Description: Technology related to teaching and learning English as a Second Language (ESL)
The exam by bitjungle .
So here’s the big project that’s been keeping me away from my blog for the last little while: the Corpus of Learner English (CoLE). This is a project I have been working on for a couple of years and we are finally ready to start sharing it with the world. Every step of the way has been an adventure: From designing the corpus, to applying for IRB approval, to compiling the data. Here are the nitty gritty details.
I’ve always been interested in corpora — more in the idea of them than in any particular research question. A few years ago, I initiated the American Language Program’s (ALP — Ohio State’s intensive English program) transition from paper-based placement testing to computer-based testing. Shortly after that, I started thinking about how much easier the 30-minute placement composition components would be to analyze. Word counts, for example, could be compared with a couple of keystrokes. And, of course, m