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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics: Online-First Articles

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In-service language teachers’ familiarity with corpora: Are they mere acquaintances or close friends?

ORCiD logo with link | Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy
ORCiD logo with link | University of Bremen
Published online: 13 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24143.sim
Abstract
Incorporating corpus literacy into teacher education is emphasized as a vital step for increasing the use of corpora in language instruction. Although several studies with promising results show its rising popularity in teacher education programs, being introduced to corpora remains uncommon among in-service language teachers. This study primarily aims to assess the level of corpus literacy among Turkish in-service EFL teachers and their experiences with corpora. It also examines the relationships between variables such as age, the school level at which teachers work, and their familiarity with corpora. This descriptive study uses an online survey as its primary data collection tool. The findings indicate that corpus literacy levels are promising and that younger teachers tend to be more familiar with corpora; however, the corpus literacy interventions conducted in initial and in-service education do not have the expected impact on the teaching practices of in-service teachers. Additionally, it was found that teachers rarely receive training on using corpora as part of their ongoing professional development. As a result, the use of corpora in instruction is mainly limited to simple frequency and acceptability queries. The study’s results provide valuable insights into how to integrate corpus literacy components into teacher education processes effectively.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Data collection tool
    • 3.3Data collection and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1In-service teachers’ familiarity with corpora during their study period
    • 4.2In-service teachers’ training experiences on corpora and their use in language teaching
    • 4.3Usage of corpora by in-service English teachers in their teaching
    • 4.4The relationship between the school levels teachers work at and the use of corpora in language teaching
    • 4.5The relationship between teachers’ age and their familiarity with corpora during undergraduate studies
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (52)
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