British National Corpus - Learning Real English

LINK:  http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

WHAT

British National Corpus is a useful website for teachers and students to find how to use a word/vocabulary in a sentence in a correct way. It is a word collection of sample of written and spoken language in British English from vast sources.

90% of it are written English collected from newspapers, journals, books etc while the rest are spoken language transcripted from informal conversation and spoken language from different context.

I would suggest this website as a reference to look into an unfamiliar word that is rarely used in writing. Teachers may want to show students how a word is used rather than give the definition.

In language learning, it helps in promoting spoken language which suits the context and situation of where it has taken place. It also consider culture and appropriateness of the use of the language in different event. It encourage the usage of real language.

EXAMPLE

• Enter word - type the text in the search box and click 'Go'.

• Sample of text - If I type pretty in the search box, it will provide you with the examples taken from various resources of the use of the word in British English. 

ADVANTAGES

1. Useful tool to search for the real usage of a word in real life.
2. Sources are trustworthy. 
3. Quick and simple.
4. Advance search is available where users could search the words by part of speech or also looking for phrases. 

DISADVANTAGES

1. Some of the sample is quite complicated and may not be of a good sample.

CONCLUSION

One of the language teaching aims is to prepare students for real life communication, which is beyond classroom context. Learning new vocabulary has been a necessity for students to enhace their command of language. However, the priority on correct use of language and passing exam may discourage the use of real language for communicative purpose. In other words, students may have difficulties expressing themselves in real communication.

This is a recommended tool for teachers and students to deal with any unfamiliar words that may cause communication failure if it was used in a wrong way.