The impact of text length on the estimation of lexical diversity has captured the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. Numerous indices have been proposed, and many studies have been conducted to evaluate them, but the problem remains. This methodological review provides a critical analysis not only of the most commonly…

In this brief forum article, I draw from the disciplinary orientation of linguistic anthropology to discuss how a collection of linguistic and semiotic resources gets "enregistered" as the "language" for specific communicative activities. Enregisterment is an ongoing social and ideological process whereby a semiotic corpus gets…

This paper considers the issue of the norm in the context of learner corpus research and its implications for foreign language teaching. It seeks to answer three main questions: Does learner corpus research require a native norm? What corpus-derived norms are available and how do we choose? What do we do with these norms in the classroom? The…

In this paper we analyze the semantic and pragmatic properties of a colloquial interrogative construction attested in European Spanish, which we label invariable "qué" questions (IQQs). In doing so, we contribute to the better understanding of a relatively understudied phenomenon in Spanish, given that IQQs have been mainly approached…

Multi-word expressions are formulaic language universals with arbitrary and idiosyncratic collocations. Their usage and mastery are required of learners of a second language in achieving naturalness. However, despite the importance of multi-word expressions to mastering a second language, their syntactic architecture and colligational…

Due to the typological differences between Korean's aspect system and English's aspect system in terms of progressive construction "-ko iss," learners can no doubt have difficulty acquiring and using the "-ko iss" construction in learner Korean. This dissertation investigates two main points: (i) how is the "-ko iss"…

In Thailand, where students encounter both Native EnglishSpeaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs)--with a significant portion of NNESTs being Thai and Filipino--a gap exists in understanding how Thai students interpret the terms Native English Speakers (NESs) and NESTs. This study aimed to explore this…

Multidimensional (MD) analysis contributes to a comprehensive linguistic description of second language (L2) writing texts. However, cross-linguistic studies based on MD analysis are still insufficient and need to be increased. In particular, the unavailability of comparable corpora prevents current MD-based L2 writing research from making…

This study quantitatively measures the variation in language derived from a targeted set of digital game mechanics. Mechanics refer to the design elements of a game that make up the overall gameplay experience, determining player actions and the degree of language interaction. A corpus was compiled by extracting the language files from two popular…

Metaphor of modality in the Hallidayan linguistic framework is manifested through a transition from implicit modal expressions to explicit modal expressions, encompassing metaphor of modalization and metaphor of modulation. This article conducts a corpus-based investigation to examine the prevalence of metaphors of modalization in English academic…

Despite the non-native English-speaking teachers' (NNESTs) movement, the literature documents widespread discrimination against NNESTs particularly in hiring discourse in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. The present study aims to shed light on another aspect of this discrimination in EFL internship advertisements by investigating the…

This corpus-based study investigates lexical richness in English writing by Chinese senior high school students. Lexical uses in 303 compositions were compared across three grades in terms of lexical sophistication, variation, density and errors. Timed compositions were sampled from Writing Corpus of English Learners, and the sample sizes of three…

For English language learners, mastering the use of near-synonyms can be challenging. Despite the semantic similarities of English synonyms, they are not interchangeable in all contexts. The objectives of this corpus-based study are to examine differences between the near-synonymous adjectives "blank," "empty" and…

Multiple studies have shown that language learners and other students undertaking postsecondary studies in an additional language (L2) consult digital translation tools to complete course-related work despite general disapproval of their use by instructors. Significant improvements in the accuracy of machine translation (MT) along with their…

This true longitudinal study explored the lexical development of L2 university English major students in Thailand using two learner corpora. This study analyzed the natural learners' English language writing assignments from two writing courses and tracked their lexical development over a relatively long period (three years with five batches of…