In a time of methodological pluralism and data triangulation, the impact of corpus linguistics on knowledge creation is expected to increase. The use of corpora is spreading and researchers in disciplines such as sociology or history, to name just a couple, are embracing corpus linguistics as (another) complementary research method. However, corpus linguistics “is not a monolithic, consensually agreed set of methods and procedures for the exploration of language” (McEnery & Hardie, 2012: 1). As a heterogeneous field, different approaches to corpus linguistics coexist and new insights into corpus research methods emerge occasionally. For this session, we would like to focus on research that, either directly or indirectly, looks at the following:
- Changes in research methodology over the years as a result of continuous work with corpus-research methods.
- Challenges to assumptions and/or core concepts about corpus linguistics.
- The “qualitative/quantitative” nature of corpus linguistics research.
- The opportunities that “mixed-methods” research and corpus linguistics offer in terms of data triangulation in applied linguistics and other fields.
- The concept of validity in corpus linguistics research.
- The strengths and opportunities of corpus linguistics in the era of big data and NLP.
- The role of research questions in corpus linguistics. Which come first: corpus data or research questions?
Call for papers
We welcome papers (research papers, case-studies, position papers) discussing theoretical, methodological and technical issues related to the use of corpus linguistics as a research methodology or “method” in applied linguistics and other areas of inquiry. We welcome research that either directly deals with some of the above issues or integrates some degree of reflection or discussion of some of these issues. Demonstrations of software tools and resources for doing corpus linguistics would also be welcome as long they advance some methodological innovation or critique to existing methods. Papers are welcome from established researchers and from early career researchers, including PhD students and Postdoctoral researchers.
There are two options for submission: full papers and work-in-progress papers. Full papers will be allocated a total of 30 minutes (20 minutes for presentation followed by 10 minutes of discussion). Papers focusing on research in progress will be allocated a total of 20 minutes (15 minutes followed by 5 minutes of discussion).