Reading Representation with a Corpus: Critical Language Awareness Through Data-Driven Learning

Abstract

The need for two skills that are not usually taught together has been growing in the field of language learning: critical language awareness (the capacity to analyse the ways in which texts shape identity and ideology) and corpus literacy (the capacity to investigate patterns of language with digital tools). Materials that are authentic and socially meaningful and develop both are rare. This conceptual article proposes a design to fill this gap in a contemporary young adult novel, Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero, by Saadia Faruqi, in a corpus-based, data-driven-learning (DDL) framework, where the learner is the one asking the questions. The suggested strategy is that upper-intermediate and advanced learners should use a concordancing software tool (Sketch Engine) to identify key vocabulary, look at collocation and grammatical trends, and then draw conclusions about the novel based on the data that they discover. The design is based on data-driven-learning theory and critical language awareness and an existing corpus analysis of the novel, which is not a research end but is ready-made teaching material. The article includes learning goals, a low-tech tool choice, a five-step task progression, a worked example, and scaffolding, differentiation and evaluation strategies. It then presents a candid discussion of affordances and constraints, including digital equity, the language demands of concordance reading, and the need to sensitively facilitate the design of contentious topics, before concluding with a research agenda for testing the design. The contribution is a transferable, technology-mediated pedagogy that integrates corpus tools, critical reading and intercultural awareness and a model for utilizing literary corpora for classroom inquiry.