This course will introduce you to the use of corpora – large electronic collections of written and/or spoken text that serve as a reliable source of evidence in linguistic analysis. (‘Corpora’ is the plural of ‘corpus’.) You will learn how to design, analyse, and exploit corpora in language teaching, dictionary writing, and translation for English or any other language.

You will be given freedom and flexibility to tailor the course content to your needs and research interests as we offer a unique selection of general and specialized elective modules from which to choose. Our teaching staff will provide you with support and guidance in selecting the most suitable combination for your research topic.

Semester I will focus on developing general linguistic knowledge and research skills, which you will be able to apply to your chosen area of expertise in Semester II. You will learn about words, meanings, and linguistic creativity, broaden your knowledge of grammar, and acquire basic research and professional skills. You will also have an opportunity to learn the essentials of computer programming by attending our elective module in Python.

Semester II will introduce you to corpus linguistic methods and their application to three areas of research: language teaching, lexicography, and translation. You will start planning your dissertation and engage in one-on-one consultations with your supervisor.

You will be expected to dedicate 9 hours per week to lectures and a proportionate amount of time to self-study and tutorials with your supervisor.

Opportunities

• You will be taught by leading researchers in the field: our teaching staff at the Research Institute of Information and Language Processing (RIILP) are engaged in high-quality research, as evidenced by the latest RAE 2008 and REF 2014 results.
• We offer an exciting programme of invited lectures and research seminars, attended by both students and staff;
• The institute has a wide network of contacts in academia and in the industry which you will be able to benefit from.
• You will also have an opportunity to travel the world – Malaga, Valencia, Besançon, Naples, Alicante, and Plovdiv are just a few of the many possible destinations covered by our institute’s Erasmus agreements.