Integrating corpora and word-focused tasks into a linguistics project:

A sound symbolism method for word growth Shih-ping Wang School of English Studies, University of Nottingham Department of Applied English, Ming Chuan University
spwang2005@yahoo.com.tw Corpora have been used not only in language instruction and learning, but also in teaching disciplinary content, e.g., linguistics. his study investigated the effectiveness of integrating corpus!based approaches into a linguistics pro"ect concerned #ith #ord gro#th. #o of four case studies #ill be reported, #hich have been e$plored for intentional vocabulary learning %Case &' and incidental ac(uisition %Cases ) and *'. Specifically this study aimed at finding out #hether students #ho participated in this corpus!based pro"ect %the e$perimental group' ac(uired more incidental vocabulary than those #ho did not %the control group'. Students in the e$perimental group #ere re(uested to base their pro"ects on self!construction data related to sound symbolism %SS', mainly from English maga+ines, #hich they had to analy+e using linguistic methods. SS served as the main #ord!focused tas,s %-. ' employed to reinforce the shortcomings of other theories. SS #as integrated into students/ one!year long pro"ect, including different categories of vocabulary %0,&10 le$ical items' #ith e$ample sentences, #ord fre(uencies and percentages. 2oth a pretest and a posttest #ere administered to evaluate their performance. ANC34A %Case )' indicated that the e$perimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the vocabulary tests. he findings confirmed that -. favored higher level students to promote their #ord gains %Case *'. he statistical MAN34A sho#ed that -. plus reading #ith e$tracting sentences #as better than -. only %Case 0'. Keywords: corpus-based, word-focused tasks, sound symbolism, SS-method, rimm!s "aw # incidental $ocabulary ac%uisition

1. INT !"#$TI!N
he aim of this paper is to use sound symbolism %SS' as the pro"ect topic for vocabulary ac(uisition and instruction. his paper mainly e$plored the effect of integrating corpus!based approaches %C2A' into a linguistics pro"ect %5ir, &6607 cf. -ilson and McEnery &660'. in relation to SS to promote learners/ #ord gro#th. -hen doing their pro"ects, students #ere e$posed to authentic materials and ac(uired both linguistics ,no#ledge and incidental vocabularies in terms of the principle8 teaching students how to teach themsel$es %Sternberg &619'. he corpus!based approach motivated students to e$plore linguistics data and construct corpora through e$tensive reading. :t has been confirmed that this course design could assist students

to learn both English and a special content course. SS!method associates sound!meaning and sound!form concurrently, yielding immediate perception and;or longer #ord retention. SS served as the main #ord! focused tas,s %-. ' employed to reinforce or compensate for the shortcomings of other theories such as #ord!formation, ,ey#ord method and <evels of =rocessing techni(ues. SS activities, including onomatopoeia, >rimm?s <a# and etymology #ere incorporated into the sub"ect instruction to impress students #ith the value of applying linguistics to the real #orld %e.g. the effects of learning vocabulary'. his pro"ect also set out to investigate #hether -. could help different levels of students for incidental vocabulary ac(uisition. #o critical approaches #ere further compared, i.e. W&' only or W&' plus e(tracting e(ample sentences for each target word, to e$amine #hich one #as more efficient in promoting incidental vocabulary ac(uisition. he original four case studies #ere e$plored and t#o of them #ill be discussed for the current paper due to the limited space. he statistical methods %e.g. AN34A, ANC34A and MAN34A' #ere applied for multiple comparisons and further analysis. 2oth a pre!test and a post!test #ere administered to evaluate their performance. ANC34A %Case )' indicated that the e$perimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the vocabulary tests. he findings confirmed that -. favoured higher level students to promote their #ord gains %Case *'. he statistical MAN34A sho#ed that -. plus reading #ith e$tracting sentences #as better than -. only %Case 0'. he research of the last t#o cases #ill be discussed else#here due to limited space.

%. &IT' AT# ' '(I')

%.1 *ound symbolism+ ,eyword method and &e-els of .rocessing /odel Sound symbolism %SS' is useful for vocabulary ac(uisition %McCarthy and 3/Dell &6607 -ang &669a, &669b7 =arault and Sch#anenflugel )@@*'. Crystal %)@@*8 )A@' proposes that SS e$plores Bsome ,ind of meaningful connection bet#een a sound, or cluster of sounds, and properties of the outside #orld/. Cespersen %&6))' suggests that there is a natural correspondence bet#een sound and sense %meaning' for SS vocabulary, #hich can be reali+ed readily or even ,ept Bunforgettable/ %e.g. wh%airflo#' D ack %beating noise' wh)ack whack %E hit''. he method of sound symbolism %hereby SS-method' is an integrating approach %2olinger &6A@7 Davis &66)' to submorphemic units and morphological segmentation. :t a set of onset;rime #ords #hich can be analy+ed and perceived at a stro,e in terms of blending and combinations %e.g. flap D slash flash7 sl D ap slap'.

