional texts and delve deep into structures and meanings, enhancing overall linguistic competence of learners and instructors alike. One of the main results of the study is that implementation of corpus-based tools clearly demonstrates unreliability of automated translated tools and fosters departure of novice professionals from assisted translation towards independent exploration of semantic nuances of target specialized languages. Despite numerous benefits, corpus-based tools can present certain challenges as well. These deficiencies, however, may be remedied by careful design of teaching materials and assignments.