Teaching remedial grammar through data-driven learning using AntPConc

In most Asian countries, students receive between six and eight years of compulsory English education before they enter university. Despite this massive investment in English education, many students, especially in Japan, continue to show a poor understanding of rudimentary grammar rules. In this paper we report on a unique English course designed specifically to address grammar issues at low (remedial) levels using a Data-Driven Learning (DDL) approach. Applications of DDL are becoming more widely reported, but they are generally at the intermediate or advanced level. One of the challenges of using DDL at the remedial level is the lack of suitably leveled corpora. Another challenge is that most corpus tools used in DDL are designed for researchers or advanced learners and thus can appear overly complex. To address these issues, we have developed a simple English corpus built from standard school texts. We have also created a freeware, parallel corpus tool, AntPConc, that is specially designed to be simple, easy, and intuitive to use by beginner learners. Results from the course show significant gains between pre- and post-tests of grammar understanding for beginner-level EFL university students. We also obtained positive student feedback on the AntPConc software

日本のEFL教室におけるデータ駆動型学習利用に関するメタ分析

In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted targeting the studies that employ data-driven learning (DDL) approach in the Japanese EFL classroom context. After a thorough literature search, 32 effect sizes from 14 primary studies that took place in the Japanese EFL classroom were retrieved, coded, and calculated. The synthesized results, based on the classification of the outcome measures, showed that the DDL approach worked well particularly for learning vocabulary items (Level 1: lemma). It also worked positively for basic grammar items (Level 2:category) and noun and verb phrases (Level 3: phrase). For a proficiency measure, the combined effect size was small. Accordingly, the results of the current metaanalysis would provide further support for the use of DDL approach in the classroom, which could be an alternative methodology for facilitating the learning of lexico-grammatical items. Suggestions for further research and pedagogical implications are provided.This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 26704006 and 25284108

Who is data-driven learning for? Challenging the monolithic view of its relationship with learning styles

This study examines the relationship between one type of data-driven learning (DDL) and inductive–deductive learning styles. Participants were 145 Japanese university learners of English as a foreign language, all of whom showed significant improvements in a grammar test after teacher-led guided DDL induction. Data were collected using a questionnaire on inductive–deductive learning styles and DDL task values. Weak correlations were found between theinductive–deductive continuum of learning styles and the DDL task value, but no differences in magnitude were found from an examination of the confidence interval for the two correlations. These findings indicate that depending on the type, guided DDL-type induction may be beneficial for both deductive and inductive learners irrespective of their learning styles. The paper concludes with suggestions that future DDL studies should carefully define the construct of DDL and explore its relationship with learner characteristics.This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 26704006 and 25284108

Development of a scale to measure learners\u27 perceived preferences and benefits of data-driven learning

In spite of researchers\u27 and practitioners\u27 increasing attention to data-driven learning (DDL) and increasing numbers of DDL studies, a multi-item scale to measure learners\u27 attitude toward DDL has not been developed thus far. In the present study, we developed and validated a psychometric scale to measure learners\u27 perceived preferences and benefits of DDL for research and pedagogical purposes. First, we created an item pool by referring to open-ended responses from learners; second, the items were pilot tested with target-level learners of English as a foreign language; and third, with item analyses and exploratory factor analysis, the revised version of the questionnaire was prepared. Finally, the questionnaire was administered, and its psychometric properties were examined with confirmatory factor analysis and fit indices. The final phase also included a measure of task values to explore the convergent evidence of the construct validity of the proposed scale. The results suggest that the scale is a valid measure of learners\u27 attitudes toward DDL, with the hypothesized model providing a good fit with the data. We propose that the scale can be used in future studies that utilize the same type of questionnaire research to facilitate further investigation of DDL. Suggestions for further research are also provided.This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 26704006 and 25284108

Exploring the Effectiveness of Combined Web-based Corpus Tools for Beginner EFL DDL

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of combining two newly developed web-based tools for the foreign language DDL classroom. One is a KWIC concordance tool, WebParaNews, and the other is a lexical profiling tool, the LagoWordProfiler. Both are freeware and are based on the same parallel corpus, ParaNews, which consists of newspaper texts in English along with their aligned translations in Japanese. Using the same syllabus to teach various types of noun phrases for ten weeks, only one tool was used with the 2013 group, and both of the two tools were used in combination with the 2014 group. In order to reconfirm the effectiveness of combining two tools, both of the two tools were also used in 2015 group. In each year the teaching effect was measured using a pre- and post-test, and students’ feedback was collected using a 31-item questionnaire. Groups using both tools performed better than the single tool group on the gain between the pre- and post-test and gave more positive student feedback. This combined-resource approach using different types of information from two corpus tools may be more helpful for understanding the targeted grammar items than a more traditional single tool approach

Comparing the Three Specialized Vocabularies Used in 'Business English,' TOEIC, and British National Corpus Spoken Business Communications

This paper describes the differences among three business-oriented vocabularies collected from the following three sources: (1) textbooks used in a radio Business English program-"NHK Business Eigo;" (2) TOEIC practice tests; and (3) British National Corpus (BNC) spoken data taken from business meetings, consultations, and interviews. After generating three word lists from each corpus, the following four comparisons were made: (1) computation of the percentage of common words among the three vocabularies; (2) examination of the three specialized vocabularies extracted from each corpus by use of statistical measures such as log-likelihood ratio (LLR) and mutual information (MI); (3) assessment of each vocabulary level; (4) and calculation of the percentage of known words in each vocabulary learned from English textbooks in junior and senior high schools. This study revealed interesting and beneficial features of the three business-oriented vocabularies both qualitatively and quantitatively