SS can be used to ma,e up for #ord part method %e.g. Schmitt and Fimmerman )@@)'. SS is also an appropriate field to integrate keyword method and semantic processing techni%ues to ma,e up for 'he "e$els of *rocessing frame#or, %Crai, and ulving &69A'. he features of sound symbolism association can be applied to avoid their insufficiency and reinforce the relevant sensory!semantic model. he ,ey#ord method can be used in <& and <) #ith ready!made ,ey#ords and images, involving Bfour parts process/ %Nation )@@&8 *&@!*&0'. .or e$ample, the meaning of carmine is deep red. o memori+e its meaning, one might associate car +key word, in able & #ith carmine +new word, in terms of imagining that Bthe deep red car is mine/. Go#ever, the shortcoming of ,ey#ord method %-ang and homas &66A' is that the ,ey#ord %01', car, is semantically independent of the ne# #ord, carmine, #hich is the stri,ing difference bet#een ,ey#ord and SS-method %see belo#' #ith linguistically meaningful onsets. 3ne cannot al#ays rely on non! linguistic free association for #ord retention. :t seems that ,ey#ord method is fragile over time.
Table 1 1our parts for keyword processing =art & 02 =art ) 01 =art * 0 1 0 =art 0 0: meaning

&. 02 E HI&. I)J#ord E un,no#n #ord ). 01 E ,ey#ord, #hich is linguistically unrelated to I *. 01 08 image!meaning association bet#een I& and I 0. understanding the meaning of 0 %un,no#n familiar #ord' e.g. carmine %meaning8 deep red' &. 02 E carmine %un,no#n #ord' ). 01 E car %,ey#ord' *. 01 0 image!meaning association8 he deep red car is mine. 0. :nferring 0 he carmine car is mine.

he semantic processing method, on the other hand, focuses on the meaning of a ne# #ord upon #hich a learner must act in terms of an integrative #ay related to e$isting semantic systems %2ec,, Mc5eo#n and 3manson &6197 SK,men &669'. 'he "e$els of *rocessing -odel %or .epth-of-processing 'heory' provides a theoretical basis to e$plain semantic processing methods in terms of t#o critical levels8 a shallo# sensory level and a deep semantic level %Crai, and <oc,hart &69)7 Cerma, and Crai, &696'. he processing model involves visual and verbal features at phonemic and

semantic layers. he processing of information transfers from the sensory level, including visual or acoustical processing, to the semantic elaboration for the advanced analysis of meaning. .urther processing occurs #hen semantic elaboration strengthens information retrieval. Go#ever, the processing theory has been challenged for a long time %<aufer and Gulsti"n )@@&', e.g.8 #hat composes a level of the processing7 ho# to tell #hich level is deeper than the other7 are the non!semantic tas,s still meaningful activitiesL he phonological or orthographical processing methods at the shallo# sensory level are not semantic activities, in that they are dealing #ith sounds or symbols e$cluding linguistic meaning. hese ,inds of one!aspect inference are not al#ays useful for the association bet#een sound and sense to increase the #ord retention. his is one of the stri,ing differences bet#een the levels of processing theory and the method of sound symbolism. SS can be a proper #ay to integrate both sensory and semantic levels. .or instance, the onset cluster cr! %implying Bt#isted or harsh/, e.g. crack and crash' e$hibits acoustic and semantic features at the same time %Marchand &6M6', directly associating sound to its meaning. %.% **-method and 3rimm4s &aw 5i.e. sound shift rules6 SS!method plus sound change rules such as >rimm/s <a# %.rom,in and Nodman &661' can be integrated to strengthen #ord parts techni(ues. hree sound shift rules of >rimm/s <a# together #ith SS!method and #ord parts #ere formulated in .igure & for #ord retention. .or instance, the alternation of )dr-) /tr-0 did occur in the #ord trickle %E Btr D i D CC!le/' #hich can be derived using SS and sound shift rules. he initial cluster ;dr!; in SS denotes Bdrip or drop %#ater'/ #hich under#ent sound change and became ;tr!; %Nule )8 ;d; O HtJ'. he diminutive vo#el ;i; #as follo#ed by -ckle, referring to the meaning of continuation. hen the meaning of trickle can be derived as Bto flo# in drops or in a thin stream/. 73rimm4s &aw 5Three rules for sound shift6:
! Nule &8 labial Plabial!dental shift8 b;p;m;f;v;#7 e.g. p Pf8 !pod;!ped foot;feet ! Nule )8 dental Palveolar shift8 th;d;t;n;l;r;ts;s;+;sh7 e.g. d Pt8 !pod;!ped foot;feet ! Nule *8 palatal Pvelar shift, g;,;h;dQ; t7 e.g. , Pt8 ,id;child ,indergarten %Bchildren D garden/'

