Although they may not look very different from traditional texts, materials written using the corpus are revolutionary in the way they bring real usage into the classroom.

Click here if you are a teacher

Click here if you are a student

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Teachers

Cambridge learner’s dictionaries, grammar and vocabulary learning materials, and examination, business and general English course books have all benefited from the information in the corpus. We no longer have to rely heavily on intuition to know what people say or write; instead we can see what hundreds of different speakers or writers have actually said or written. So, materials developed with a corpus are more authentic and can illustrate language as it is really used.

I can teach my students to speak naturally - like a native speaker

The CIC is huge – over 1 billion words of British and American English – so we can find out about any word, any vocabulary item, grammatical structures and patterns, chunks of language, word frequency etc. Corpus-informed materials are therefore based on actual usage.

I can teach my students the most commonly used words and expressions first

The corpus is constantly being added to so it’s always got current contemporary language in it and we can prioritise grammar and vocabulary that is most frequent and most useful. We can therefore find out how English is being used today, by real people and reflect that in any corpus-informed materials.

I can use examples that will interest my students

Because there is a huge range of types of material in the Cambridge International Corpus we can always find real examples that sound natural and realistic. So, the examples used, although they may sometimes be edited or adapted, are a reflection of real usage in real contexts; they are not invented.

We specifically collect material that reflects students’ interests (based on market research) so there is always text in the corpus that can be used both for analysis and for examples taken from subject areas of interest to students.

I can teach my students expressions from spoken English, rather than from written English

By using spoken corpora we can learn very important things about social communication. As a result, the activities in corpus-informed materials can focus on the most important features of speaking and listening skills and produce more effective communication. Touchstone and Cambridge Grammar of English both point out examples such as the following: When we report other people’s words, we often say ‘Mary said’ or ‘Daniel told me’, but the corpus shows we also frequently say ‘Mary was saying’ or ‘Daniel was telling me’, especially when we have some interesting news to pass on. The ‘was’ + -ing construction for reported speech has gone unnoticed in the past, even in comprehensive grammar reference titles.

Where it is appropriate to do so, in the Cambridge Grammar of English there is a thorough examination of spoken examples side by side with balanced written examples so that relevant differences can be revealed.

My teaching can follow the exams that my students are taking

Cambridge University Press is the only publisher in partnership with Cambridge ESOL and with direct access to exam papers written by students taking Cambridge ESOL exams worldwide.

I can be confident that I am focusing on the key areas that cause the most problems for the students I am teaching

The Cambridge Learner Corpus enables us to see which words, grammar patterns, or structures cause the most problems for students learning English so we can be sure to cover these areas in our books. Conversely, we don’t need to use space in the books covering structures that students can use correctly.

Because we can analyse the error-coded corpus by exam, we can see what mistakes are most commonly made by PET level students, or by Proficiency level students, or any other exam contained in the Cambridge Learner Corpus and we can therefore cover these problem areas in the materials we produce.

'A definite plus for the book is that it has used material from the Cambridge International Corpus. Because use has been made of this Corpus, I feel assured that the book's vocabulary is based on authentic, current language.'
Review of Professional English in use: ICT in TESOLANZ Journal

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Students

Cambridge learner’s dictionaries, grammar and vocabulary learning materials, and examination, business and general English course books have all benefited from the information in the corpus. We no longer have to rely heavily on intuition to know what people say or write; instead we can see what hundreds of different speakers or writers have actually said or written. So, materials developed with a corpus are more authentic and can illustrate language as it is really used.

I can be sure that I’m learning the most commonly used words and expressions first

The corpus is constantly being added to so it’s always got current contemporary language in it and we can prioritise grammar and vocabulary that is most frequent and most useful. We can therefore find out how English is being used today, by real people and reflect that in any corpus-informed materials

The examples used will interest me

Because there is a huge range of types of material in the Cambridge International Corpus we can always find real examples that sound natural and realistic. So, the examples used, although they may sometimes be edited or adapted, are a reflection of real usage in real contexts; they are not invented.

We specifically collect material that reflects students’ interests (based on market research) so there is always text in the corpus that can be used both for analysis and for examples taken from subject areas of interest to students.

I can learn expressions from spoken English, rather than from written English

By using spoken corpora we can learn very important things about social communication. As a result, the activities in corpus-informed materials can focus on the most important features of speaking and listening skills and produce more effective communication. Touchstone and Cambridge Grammar of English both point out examples such as the following: When we report other people’s words, we often say ‘Mary said’ or ‘Daniel told me’, but the corpus shows we also frequently say ‘Mary was saying’ or ‘Daniel was telling me’, especially when we have some interesting news to pass on. The ‘was’ + -ing construction for reported speech has gone unnoticed in the past, even in comprehensive grammar reference books.

Where it is appropriate to do so, in the Cambridge Grammar of English there is a thorough examination of spoken examples side by side with balanced written examples so that relevant differences can be revealed.

I can be confident that I am focusing on the key areas that cause the most problems for students at the exam-level I’m studying for.

The Cambridge Learner Corpus enables us to see which words, grammar patterns, or structures cause the most problems for students learning English so we can be sure to cover these areas in our books. Conversely, we don’t need to use space in the books covering structures that students can use correctly.

Because we can analyse the error-coded corpus by exam, we can see what mistakes are most commonly made by PET level students, or by Proficiency level students, or any other exam contained in the Cambridge Learner Corpus and we can therefore cover these problem areas in our

publications.