A Corpus-Driven Analysis of Spoken and Written Academic Collocations

This paper presents an evaluation of Clilstore, a web-based service that was designed to assist with the delivery of Content and Language Integrated Learning. Clilstore claims to be a flexible resource that facilitates the authoring and sharing of multimedia materials to suit the teaching and learning requirements of a variety of end users. The language learning requirements of students on an undergraduate Irish language programme at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland are considered, as is the challenge facing the programme delivery team to develop materials leading to the achievement of the learning outcomes set out in the New Third Level Syllabus for Irish (see www.teagascnagaeilge.ie), a learner-centred syllabus based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The creation of a sample Clilstoreunit is described, and qualitative data collected from group of students on the above programme following testing in a face to face multimedia language laboratory setting is presented. Analysis of this data suggests that using Clilstore units in a technology rich learning environment provides a very effective means of introducing and processing new content, and that the inherent emphasis placed on dictionary consultation by individual users generally leads to a productive and positive learning experience.