1igure 1 3rimm4s &aw 5adapted from 1romkin and odman 18896

%.: &earning through conte;t: incidental learning+ reading and )1T Gaving discussed SS and its relevance, this section turns to vocabulary learning through conte$t, #ord!focused tas,s and the li,e. :t is commonly assumed that most vocabulary is learned from conte$t %Sternberg &619'. 1ncidental learning through guessing from conte$t is considered the most important of all sources of vocabulary learning. :ncidental vocabulary ac(uisition is defined as Bthe ac(uisition of vocabulary as a HpositiveJ by!product of another activity or other language activities/ %Coady &6697 <aufer )@@&'. 1ntentional $ocabulary ac%uisition %<aufer )@@*' is defined as Ban activity aimed at committing le$ical information to memory/. :t is a #ay to deal #ith learning huge amounts of vocabulary, including guessing through e$tensive reading, problem!solving group #or, activities and formal classroom tas,s #hose goal is not vocabulary %Ellis and Ge &6667 >ass &666'. Although Sternberg %ibid.' claims that most vocabulary is learned from conte$t, he also points out the insufficiency of presenting #ords in conte$t. herefore, it is evident that theory!based instruction is also needed concerning ho# to use the s,ills of learning through conte$t, including presenting #ords in a series of sentences. Neading has long been considered the main source to increase vocabulary in <& %5rashen &616'. E$tensive reading is claimed to be a good approach for learners to develop their vocabulary ,no#ledge in terms of e$posing themselves to the most fre(uently used #ords % #addell &69*7 Nation and -aring &669'. Go#ever, one (uestion immediately raised is ho# important reading alone is in <) incidental vocabulary ac(uisition. :s reading also the ma"or means for ac(uiring <) vocabulary as 5rashen %ibid.' previously suggestedL <aufer %)@@*' insists that #ord gains through e$tensive reading alone are unli,ely to become the main source of <) learners/ vocabulary. 4ocabulary gains through e$tensive reading alone are very limited. <earners should also pay attention to Bdeconte$tuali+ed/ learning %i.e. non!conte$tual tas,s such as the #ord list for #ord!focused tas,s' to supplement and be supplemented by learning through conte$t. 2oth direct vocabulary learning %#ithout conte$t' and incidental vocabulary learning are complementary tas,s. he integration of reading and word-focused acti$ities is a more influential method to increase vocabulary %=ariba,ht and -esche &669'. -hat is at issue here is #hether integrating reading and word-focused tasks is more useful for learners/ #ord gains than learning through reading alone. :t is also crucially needed to point out #hich type of #ord!focused activities %e.g. SS!method' has an effect on the degree of achievement in retaining ne# vocabulary %<aufer and Gulsti"n )@@&'. hat is, it is

important to e$plore #hich tas,s are more promising, leading to higher vocabulary gains8 a' reading alone, b' sentence writing or c' reading with sentence writing. :n other #ords, this research has been more concerned #ith the relevant approaches8 reading te(tbooks alone, W&' alone, or W&' plus reading with sentence e(traction for each target word'. Sentence e$traction for the target #ords is considered incidental learning here, because the target #ords of -. are not used for pretest and posttest. %.< esearch =uestions :n the study of our linguistics course, the students of a university and a "unior college in ai#an #ere chosen as the participants. hey #ere e$pected to learn linguistics ,no#ledge and ac(uire incidental vocabulary simultaneously. hey #ere re(uested to finish their linguistics e$ercises or tas,s in their te$tboo, together #ith their one!year linguistics pro"ect. he specific research (uestions addressed in this research #ere stipulated belo# to e$plore #hether or not students could e$pand vocabulary in terms of three different case studies #ith four research (uestions8 Nesearch (uestion &8 Could the SS!method be applied to promote young learners/ vocabulary gro#th in the traditional vocabulary and reading courseL SS served as an early pilot study and e$plored the relevant topics from le$ical to discourse level. Nesearch (uestion )8 -hich group, Control or E$perimental group, performed better for incidental vocabulary ac(uisitionL %Control group8 reading the te(tbook only7 E$perimental group8 reading the te(tbook plus W&' with e(tracting e(ample sentence for each target word,. Nesearch (uestion *8 Could SS-method or word-focused tasks alone help different levels of students for incidental vocabulary ac(uisitionL

:. /'T>!"
his paper integrated hybrid approaches, as mentioned above, into an academic sub"ect to compensate for the traditional isolation of linguistics and language methods. he related theories #ere brought into the classroom to motivate students ho# to learn an academic sub"ect %e.g. linguistics or reading' and receive the positive Bby!product/ %i.e. incidental $ocabulary' at the same time or later on. 3ne of the crucial points #as carried out in terms of learning by doing for the purpose of teaching students ho# to teach themselves %Sternberg &619'. :.1 .articipants 5$ase studies 1 and %6

