Focusing on learning outcomes: using corpora at a university of technology.

Paper in proceeding, 2008

The present paper describes the objectives behind a work-in-progress project on the implementation of corpus material in language courses at Chalmers university of technology, Göteborg, Sweden. Chalmers offers a challenging environment with students who are not language students primarily. The courses given by the Centre for language and communication are both elective courses and obligatory courses on a wide range of engineering programmes. The project covers three courses with quite different objectives and involves both written and spoken language. A central argument in the paper is that the implementation of corpora for teaching purposes in ESP environments can be facilitated if it is anchored in identified learning outcomes. The learning outcomes of the three courses and how corpora might contribute to the fulfilment of these outcomes are discussed in the paper.