Sharpening Students' Critical Literacy Skills Through Corpus-Based Instruction

Abstract

In the past, corpora were primarily employed by linguists. Recently, there has been a growing interest from teachers and researchers in the pedagogical applications of corpora. However, literature of corpus-based instruction has little explored whether corpus-based instruction can reinforce English Foreign Language (EFL) learners' critical literacy. This chapter builds on research and practices that explore how corpus-based teaching may enhance learners' critical literacy skills, offering recommendations to teachers of English as a foreign language. The main features of critical literacy teaching are presented, and consideration is given to tools and techniques through which educators can encourage EFL learners to critically look at authentic language data and question both the language and the reality they are exposed to, affecting or enabling social change.