As sho#n in able ), the participants of 2ase study 3 %in relation to Nesearch (uestion &' #ere younger students of non!native spea,ers %NNS', aged &A!&M %N E &&1' from Chin Min Cunior College in ai#an. hey had studied English only three years and too, the course, 4ocabulary and 5eading, in their first year program of "unior college. he participants for 2ase study 2 %Nesearch (uestion )' #ere NNS sophomores %N E &@*' in an introductory course of linguistics at Ming Chuan University in ai#an. hey #ere from t#o different classes, one as control group %n E 09' and the other, e$perimental group %n E AM'. Table % .articipants in % case studies
$ase %students' $ase & %NE&&1' $ontrol Class &8 n E 0A Class *8 n E 09 Class 08 n E A@ $ase ) %NE&@*' n E 09 n E AM Sophomore at other university %Aged8 &6!)@' 1ntroductio n to "inguistics 3rouping design ';perimental Class )8 n E 0M #pper &ower *tatus Cunior college %Aged8 &A!&M' $ourse 4ocabulary # 5eading

:.% /aterials+ treatment and instruments .or 2ase study 3, students mainly ac(uired s,ills such as outline!#riting practice for each essay, guessing meanings from conte$t and SS!method training vocabulary learning. he activities are divided into reading and vocabulary parts. Students #ere trained ho# to apply the reading s,ills of top-down, bottom-up and their integration %Mi,ulec,y &66@'. Neading tas, can be divided into three steps8 &' first reading %top!do#n' is to get the main idea7 )' second reading %bottom!up' is to fill in the gaps7 *' third reading %integration;interaction' is to put the information together %Mar,stein &660'. As for the vocabulary part, sound symbolism, >rimm/s <a# and guessing from conte$t #ere the main tas,s. he e$perimental group carried out more #ord!focused tas,s than the control group through lecture, classroom discussion, practice and peer group learning. ! ests #ere conducted to compare the performance bet#een control and e$perimental classes. he e$perimental group of 2ase study 2 did a one!year linguistics pro"ect in terms of B:ntact group!single control/, an improved pretest!posttest design %Gatch and <a+araton &66&8 11!16'. he design represents as follo#s8

RE$perimental group %intact'8 >& S RControl group %intact'8 >) S

SI

%>&8 E$perimental >roup7 8 teaching treatment'

S I %>)8 Control group7 I8 test results'

here is a pre-test and post-test measure concerning vocabulary and reading at 3E.< level. No fore#arning #as given about the tests #hose e$am (uestions #ere not selected from their pro"ect %Case )'. ANC34A #as applied to compare the performance of these t#o groups in different classes. he control group received linguistics ,no#ledge of the regular course only. Students of the e$perimental group #ere re(uested to find specific SS!vocabulary data from '1-6, 7ewsweek or 8usinessWeek and the li,e %-ray et al &6618 &)*' through e$tensive reading, and e$tracted an e$ample sentence for each chosen le$ical item %i.e. target #ord' to construct their o#n corpus. =articipants decided their reading speed, but they #ould read as fast as possible to search more related e$amples. :n addition, they #ere not re(uested to fully understand te$ts #hich they read or searched. All groups submitted their o#n Bproduct/ bound li,e a boo, at the end of the second semester. Students #ere also encouraged to surf the #ebsites, using the B2NC Simple Search/ for the fre(uency of occurrence in the 2NC for each le$ical item. .or e$ample, they used the Simple Search of 872-World to loo, for the fre(uency of Bpuff./ he 5esults of your search %see .igure )' indicated that its fre(uency of occurrence is )61 in the 2NC.

Results of your search Your query was puff Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 298 found... A0T 397 The blinking was a reflex which could equally well have been set off by a puff of wind or a flash of light. A64 1721 A long puff of and this o ular touch rinted steam trailed over the title of the revailed through its ages. a er!

A6C 929 "efore the cinema o ened the men on the staff were given cigars to puff! so that when you came into the foyer it had that smell of luxury. T

1igure % esults of *imple *earch of ?N$-)orld :n addition to t#o or three tests, #ord lists, #or, sheets, a (uestionnaire, '1-6 %or '1-6 6(press', 7ewsweek, 8usinessWeek, 2NC, 2NC Simpler, #ebsites, and >oogle search engine #ere employed %also see able *'.
Table : *tatistical tests+ treatments and materials
$ase *tatistical testing for -ocabulary e;ams & R ! est D %e$perimental' D %control'U D D S S Rtas,s only R e$tboo,s )ord-focused tasks for groups eading *entence e;traction "oing project /aterials@ "ata sources

R3ne!-ay AN34A RANC34A

D %e$perimental' S %control'

D S

A S

Rling. tas,s Rproduct %Ba boo,/'

R2NC R2NCSonline RMaga+ines

U he control group in Case & did regular tas,s #hich #ere not their main focus in this class.

