March 2026 · Language Systems
Corpus linguistics gives teachers and students access to how English is actually used. Instead of relying on textbook examples, you can show students real patterns, frequencies, and collocations from millions of authentic texts.
A corpus is a large, structured collection of authentic texts used for linguistic analysis. Popular corpora include the British National Corpus (BNC), Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), and the Cambridge English Corpus.
| Tool | Corpus Size | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| COCA | 1+ billion words | American English, frequency, genres |
| BNC | 100 million words | British English |
| SkELL | Student-friendly | Simple concordancing, examples |
| Ludwig.guru | Web-based | Quick example searches |
Students search for a word in a concordancer and identify patterns: What prepositions follow "depend"? What adjectives precede "opportunity"?
Students check their own writing against corpus data: "Is it 'interested in' or 'interested about'?"
Direct corpus use works best at B2+. For lower levels, you (the teacher) can use corpora to find authentic examples and create materials, without students needing to use the tools themselves.