The Use of Corpus Resources in Foreign Language Teaching

Abstract

The article considers the issues connected with the use of the «CorpusBased Approach» in foreign language teaching and the basic characteristics of this method that determine the necessity of its application. Corpus technologies in language teaching are based on studies that examine various methods of using texts corpora including both written and oral samples of foreign speech. The authors examine different types of corpora which can be used in practice of language teaching, and provide examples of authentic corpora database accessible to teachers of foreign languages. The article also refers to the lexical approach, a method of foreign language teaching, described by M. Lewis in the 1990s. The basic concept on which this approach rests is the idea that an important part of learning a language consists of the ability to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students are thought to be able to perceive patterns of language (grammar) as well as have meaningful set uses of words at their disposal when they are taught in this way.