Corpus linguistics and continuous professional development: participants’ prior knowledge, motivations and appraisals / Linguística de corpus e formação profissional contínua: conhecimento prévio, motivações e avaliações dos participantes

Vander Viana; Lu Lu

doi:10.17851/2237-2083.29.2.1485-1527

Corpus linguistics and continuous professional development: participants’ prior knowledge, motivations and appraisals / Linguística de corpus e formação profissional contínua: conhecimento prévio, motivações e avaliações dos participantes

Vander Viana, Lu Lu

Abstract

Abstract: Previous studies on the application of corpus linguistics (CL) to education have primarily examined language-related contexts where students are pursuing a formal degree (e.g. undergraduate and Master’s programs). Little do we know about the informal learning of CL especially by (but not limited to) academics/professionals who are not educated and/or do not work in language-oriented fields. The present study addresses these research gaps by examining the perspective of participants in a non-credit-bearing continuous professional development (CPD) project aimed at academics/professionals in a range of disciplines, who did not need to have any prior knowledge of CL. More specifically, we administered a questionnaire to 28 participants of a UK-based CPD project on CL with a view to researching four main aspects: (i) these participants’ CL background; (ii) their motivations to participate in this type of project; (iii) the advantages and barriers of employing CL in their teaching practice; and (iv) their appraisal of corpus analysis integration in their research practice. The results point out to the role of CPD projects in democratizing access to CL education both to language-oriented and non-language oriented academics/professionals and in potentially raising their interest in CL learning. Lack of knowledge is perceived to be the main barrier in embedding corpus approaches to teaching and research, thus reinforcing the relevance of developing formal and informal CL learning opportunities for academics/professionals in different fields.

Keywords: corpus linguistics; continuous professional development; educational corpus integration; evaluation of corpus use in professional practices; corpus application to teaching and research; language teacher education; translator education; interdisciplinarity.

Resumo: Estudos sobre a aplicação da linguística de corpus (LC) à educação examinaram uma série de contextos diferentes – principalmente aqueles em que os alunos recebem um diploma de colação de grau (por exemplo, cursos de graduação e mestrado). No entanto, pouco se sabe a respeito da aprendizagem informal da LC, especialmente por (mas não se limitando a) acadêmicos/profissionais que não tem uma formação educacional e/ou não trabalham em áreas relacionadas aos estudos da linguagem. A presente pesquisa preenche essas lacunas, examinando a perspectiva dos participantes de um projeto de formação profissional contínua destinado a acadêmicos/profissionais de várias disciplinas, que não precisavam ter conhecimento prévio de LC. Mais especificamente, administramos um questionário a 28 participantes de um projeto de formação profissional contínua na área de LC realizado no Reino Unido com o objetivo de pesquisar quatro aspectos principais: (i) a formação educacional em LC dos participantes; (ii) suas motivações para participar desse tipo de projeto; (iii) as vantagens e barreiras de empregar a LC em suas práticas pedagógicas; e (iv) suas avaliações sobre a integração da análise de corpus em suas práticas de pesquisa. Os resultados apontam para o papel dos projetos de formação profissional contínua na democratização do acesso à educação em LC para profissionais tanto da área de estudos da linguagem quanto de outras áreas e no potencial aumento do interesse desses profissionais na aprendizagem de LC. A falta de conhecimento é percebida como a principal barreira para a incorporação de abordagens de corpus para o ensino e a pesquisa, reforçando assim a relevância do desenvolvimento de oportunidades de aprendizagem formal e informal para acadêmicos/profissionais em diferentes áreas.

Palavras-chave: línguística de corpus; formação profissional contínua; integração educacional de corpora; avaliação do uso de corpora em práticas profissionais; aplicação de corpora no ensino e na pesquisa; formação de professores de línguas; formação de tradutores; interdisciplinaridade.

Keywords

corpus linguistics; continuous professional development; educational corpus integration; evaluation of corpus use in professional practices; corpus application to teaching and research; language teacher education; translator education; interdisciplinarity

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17851/2237-2083.29.2.1485-1527