A Corpus-Based Approach to Grammar Instruction in IELTS Writing Classes

Abstract

In recent years, the use of English corpora to instruct grammar in writing classes has become increasingly popular. In English for Specific Purposes classes, such a novel approach is critically important since it not only allows teachers to achieve a profound understanding of which syntactic structures should be instructed, but it also increases students’ exposure to a massive amount of language examples present in the corpus. Given the necessity of corpus-based grammar instruction, the article provides a detailed description of the utilization of AntConc, a concordance software program, to teach grammar in IELTS writing classes. The innovation aims to assist teachers to write teaching materials that accommodate students’ needs while enhancing students’ learning motivation and independent learning.