This paper contemplates how corpus evidence might be used to address teachers' questions about English grammar and suggests that corpus linguistics has an important role to play in raising their awareness to linguistic features and patterns. The article surveys a range of grammatical questions posted by EFL/ESL teachers on four Orkut communities devoted to the teaching and learning of English. It concentrates on three specific types of questions: synonymous lexical items which function differently and are reported to be difficult to teach and explain; linguistic evidence that contradicts the prescriptive grammar rules that teachers have been taught during their education; and collocations that teachers attempt to explicate. In attempting to address the teachers' questions, corpus evidence is used to offer possible explanations. It is suggested that the use of corpus data in addressing these questions is not only convincing but also leads to discoveries of patterns and meanings which might not be found in other reference materials such as grammars and dictionaries

Este artículo contempla cómo la evidencia del corpus lingüístico podría ser usado para responder preguntas de los profesores de inglés respecto de la gramática inglesa, y sugiere que el corpus lingüístico tiene un rol importante que jugar para incrementar la advertencia respecto de los patrones y aspectos lingüísticos. El artículo describe una selección de preguntas en torno a gramática inglesa enviadas por profesores de inglés como idioma extranjero y como segunda lengua en cuatro comunidades Orkut dedicados a la enseñanza y aprendizaje del idioma inglés. El artículo se concentra en tres tipos específicos de preguntas: ítemes léxicos sinónimos que funcionan de manera diferente y se reportan como difíciles para enseñar y explicar; evidencia lingüística que contradice las reglas de la gramática prescriptiva, la cual se ha enseñado a los profesores de Inglés por siempre en su formación, y expresiones de uso frecuente que los profesores intentan explicar. Al intentar responder las consultas de los profesores, se usó evidencia recogida de un corpus lingüístico para ofrecer posibles explicaciones. Se sugiere, con este estudio, que el uso de corpus lingüístico para fundamentar las explicaciones, no solamente es convincente, sino que además conlleva a descubrimientos de patrones y significados que podrían no hallarse en otros materiales de referencia, tales como libros de gramática y diccionarios

Computerized corpora have proved to be excellent resources for a wide range of tasks. This article describes three methods for carrying out research into small corpora, namely, the use of concordances, wordlists and keywords. It is suggested that such methods are within the reach of language and literature learners, teachers or researchers working with an ordinary computer. It is hoped that, by concentrating specifically in three methods, the article may be able to whet the appetites of the growing body of teachers, learners and researchers with access to corpora to discover more for themselves about how languages work in all their variety

Corpora armazenados eletronicamente são excelentes recursos para uma série de atividades. Este artigo descreve três métodos para a investigação da linguagem: concordâncias, listas de palavras e palavras-chave. Sugere-se que tais métodos estão ao alcance de aprendizes de línguas e literatura, de professores e de pesquisadores empregando computadores pessoais comuns. Concentrado-se especificamente nestes três métodos, espera-se que o artigo possa aguçar o apetite do crescente corpo de professores, aprendizes e pesquisadores com acesso a corpora para que possam mais autonomamente desvelar fatos sobre o funcionamento da linguagem em todas as suas variedades

Este artigo investiga e contrasta colocações recorrentes de advérbios de intensidade entre um corpus composto por textos produzidos em inglês como L2 - o Corpus Internacional de Inglês de Aprendizes - ICLE (Granger, 1993) e o corpus de transcrições de fala de inglês acadêmico da Universidade de Michigan - MICASE (Simpson et al., 2002). O artigo busca demonstrar que a recorrência de tais colocações constitui uma parte importante do repertório lingüístico de falantes e escritores e que, assim, pode fornecer uma amostra do léxico dessas populações. De forma geral, os resultados indicam que há uma grande predominância de amplificadores sobre maximizadores e que um número reduzido de maximizadores e amplificadores são utilizados em combinações recorrentes. Além disso, a análise revelou que maximizadores tendem a intensificar palavras não escalares enquanto amplificadores tendem a intensificar palavras escalares e que o uso excessivo de advérbios de intensidade por parte dos aprendizes de L2 parece estar associado a um estilo coloquial e um tom exagerado que são freqüentemente considerados inapropriados em textos acadêmicos formais.

This paper investigates and contrasts recurrent intensifier collocations across a corpus of EFL writing - The International Corpus of Learner English - ICLE (Granger, 1993) and The Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English - MICASE (Simpson et al., 2002). It seeks to show that such recurrent collocations are an important part of writers and speakers' linguistic repertoire and that they may provide a window onto their lexicon. On general grounds, the results indicate that there is a great predominance of boosters over maximizers and that a limited number of maximizers and boosters are used in recurrent combinations. The analysis further revealed that maximizers tend to intensify non-gradable words while boosters tend to intensify gradable ones and that EFL writers' overuse of intensifiers appears to be associated with colloquial style and an exaggerated tone that is often considered to be inappropriate in formal academic texts.

Expressing claims with an adequate degree of certainty and uncertainty is one of the major setbacks for foreign language students writing academic essays in English. In order to differentiate beliefs from facts and evaluate statements in satisfactory and persuasive ways authors have to make use of epistemic comments which exert a crucial role in academic writing. However, regardless of its significance, little is known about how foreign language learners present their claims in their writing. This article compares exponents of doubt and certainty in the essays of 67 Brazilian speaking university students writing in English with those of 52 British and American learners of similar age and educational level in a corpus of about 68,000 words. A meticulous analysis of the essays reveals that the Brazilian writers deviate considerably from their native speaker counterparts in employing a more restricted variety of items, being much more assertive in relation to their propositions and demonstrating greater difficulties in transmitting an exact degree of assurance. This paper stresses a number of issues raised by the study and makes some pedagogical recommendations for developing skills in this central pragmatic area.