Helping Language Learners Put Concordance Data in Context

Abstract

While corpus tools provide several different ways to display relationships between words within texts and across texts, the main format for viewing concordance data is Key Word in Context (KWIC). In Computer Aided Language Learning, concordance lines in KWIC format may be accessed inside a concordancer or within other software through links to corpus data. Language learners can and do gain useful insights from exploring concordance data in KWIC format, but some kinds of information may be harder to see, some patterning of use may not be so obvious, and reading of complete examples may not be very easy. The Prime Machine was developed for language learners and aims to make corpus data easier to access and interpret. This paper introduces the design of the Cards Tab, which provides an additional way of viewing concordance data. Results from three evaluations with language learners and teachers show positive attitudes towards this display.