ABSTRACT
Corpus linguistics and Learner Corpus Research (LCR) share a set of common features, among which is the use of corpora and corpus tools to analyze language. A comparison of the oft-cited definitions of LCR reveals that one of the key features of learner corpora is that the language they contain is meant to be as authentic as possible and is often defined as natural. Access to large electronic learner corpora in the 1990s led to a revolution in the way learner language was analyzed and described. The initial criticism levelled against LCR – be it fair or not – proved very fruitful as it prompted learner corpus researchers to explicitly verbalize the numerous advantages of LCR and move the field further. It can be argued that there has been a true qualitative evolution over time in the research methods used in LCR. In corpus-driven approaches, the corpus is viewed as a source of inspiration to formulate hypotheses about language.
