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Article published In: International Journal of Learner Corpus Research
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.31–66

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Research articles

Testing the pedagogical norm

Comparing if-conditionals in EFL textbooks, learner writing and English outside the classroom

 | Osnabrück University
ORCiD logo with link | Osnabrück University
Published online: 8 March 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.20021.win
Abstract
English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks typically present a prescriptive typology of three or four conditional types. We examine the extent to which this long-established English Language Teaching (ELT) typology is reflected in four varieties of English by comparing the forms and functions of four samples of 620 if-conditionals from French school EFL textbooks (TEC-Fr), French L1 Learner English (OpenCLC-Fr), Web English (EnTenTen15-S) and British English (BNC-S). The ELT typology accounts for considerably less than half of if-sentences in the reference data. Even in the EFL textbooks, only 57% of if-conditionals match the typology explicitly taught in their grammar sections. For many formal and functional features, the learner data sits halfway between the distributions of the textbook and reference data. We conclude that the ELT typology needs to be adapted to provide a more representative account of if-conditionals that focuses on L1 and L2 usage and meaning over form.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conditionals in English language teaching
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Corpus data
      • 3.1.1Textbook corpus
      • 3.1.2Learner corpus
      • 3.1.3Reference corpora
    • 3.2Data extraction and processing
      • 3.2.1Annotation according to ELT types
      • 3.2.2Annotation according to meaning
    • 3.3Reliability and statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Coverage of the ELT typology
      • 4.1.1The ELT typology in the grammar sections of the TEC-Fr
      • 4.1.2Levels of coverage of the ELT typology in the textbook, learner and reference samples
      • 4.1.3Distribution of Types 0–3
    • 4.2Form
    • 4.3Semantics and pragmatics
      • 4.3.1Types of if-conditionals according to meaning
      • 4.3.2Meanings of the present // will + infinitive pattern
      • 4.3.3Meanings of the simple past in the if-clause
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Pedagogical implications and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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