International Journal of Learner Corpus Research - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2017

This study presents a longitudinal Bayesian analysis of pre-subject adverbial (PSA) use in a 571,174-word corpus of Dutch learner English. Overall, learners use more circumstance and linking adverbials, but fewer stance adverbials than both novice and expert native writers. Learners also use more ‘local anchors’, i.e. adverbials that serve a cohesive purpose by linking back to an antecedent in the directly preceding discourse. Interestingly, untimed essays are more native-like than timed essays in their use of each of the adverbial types considered. Although learners generally develop in the direction of native writing, the use of linking adverbials in learners’ literature essays develops in the opposite direction. L1 transfer may account for more frequent use of some categories of adverbials, particularly local anchors, but the widening gap between learners and native speakers (NSs) in the use of linking adverbials suggests that the potential role of textbook and curriculum design warrants further research.

This study investigates the use of reflexive intensifiers by L1 German-speaking learners of L2 English against the background of previous research which has identified non-target-like distribution of such features which are sensitive to discourse constraints and/or register variation. Occurrences of intensified NPs are compared between the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays and the German component of the International Corpus of Learner English. In line with previous research, it is found that learners overuse this lexico-grammatical means of information highlighting. However, there is only significant overuse of a specific sub-type of intensifier, the inclusive adverbial intensifier. These results are discussed in terms of (i) general learnability considerations which may account for learners’ problems in mastering the use of register-sensitive information-structural patterns, and (ii) pedagogical issues which arise in connection with addressing residual non-target performance in written production beyond the stage at which target properties of lexico-grammar have generally been acquired.

This study aims to provide the first empirical assessment of quantitative research methods and study quality in learner corpus research. We systematically review quantitative primary studies referenced in the Learner Corpus Bibliography (LCB), a representative bibliography of learner corpus research maintained by the Learner Corpus Association which contained 1,276 references when the current study began. Each primary study in the LCB was coded for over fifty features representing six dimensions: (a) publication type (i.e. conference paper, book chapter, journal article), (b) research focus (e.g. lexis, grammar), (c) methodological features (e.g. keyword analysis, error analysis, use of reference corpus), (d) statistical analyses (e.g. X², t-test, regression analysis), and (e) reporting practices (e.g. reliability coefficients, means). Results point to several systematic strengths as well as many flaws, such as the absence of research questions, incomplete and inconsistent reporting practices (e.g. means without standard deviations), and lack of statistical literacy (i.e. LCR studies generally overrely on tests of statistical significance, do not report effect sizes, rarely check or report whether statistical assumptions have been met, and rarely use multivariate analyses). Improvements over time, however, are clearly noted and there are signs that, like other related disciplines, learner corpus research is slowly undergoing methodological reform.