Metaphor and COVID-19 in the New Zealand Context: An Introduction to Corpus-based Studies
Abstract
Dr Michael Barlow’s research is based on the use of different kinds of corpora and so he is not impacted by restrictions on travel and face-to-face interviews during the pandemic. Using corpus data presents its own challenges and opportunities and he will explore some of these in the workshop. In the main part of the presentation, he will outline and demonstrate step-by-step how to carry out a corpus-based research project.
Recently, a journal editor has asked him to write about metaphor and COVID in the New Zealand context. In the workshop, he will also discuss how he approaches this topic in terms of:
(1) how to find appropriate data (and corpus tools);
(2) considerations in transforming the raw data for analysis;
(3) how to analyse the data using simple concordance software;
(4) general issues arising from corpus analyses.
About the speaker
Dr. Michael Barlow joined the University of Auckland in 2004. His main research interests involve the analysis of large text databases in order to increase our understanding of the cognitive representation of language (a usage-based perspective) and to make progress is understanding L2 acquisition and improving language teaching. As part of that endeavour, he has been creating text analysis software (MonoConc, ParaConc, Collocate, and more recently WordSkew). He is on the editorial boards for the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, Studies in Corpus Linguistics, Routledge Frequency Dictionary Series, and the English Language Research Journal and is associated with the Asia-Pacific Corpus Linguistics Association.
About the workshop
COVID-19 is fundamentally changing academic research landscape. Humanities and social sciences, relying heavily on fieldwork for data collection, are particularly hit hard by the pandemic. The cessation of travel opportunities brought by international or domestic travel bans and limitations has forced many researchers to either change, postpone, or even cancel their original research plans. As a group of social science PhD students from U21 universities, we are launching a Social Sciences Online Writing Workshop to self-empower ourselves by innovatively refreshing research skills and writing collaboratively and inter-disciplinarily.
Metaphor and COVID-19 in the New Zealand Context: An Introduction to Corpus-based Studies
Venue
Abstract
Dr Michael Barlow’s research is based on the use of different kinds of corpora and so he is not impacted by restrictions on travel and face-to-face interviews during the pandemic. Using corpus data presents its own challenges and opportunities and he will explore some of these in the workshop. In the main part of the presentation, he will outline and demonstrate step-by-step how to carry out a corpus-based research project.
Recently, a journal editor has asked him to write about metaphor and COVID in the New Zealand context. In the workshop, he will also discuss how he approaches this topic in terms of:
(1) how to find appropriate data (and corpus tools);
(2) considerations in transforming the raw data for analysis;
(3) how to analyse the data using simple concordance software;
(4) general issues arising from corpus analyses.
About the speaker
Dr. Michael Barlow joined the University of Auckland in 2004. His main research interests involve the analysis of large text databases in order to increase our understanding of the cognitive representation of language (a usage-based perspective) and to make progress is understanding L2 acquisition and improving language teaching. As part of that endeavour, he has been creating text analysis software (MonoConc, ParaConc, Collocate, and more recently WordSkew). He is on the editorial boards for the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, Studies in Corpus Linguistics, Routledge Frequency Dictionary Series, and the English Language Research Journal and is associated with the Asia-Pacific Corpus Linguistics Association.
About the workshop
COVID-19 is fundamentally changing academic research landscape. Humanities and social sciences, relying heavily on fieldwork for data collection, are particularly hit hard by the pandemic. The cessation of travel opportunities brought by international or domestic travel bans and limitations has forced many researchers to either change, postpone, or even cancel their original research plans. As a group of social science PhD students from U21 universities, we are launching a Social Sciences Online Writing Workshop to self-empower ourselves by innovatively refreshing research skills and writing collaboratively and inter-disciplinarily.