ABSTRACT
The study reported on in this chapter compared computer-based and paper-based methods of discovering and learning L2 German verb–noun collocations using a single-group, pretest–posttest design. The computer-based method involved using various tools such as word clouds, ranked lists, and concordance lines to search a large open-access German corpus. The paper-based method used teacher-prepared materials that included corpus printouts. The study found that both methods resulted in significant gains in learning and confirmed results from previous research on the effectiveness of different data-driven learning (DDL) types. However, the study also revealed a new finding that the hands-on method was more efficient in improving morphological accuracy. This finding is particularly important for inflectional languages like German. Additionally, learners with larger overall vocabulary sizes benefited more from DDL. The study suggests that high-intermediate students can effectively use different corpus tools to expand their L2 lexicons, which can promote independent learning and reduce the teacher’s preparation time and paper consumption. The methodological contribution of the study is that it was designed within an integrated Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA)–DDL framework.
