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The Ecuadorian English Learner Corpus: Development and Initial Findings

This document outlines the creation and objectives of the Ecuadorian English Learner Corpus (EELC) at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja. It highlights the unique context of Ecuadorian learners of English, emphasizing the lack of publicly available learner corpora and the need for linguistic research. The EELC aims to provide a comparable database for studying English language acquisition among Ecuadorians, focusing on proficient to advanced learners. The methodology includes demographic data collection and writing samples to enhance understanding of local learner characteristics and improve English teaching practices.

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The Ecuadorian English Learner Corpus: Development and Initial Findings

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  1. Anna M. Gates, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, ECUADOR EcuadorianEnglishLearner Corpus

  2. Introduction • Ecuador • Population: 14,573,101 • Academic requirement • High school (X weekly) • University (approx. 320 hours) • No publically or academically available learner corpora Ecuadorian learners of English. • Commercial corpora represent Ecuadorian learners with a mere 117,100 words • Little linguistic research, no corpus research

  3. Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja • 28,000 students nationwide in distance education • English teacher training program • 1,200 students in distance program • 60 students on site • Faculty: 23 Ecuadorians, 4 foreign • Membership in English teacher association

  4. EcuadorianEnglishLearner Corpus (EELC) Design • Objectives • Comparable with the Spanish subcorpora of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) • Representative of the distinct geographical regions of Ecuador.

  5. EELC Methods • Creation of candidate database • Proficient to advanced English learners • English teaching majors in their final year of study • English major alumni • Current practicing English teachers • Individuals with interest in joining a Master degree program in teaching English as a foreign language.

  6. DeterminingProficiency • Collection of demographic information • Duration and quality of English language exposure • Writing samples

  7. Data Collection June 2010 • Candidates sent an online survey (Lime Survey) • Demographic information • Request for an argumentative essay (700 and 1000 words) To improve response rates, candidates were offered an incentive for their participation. This method was chosen to minimize data collection costs and to reach a wide geographical range within Ecuador.

  8. The Corpus • Software • AntConc 3.2.1 • Concordancer • Word and keyword frequency generators • Tools for cluster and lexical bundle analysis • Word distribution plot, • Support for regular expressions • Freeware • CLAWS4 POS-tagger • High rate of accuracy • Robustness • Advantage for making comparative analysis with other corpora tagged with CLAWS4.

  9. Resultsto date • 279 Lime Survey invitations made • 24 (8,6%) responses to the survey • 19 (6,81%) complete • 5 (1.79) only partial

  10. ResultsContinued • Words Collected • GOAL: 250,000 • Collected to date: 8060

  11. Alternativestrategies • Current students • Request professor assistence • Extra credit points • English Teachers • Participation in national conferences • Dedicated meeting • Others • Site partners • Promotional campaign

  12. ProposedProjects • Collocation analysis • Preposition use • Study of register in immigrant returnees

  13. Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Ecuadorian English Learner Corpus Anna M. Gates (agates@utpl.edu.ec)Nick Izquierdo (finwepalantir@gmail.com)

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