Applied Linguistics Research Laboratory

Exploring Classroom Features through Data: Classroom Corpus Research and English Language Education

Research conducted in the Corpus Linguistics Laboratory centers on the construction and analysis of classroom corpora. To build these corpora, teacher and learner utterances in foreign-language classrooms are annotated for speaker, language, pedagogical activity, and interactional features, thereby representing classroom discourse as structured, searchable data. The resulting corpora provide an empirical basis for investigating the characteristics of classroom activities and the relationships among interactional patterns, pedagogical practices, and learner understanding. Analyses of learner discourse are also integrated with questionnaire data to examine how classroom instruction relates to learners’ levels of understanding. The laboratory further develops and refines tools for classroom corpus construction and CEFR-JJbased vocabulary analysis. Drawing on complementary quantitative and qualitative approaches, this research examines teacher talk, learner participation, vocabulary level, language choice, and classroom activity, with the broader aim of advancing effective English language education and providing an empirical foundation for teachers’ reflective practice and instructional improvement.

College of Engineering Chemistry and Materials Environment and Materials Engineering | Graduate School of Engineering and Science（Master's Program） Materials Science and Engineering Course | Graduate School of Engineering and Science（Doctor's Program） Regional Environment Systems Course
Faculty Name
OHASHI, Yukiko
Keyword
classroom corpus research,classroom interaction,Corpus-Based Lexical Analysis

This lab is for this SDG activity:

  • 質の高い教育をみんなに

STUDY FIELDS

  • corpus linguistics
  • applied linguistics
  • educational technology

FOR SOCIETY

Research conducted in the Corpus Linguistics Laboratory contributes to the improvement of foreign language education by analyzing language use in actual classrooms and translating research findings into educational practice. By elucidating the relationship between classroom practices and learner understanding and by providing tools for the construction and analysis of classroom corpora, the laboratory supports teachers in reflecting objectively on their teaching and developing 目前最好的足彩app effective instruction responsive to learners’ needs.

RESEARCH THEMES

  • Classroom Interaction and Learner Understanding
  • Corpus-Based Lexical Analysis and Development of Tools for Teacher Self-Reflection
  • Classroom Analysis Integrating Educational Technology and Corpus Linguistics

Laboratory close-up

A corpus is a systematically compiled collection of naturally occurring language data that can be searched and analyzed electronically. Research in the Corpus Linguistics Laboratory involves video-recording foreign language lessons, transcribing all teacher and learner utterances, and annotating them with tags that identify speakers, languages, classroom activities, discourse functions, and interactional features. The resulting classroom corpora enable classroom discourse as a whole to be structured and visualized, allowing us to investigate patterns of classroom interaction and how learner understanding is constructed through such interaction. Lexical items occurring in the corpora are also analyzed in terms of frequency, proficiency level, and context of use to identify patterns of lexical use. To support these analyses, we develop and refine tools such as the Classroom Corpus Tagger (CCT) and the Vocabulary Analyzer for Self-Reflection (VACSR). By integrating educational technology with corpus-based methods, this research seeks to structure and quantify qualitative classroom discourse data, thereby enabling classroom discourse to be analyzed from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives.