Motivation and individual differences in learning with corpora

International audience Language corpora can be used by learners directly or indirectly in what Johns (1990) called "data-driven learning" (DDL). The approach has been applied and evaluated in dozens of studies in a variety of contexts (Boulton 2010), published research reporting generally positive reactions from the learners concerned. However, no activity, technique, tool, method or approach will ever appeal to all learners, and DDL is no exception (Boulton 2009), so it should come as no surprise that many studies report at least some negative feedback from some learners to some aspects of corpus use. Learner (and teacher) motivation is crucial to success in introducing any innovation in classroom practice (Ushioda 2008). It is particularly cited in relation to information and communication technology, though it is often overstated here: making use of ICT by no means guarantees motivation (cf. Jarvis 2004). This is the case too in DDL, where negative reactions often relate directly to the technological aspect, with a number of studies even mentioning a measure of "technophobia" among certain learner populations (most recently Römer 2010: 29). This study set out to address the issue of motivation in individuals' receptiveness to paper-based and computer-based DDL. 43 learners in an architecture college in France were introduced to DDL over ten weeks in the form of both printed materials and hands-on consultation (see also Boulton forthcoming). Feedback was collected at the start and end of the course, showing a small but significant decrease in overall receptiveness. Reasons for this are discussed and put in perspective, given the levels of language proficiency and relative lack of motivation for language learning as a whole among many students majoring in other areas (Brown 2010). The second part of the study looked at motivational profiles as assessed though the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire designed by Pintrich et al. (1991): the students in the present study scored lower than those in Pintrich et al. on five of the six motivation scales, the only exception being test anxiety. A number of correlations are identified between these motivation scales and learners' receptivity to DDL as well as to their learning outcomes. Most notably, students with high intrinsic goal orientation (i.e. who value a task for its own sake rather than as a means to an end) tend to perceive DDL more favourably overall and are more successful in terms of learning outcomes derived from paper-based materials. However, no significant correlations are found between any of the scales and hands-on concordancing, leaving open the possibility that students with different motivation profiles may benefit from working with corpora directly.