ABSTRACT
Advances in the availability, functionality, and user-friendliness of language corpora have resulted in a concomitant rise in the number of “data-driven learning” (DDL) studies focusing on younger learners (YLs) in recent years, with generally positive qualitative and even quantitative results now finally reported in the literature. However, there are still a number of barriers to the implementation and integration of DDL in the primary and secondary classroom, mainly involving the lack of “pedagogic processing” of existing (mainly adult-focused) materials, a lack of software for specific use with YLs, and a lack of corpus literacy reported for pre-/in-service teacher trainees of YLs that often leads to a reluctance to adopt DDL pedagogy. This chapter discusses the affordances of direct, hands-on corpus use by pre-tertiary (language) learners for the purposes of DDL, while also outlining the challenges involved in the successful implementation of DDL with younger learners. I summarise the successes (and occasional failures) of DDL with YLs to date, while reflecting on strategies to increase the adoption of DDL for YLs in future research.
