Corpus-Based Approach in Language Acquisition at the Technical University

У статті розглядаються можливості застосування здобутків корпусної лінгвістики в іншомовному навчанні студентів технічних спеціальностей. Висвітлюються різні визначення головного концепту «корпус», наводиться опис шести основних типів корпусів, два з яких – навчальні корпуси (Learner Corpora) і паралельні електронні корпуси текстів (Parallel Corpora), що аналізуються як найбільш перспективні для навчання лексичного, граматичного, стилістичного аспектів мовлення й розвитку перекладацьких компетентностей. Особлива увага приділяється необхідності створення малих спеціалізованих методично-орієнтованих мовних корпусів предметних галузей для написання навчально-методичних посібників, укладання частотних словників термінів і навчання іноземної мови професійного спрямування.The paper suggests theoretical and practical perspectives and directions for using Corpus Linguistics achievements in teaching languages. Some basic characteristics of corpus-based method that determine its effectiveness and reliability have been mentioned and analyzed. The main concept of corpus linguistics is ‘Corpora’ and it is usually defined as a specially organized plurality of texts and speech samples of genre and stylistic diversity which are united by certain principles for the purpose of linguistic analyses and research. The article specifies the main types of Corpora; the emphasis is put on those which can be used in practice of language teaching. Oral and written texts of various branches of science included in Learner Corpus can be used for choosing key words and development of active vocabularies for technical students of different specializations and glossaries of terms in teaching English for professional purposes. The article highlights the importance of corpus technologies for lexicography and compiling dictionaries of a new type according to the project COBULD (Collins Birmingham University International Language Database) which postulates the necessity of applying massive amounts of authentic texts and the latest results of corpus linguistics research. Special attention in the article is paid to the possibilities of corpus-based technologies in the development of students’ competence in grammar. A large amount of real speech samples of native speakers taken from appropriate scopes of communication enables students to examine contextual usage of lexical units and grammar patterns and identify differences between oral speech grammar and standard written language grammar through critical analysis of descriptive grammar assumptions. It is noted that educational value of a learner corpus as a grammar teaching tool can be intensified by special morphological and syntactic marking done by a corresponding computer program. The article presents one of the possible options of learner corpus as an electronic corpus of students’ written texts, namely summaries of their Bachelor thesis, for teaching creative writing. It is also proved that compiling of small specialized methodologically oriented language corpora of different branches of science and specializations can significantly increase efficiency of language acquisition in high technical school. The paper substantiates the importance of systematic use of Parallel Corpora in language teaching, learning and translation, and Learner Corpora in Language Acquisition research