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In:Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment
Edited by Marcus Callies and Sandra Götz
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 70] 2015
► pp. 13–34

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The Marburg Corpus of Intermediate Learner English (MILE)

Published online: 9 April 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.70.01kre
Over the last few decades, corpus linguistic research and methodology have had a huge impact on the foreign language classroom, mainly as reference tools but also by introducing new ways of (data-driven) learning into the classroom. A fairly recent trend is the use of corpus-linguistic methods for the study of the development of learner language, which has led to the compilation of a fairly large number of learner corpora. Among other things, this has opened up new avenues for language testing and assessment, e.g. in the context of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). However, although learner corpora seem to lend themselves easily to such purposes, the role they have actually played so far is rather minor in comparison to the huge influence on other aspects of foreign language teaching (at least with regard to German learners of English). The present chapter explores possible reasons and introduces the Marburg Corpus of Intermediate Learner English (MILE) as a potential resource for learner language analysis and for corpus-informed, -based and -driven contributions to language testing and assessment.
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