:.: Analysis of **-method SS!method %9nset : 5ime' #ill be used to analy+e sound symbolism vocabulary. :t is a Bthree!in!one/ approach %i.e. sound-form-meaning', #hich is simply formulated as a concise rule8 O + R Word %Bthe meaningful onset and rime

becoming a #ord/'. :n other #ords, there is one #ay #ith t#o aspects to infer an un,no#n #ord %e.g. slap and slam' using SS!association method %see able 0'8 Sound--eaning ;nalysis new word +Onset8 sl-7 Rime8 -ap,7 &orm--eaning ;ssociation new word. %9:5 sl:ap slap'. he retention of SS!#ords turns out to be more impressive and effective immediately after being heard or analy+ed as they entail no e$tra effort on memori+ation. able 0 sho#s the integration of SS!method and a <-componant frame #here the elements of sound, form, meaning and use %cf. Celce!Murcia and 3lshtain )@@@' are analy+ed from le$ical level to discourse level8
Table B **-method: !ne way with two aspects to infer a new word Aspect & *ound-/eaning Analysis *ound 1orm /eaning #se !nset sl %falling' ime %hit' Aspect ) 1orm-/eaning Association 3 D N -ord sl D am slam Bto push hurriedly and #ith force/

D am slam

e.g. /A #oman told police that her boyfriend grabbed her, slammed her against the ground and slapped her face on Culy ))./ %http8;;###.almanacne#s.com;morgue;)@@&;)@@&V@1V@&.cop@&.html'

:.B .rocedure he different pro"ects in this research involved three stages, i.e., 1. *reliminary instruction, 11. 2orpus construction, and 111. &inal analysis and writing . .our classes for Case study & #ere divided into the control group and the e(perimental group #ith emphasis on more #ord!focused tas,s. 2oth also received trainings such as SS! method, #ord parts and guessing by conte$t. Students of Case study ) #ere taught ho# to apply linguistics and pedagogical methods to construct small corpuses for incidental vocabulary gains in terms of a linguistics pro"ect to ma,e their o#n book. hey #ere encouraged to implement SS!method together #ith the sensory!meaning techni(ues by identifying meaning, onset and rhyme in #ords, lyrics and rhyming patterns.

B. '*#&T* C "I*$#**I!N
B.1 esults 516: *tatistical analysis for $ase 1 :n able A, the English scores of students/ entrance e$am to college demonstrated that there #ere t#o upper groups % 2lasses 3 and 2' and t#o lo#er ones

%2lasses = and <'. 3verall, it suggests that the e$perimental class %2lass 2' performed better than others %grand mean E 1&.M' after the treatment. his ans#ers Nesearch (uestion & %the SS!method can be applied to promote young learners/ vocabulary gro#th in the traditional vocabulary and reading course'.
Table < The results of all tests Class %N E &11' & %n E 0A' ) %n E 0M' * %n E 09' 0 %n E A@' >rand Mean Entrance e$am 99.A 9M.* 9&.91 M1.M 9*.A est & 1M.0 6&.M 1&.0 1).& 1A.0 est ) M*.9 9*.0 MM.9 M6.@ M1.) est * 91.9 1&.A 9*.9 91.6 91.) >rand Mean 9M.@ 1&.M 9).* 9A.0 99.* SD 1.*@ 9.)0 A.99 M.&9

.or all five tests, including the entrance e$am, !test indicated that the e$perimental group %Class )' in able M outperformed the lo#er t#o classes %UpW.@A7 UUpW.@&'. Go#ever, the other upper group, 2lass 3, did not significantly perform better than the rest after treatment %pO.@A', #hich demonstrated SS!method #as more efficient for the e$perimental group.
Table D T-test: All tests plus entrance e;am Class & SD Class & $lass % Class * Class 0 !! Class ) t sig. .@9* !! SD t Class * sig. .@6A .@&*U !! SD .@0 Class 0 t .)) sig. .1*A .@@9UU !!

A.)M !).0&

*.9& ).&1 0.1M 0.)1

).9A A.&@

0.6) !&.*9 .)0)

UpW.@A7 UUpW.@& :f the entrance e$am is e$cluded, Class ) %e$perimental group' performs better than all the control groups %pW.@A' in able 9. his implies that the e$perimental group, practicing SS!method, improved significantly to some e$tent %see Nesearch (uestion )8 E$perimental group performed better for incidental vocabulary ac(uisition'. .
Table E T-test: All tests without entrance e;am Class & SD Class ) t sig. SD t Class * sig. SD Class 0 t sig.

