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corpus methods to explore academic and scientific texts

11 March 2014

How to use corpus methods to explore academic and scientific texts   

A LinC seminar by Maria Freddi 

Abstract

This seminar builds on both corpus linguistics methods and genre studies to approach academic and scientific texts in an attempt to pinpoint some of the features of disciplinary variation. The starting point is a pedagogical concern that despite the existing descriptions of features of academic and scientific writing, it is sometimes difficult for an EAP course instructor to identify the reasons for the complexity of authentic academic texts in relation to different disciplines. In the course of the seminar I will thus address the following questions: how much of disciplinary variation can be grasped by concordancing academic texts? More specifically, can nominal vs. clausal complexity in academic and scientific writing be observed systematically through corpus observation tools? And if so, what are the pedagogical implications of these findings and relevance for EAP reading and writing programmes? I will try to answer these questions by leading the audience through a number of examples and discussion of methodology and epistemological tools used.

 

Location: Room 3.66 Tuesday March 25th