As a second language user and learner in English, I always find difficulties in using the correct and suitable collocations for my writing and speaking. So, today I will introduce two websites that easily can help us especially second language learners to check the use of collocations and concordance. The first programme is the British National Corpus. BNC has 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources. It gives you the examples of concordance that can be used together with your target words from the real life.
Just enter your word in the look up box (as shown in the circle above) such as 'flower', and click 'go' for the results.
The results of your search will appear as in the image above. On the right, which is shown in the red circle, you will get the source of the sentence that appear on the screen and on the left which is in the blue circle, you can see the example of how your word is used in a sentence.
The second website which is similar to BNC is Just The Word. The function of this programme is just like BNC, as it searches for you the combination of your chosen words from different sources. The most interesting part of this website is that it helps you to find the function of your chosen words in different word class. It is not only that, JTW also provides the examples of the use of your chosen words.
Once you enter your words or phrases in the search box, the result will appear as in the image above. In the right-hand frame (orange circle) you will find the part(s) of speech and the types of relation that the word is found in. For instance, if you want to find the word in the adjective class, just click on the Adj link and it will bring you to the related clusters on the right of the page. The green bar indicates the frequency of the word use in the given combination.
If you want to look how the combination is used in a sentence, you can just click on one of the combination result and it will appear as above. You will get to see a few sentences that show how your chosen word can go together with the suggested result. Amazing isn't it?
Teaching suggestion:
Both suggested websites BNC and JTW are very useful for students' vocabulary enrichment. I would say they are suitable to be used in both primary and secondary school students (if teachers plan to use) and it is a great source for second language learners.
What I like about these websites:
1. Helps users and students to identify the correct use of words' combination and the results come from different written and spoken resources.
2. The examples come from the real source and authentic, which means they are frequently use in the world.
3. JTW also provides the examples of common errors made by second language learners and it is very beneficial for their language performance.
4. JTW gives the structure of the word combination and how they can function in different parts of speech.
5. Both are suitable resources for autonomous learning because learners can look for word concordance on their own and improve their writing skill.
6. They are FREE to use and FREE is good for me!
Thing to consider:
1. You really need internet connection and computer facilities to get into these websites. Or if students are not available for them, teachers can just print them out and make them as handouts in the classroom.
Just enter your word in the look up box (as shown in the circle above) such as 'flower', and click 'go' for the results.
The results of your search will appear as in the image above. On the right, which is shown in the red circle, you will get the source of the sentence that appear on the screen and on the left which is in the blue circle, you can see the example of how your word is used in a sentence.
The second website which is similar to BNC is Just The Word. The function of this programme is just like BNC, as it searches for you the combination of your chosen words from different sources. The most interesting part of this website is that it helps you to find the function of your chosen words in different word class. It is not only that, JTW also provides the examples of the use of your chosen words.
Once you enter your words or phrases in the search box, the result will appear as in the image above. In the right-hand frame (orange circle) you will find the part(s) of speech and the types of relation that the word is found in. For instance, if you want to find the word in the adjective class, just click on the Adj link and it will bring you to the related clusters on the right of the page. The green bar indicates the frequency of the word use in the given combination.
If you want to look how the combination is used in a sentence, you can just click on one of the combination result and it will appear as above. You will get to see a few sentences that show how your chosen word can go together with the suggested result. Amazing isn't it?
Teaching suggestion:
Both suggested websites BNC and JTW are very useful for students' vocabulary enrichment. I would say they are suitable to be used in both primary and secondary school students (if teachers plan to use) and it is a great source for second language learners.
What I like about these websites:
1. Helps users and students to identify the correct use of words' combination and the results come from different written and spoken resources.
2. The examples come from the real source and authentic, which means they are frequently use in the world.
3. JTW also provides the examples of common errors made by second language learners and it is very beneficial for their language performance.
4. JTW gives the structure of the word combination and how they can function in different parts of speech.
5. Both are suitable resources for autonomous learning because learners can look for word concordance on their own and improve their writing skill.
6. They are FREE to use and FREE is good for me!
Thing to consider:
1. You really need internet connection and computer facilities to get into these websites. Or if students are not available for them, teachers can just print them out and make them as handouts in the classroom.
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