Class & $lass % Class * Class 0 UpW.@A

!!

0.&0 !*.A9 !!

.@*1U

0.@A &.A) 0.9) 0.00 !!

.))M .@)&U

0.09 !.MM .AA9 *.@0 *.16 .@*@U 0.@1 !).)* .&&) !!

B.% esults 5%6: *tatistics analysis for $ase % Case ) aimed to investigate #hich approach, reading the te(tbook only or reading with W&' and e(tracting sentences, #as more efficient for incidental vocabulary ac(uisition. All students #ere given pre!test and post!tests concerning vocabulary and reading, mainly measuring vocabulary ability. he control group follo#ed the same curriculum, 1ntroduction to "inguistics, #ithout carrying out the e$tra pro"ect and #ord!focused treatment. he data appear in .igure * calculating the summari+ed statistics. he split!half reliability #as conducted for estimating internal consistency reliability using Spearman!2ro#n prophecy formula %reliability coefficient E .16, Up W.@&'. 4ocabulary!reading test #as conducted for the concurrent criterion-related $alidity %=earson correlation coefficient E .1&, UpW.@&'.

esting results for control and e$perimental groups M@ Mean scores 0@ )@ @ control group e$perimental group

=retest %4&' *1.* *0.&

=osttest %4)' *).& A@

=retest %N&' )).1 )9

=osttest %N)' *9.6 *0.&

1igure : The esults of Two tests for $ase study %

he control group in able 1 #as slightly better than the e$perimental group in the vocabulary pre!test. Go#ever, the treatment reversed the situation in vocabulary post!test. he e$perimental group outperformed the control one %mean difference E &9.6'.
Table 9 The descripti-e results for control and e;perimental groups 3roups NF1G: Testing /ean *" *' Testing /ean *" *'

Control E$perimental Control E$perimental

09 AM 09 AM

4ocabulary pretest 4ocabulary posttest

*1.* *0.* *).& A@.@

&).M &&.9 &9.0 &M.0

&.1 &.M ).A ).)

Neading pretest Neading posttest

)).99 )M.6M *9.19 *0.&&

&).&& &).*A &&.91 &).@*

&.99 &.M0 &.9) &.M&

3ne!-ay AN34A #as further employed, revealing that the e$perimental group #as significantly better than the control group in vocabulary post!test %UUpW . @@&' in able 6. he reading test sho#ed no significance for both groups %pO.@A'.
Table 8 The results of !ne-)ay AN!(A SS 4ocabulary pretest (ocabulary posttest Neading pretest Neading posttest UUpW.@@& 0&&.*0 1&M).)1 0A@.0@ *M).)M . ).1@ )1.M0 *.@& ).AA Sig. .@69 .@@@UU .@1M .&&*

.urthermore, ANC34A #as applied to factor out the variance of pre!test and others as sho#n in able &@. :f 2lass #as ta,en as the factor, it #as obvious that the e$perimental group still performed better than the control group in post!test % &%&, &@@' E )0M.6), UUpW.@@&'. he result ans#ers Nesearch (uestion )8 i.e. B-hich group, Control or E$perimental group, performed better for incidental vocabulary ac(uisitionL/ :t is e$perimental group #hich performs better for incidental vocabulary learning. his demonstrates that SS-method is an efficient approach for $ocabulary growth, but not for reading ability %see Nesearch (uestion *8 SS-method can help different levels of students for incidental vocabulary ac(uisition'.
Table 1G AN$!(A testing for both groups in -ocabulary tests
%Dependent variable8 4ocabulary posttest'

Source Corrected Model 4ocabulary pretest %covariance' Class %factor' Error Corrected total %UUpW.@@&'

ype ::: SS *&MA1.96 )*06M.A& &*@M*.A6 A)6@.9) *M606.A)

df ) & & &@@ &@)

MS &A1)6.0@ )*06M.A& &*@M*.A6 A).6@9

. )66.&6 000.&& )0M.6)

