A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH TO ESL: TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION By Angela Komsic Super A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Linguistics 2004UMI Number: 1420006 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized ‘copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 1420008 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346, ‘Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346ABSTRACT A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH TO ESL: TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION By Angela Komsie Super ‘Taking both the advantages and limitations of using a corpus-based approach in language learning into account, I make the claim that corpora are most suitably utilized only if they are used for the purpose of curriculum and textbook development and evaluation. focus this claim by providing the results of three studies that I have conducted. The first study provides evidence for one way that corpora may most effectively be utilized (based on empi al data) for the purpose of textbook evaluation, The second study focuses on the ways in which ESL teachers and researchers may develop textbooks based on information (e.g. idioms) gathered from simple corpus concordance searching in relevant corpora, and how to most effectively transform basic search results into communicative teaching materials, The third study focuses on the ways in which a corpus-based approach may be used for the purpose of materials development in an ESP classroom, Each study is introduced with justifications based on prior research done on communicative teaching methods in ESL. Each study is concluded with further implications and elaboration on how language teachers can easily and most effectively use corpora in their classrooms,