Sig. .@@@UU .@@@UU .@@@UU

B.: $orpus-based and discourse analysis he previous sections mainly focused on %uantitati$e statistical analysis. his section uses corpus!based analysis and discourse analysis %DA' to deal #ith %ualitati$e analysis, providing #ith descriptive statistical results. Gere DA is mainly concerned #ith the le$ical cohesion. hat is, vocabulary items re!occur in different forms across boundaries in te$ts %e.g. clause!boundary and sentence!boundary'. B.:.1 Analysis for $ase 1 Case & demonstrated that NNS students at "unior college level could learn reading and linguistics techni(ues. hey #ere trained in class, but #ere also encouraged to train themselves at home. hese s,ills #ere applied to reading or vocabulary tas,s to infer un,no#n #ords. he e$perimental group employed more #ord!focused tas,s, leading to better performance in terms of discourse analysis %McCarthy &66@'. B.:.% Analysis for $ase % As able && e$hibits, there are four larger categories of English vocabulary in the collection of students/ corpus %Case )', including 0,&10 le$ical items in total #ith e$ample sentences for each item. he total number of collected items is similar to Magnus/ %)@@&' compilations, 0,)@@ items, but the data may be overlapped. Among those, the largest category is ?sound symbolism? %&,M*& entries, *6X'7 the ne$t largest type is >rimm?s <a# %&,)A9 entries, *@X'. Diminutive #ords include 9*A le$ical entries %&9.MX'. he smallest part is the type ?CC!le;CC!er? %AM& items, &*.0X'.

Table 11 *tudents4 $ollection of ** (ocabulary with *entences 5NFB19B6

39% % in corpus 30% 17.60% 13.40% 0

Sound symbolism Diminutives >rimm?s <a# CC!le;CC!er

200 400

1631

1257

735

561
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Number of words

Students of Case ) finished their pro"ect based on the sample corpus

demonstrated in class %see later'. Students #ere not re(uested to memori+e targets #ords #hich #ere analy+ed in terms of the above categories at discourse level. An e$ample sentence in te$ts #as e$tracted for each highlighted le$ical item. .igure 0 stipulated an SS!#ord, slapping, in a sentence of )) #ords #ith seven times of ;h;! sound repetition %proportion> =3.?@'. his target #ord %i.e. slapping' #as highlighted and then its e$ample sentence #as e$tracted for corpus construction.
Reel War Jul. 27, 1998 | By RICHARD SCHICKEL

:mmediately the soldier trying to protect her is ,illed. And #hen the child is hastily handed bac, to her father, she begins slapping him hysterically for his seeming abandonment of her.
%###.time.com;time;archive; previe#;@,&@619,&&@&61@9)9!&*6M*9,@@.html'

Figure 4 Sampling text for ear!"ing t"e target #or$

he article %N E )*9& #ords' in .igure A displays Brepetition/ such as synonym or antonym, from le$ical to discourse levels. he target SS!#ord, %uibble, collocates #ith negative rhyming #ords, Bthe selfish or the churlishB left#ards, and #ith Bsuch reasons/ right#ards, presenting an ironic concept contrasting #ith the title, 'he 9ne and 9nly %E peerless E superstar' across the te$ts. B he 3ne and 3nly/ is a peerless superstar %and e$pected to be indisputable', but could be argued #ith self!see,ing and boorish reasons. The %ne and %nl&
He a! peerle
Janua"y 2#, 1999 By J$EL STEI% and %ISID HAJARI

in t"e "ig" art of t"e mo$ern uper tar'

!nly the selfish or the churlish could =uibble #ith such reasons, rightL

&http8;;###.time.com;time;asia;asia;maga+ine;&666;66@&)A;cover&.html'

1igure < *ampling te;t and the target word at discourse le-el

he statistical te$t analysis is given in able &) %

Table 1% *tatistical analysis for the selected article

NE 0&.11', including ),*9& #ords.

o,ens ypes ype; o,en Natio % Ave. #ord length Sentences N'

)*9& 66* 0&.11 0.A* &&0

Sentence length sd. Sentence length =aragraph =aragraph length sd. =aragraph length

)@.M0 &*.)) ) 9M@.@@ &@)1.&*

he concordance of %uibble is presented in .igure M, indicating that the target #ord appears t#ice in this e$cerpt.

1igure D The concordance of H=uibble4

he target #ord, %uibble %fre(uency8 5<0 in the 2NC', can be analy+ed using SS! method #ith a <-componant frame %i.e. sound, form, meaning, and use' in .igure 9 %also see able 0 in *.* Analysis of SS!method7 cf. -ang )@@Aa'.

R arget #ord8 %uibble %A0@' HSoundJ8 kw!i!bble H.ormJ8 CC!le %E !bble consonant repetition' HMeaningJ8 ;,;8 vocal sounds7 ;i;8 little7 ;!bble;8 continuation of an action B kw!i!bble to argue about small unimportant points/ HUseJ8 %left collocation', the selfish or the churlish %reasons' P(uibble7

%right collocation', (uibble #ith Preasons

1igure E Target word analysis

he e$ample sentence #as thus e$tracted from the te$t in the chosen maga+ines as sho#n in able &*, including le$ical entry, e$ample sentence, English synonym, Chinese translation and analysis.
Table 1: *ample $orpus demonstrated in class 'ntries groan ';tracted e;ample sentences /eaning Analysis
gr!8emitting lo# crying or complaining !CC!le8 ?continuation? shr!8 contracting ;i;8 small sl!8 !p8 short stop

-e could hear his desperate groaning from #ithin but ,ne# moan there #as nothing #e could do to help.
%*0'8 .M1' %'1-6 6A*56SS, 3ct. &661

%'

(uibble

3nly the selfish or the churlish could quibble #ith such reasons, argue rightL %'1-6 6A*56SS, Mar. &666 % *6'8 *0'

shrin,age

he papers tell you e$actly #here the "ob shrinkage is most constriction severe8 construction, retailing, ban,ing and manufacturing, to name "ust four hard!hit sectors. %'1-6 6A*56SS, Nov., &661 %*A'8 01'

slap

And #hen the child is hastily handed bac, to her father, she smac, begins slapping him hysterically for his seeming abandonment of her. %'1-6 6A*56SS, 3ct. &661 %*0'8 1&'

trivial

Gedged!fund managers call this Yevent ris,,Z and it e$plains trifling #hy problems in a trivial economy li,e Nussia/s can spur sell! offs that #ipe trillions of dollars from the value of global mar,ets. %'1-6 6A*56SS, Nov., &661 %*A'8 0A'

tri!8 three tBth !via8 #ay $Bw ;i;8 small

< $!N$&#*I!N
Corpora have been used not only in language instruction and learning, but also in teaching academic disciplinary content, e.g. linguistics. his research has demonstrated the effect of integrating corpus!based approaches %C2A' into a linguistics pro"ect related to SS vocabulary to promote learners/ #ord gro#th. <.1 *ummary and findings his paper included t#o case studies #hich #ere conducted for intentional vocabulary learning %Case &' and incidental ac(uisition %Case )'. he results demonstrated that SS method #as successfully applicable to younger learners for

vocabulary learning. he study of Case ) particularly aimed at e$ploring that students of the e$perimental group participating in this corpus!based pro"ect ac(uired more incidental vocabulary than the control group #ho did not. Students in the e$perimental group based their pro"ects on self!construction corpora related to SS, #hich #as integrated into students/ one!year long pro"ect, including different categories of vocabulary #ith e$ample sentences, #ord fre(uencies and percentages. :t has been confirmed that students #ere able to use different linguistic methods to analy+e the collected data mainly from English maga+ines. 2oth a pre!test and one or t#o more post!tests #ere administered to evaluate students/ performance. he ma"or findings are recapitulated as follo#s8 he treatment of SS!method and relevant trainings favoured e$perimental groups in Cases & and ) for their intentional %Case &' and incidental vocabulary gro#th %Cases )'. ANC34A %Case )' indicated that the e$perimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the vocabulary tests. Case ) also covered all of the follo#ing positive by!products. his research integrated C2A and SS!method, also resulting in some positive by!products8 Students learned linguistics ,no#ledge %e.g. etymology and >rimm/s <a#', established small corpora, and later on ac(uired corpus!based s,ills as #ell. <earners applied linguistics ,no#ledge to the real data, i.e. English vocabulary and te$ts, and enhanced their incidental vocabulary simultaneously. :n the post hoc intervie#s and (uestionnaires, learners e$pressed that they Bcould read faster./ hat is, they felt that their reading speed became Bfaster/ after receiving the training of searching the target #ords %see Case )'. <.% &imitations and further studies he original pro"ect e$plored four case studies. Go#ever, this paper only dealt #ith Case & and Case ) due to limited space. he main limitations of this study reside in the limited si+e of SS vocabulary, including the most commonly used le$ical items %appro$imately *@@@ P A@@@'. Compared #ith other techni(ues, SS also has its o#n theoretical and pragmatic limitations. .or e$ample, the types of SS vocabulary are not comprehensive either and do not cover all fields of vocabulary. Go#ever, it #ould become more #ide!ranging if SS can be integrated into other #ord learning techni(ues. he design of reading comprehension and its materials needs further

considerations for lo#er level of students to yield better results #ith the time and resource allocation of any particular course design. .or more efficient results, SS! method can serve as the main #ord!focused activities. SS #ords are very useful for <) learners to perceive immediately and deserve to have a high priority in vocabulary pedagogy. 3nce learners ac(uire the relevant s,ills, they can teach themselves at home. he effects of corpus!based approaches have been confirmed7 therefore, it is also #orth applying corpora and any concordance soft#are #hich #ould increase in value because of the momentous changes in the computational analysis of vocabulary. Since net#or,s are convenient, it is highly e$pedient to bro#se #ebsites for more relevant resources. Students should avail themselves of :nternet resources for more relevant te$ts to ac(uire more incidental vocabulary at discourse level. hey are also encouraged to rehearse more language s,ills such as #ord!formation and discourse analysis to integrate these techni(ues into both of their reading and vocabulary learning. his #ill be of help for learners to ma,e more in!depth and efficient studies in the future.

'1' 'N$'*
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