Development of DDL Support Tools for Junior and Senior High School Students: Efforts to Address Barriers to the Adoption of DDL

Abstract

This study explores the development and implementation of data-driven learning (DDL) tools for middle and high school students to overcome barriers in English language education. DDL, proposed by Johns (1991), emphasizes the use of corpus tools for pedagogical purposes, enabling learners to discover language patterns through active analysis of linguistic data. Despite its potential, DDL has not been widely adopted in primary and secondary education due to challenges such as the complexity of authentic texts and the need for specialized training. To address these issues, we developed hDDL2, a user-friendly DDL support software tailored for younger learners. The hDDL2 tool incorporates an educational corpus adjusted for vocabulary and grammar levels appropriate for junior and high school students. hDDL2 effectively supports inductive, student-centered learning, aligning with modern educational goals. The tool’s features, including easy-to-use search functions and grammar quizzes, facilitate the discovery and retention of language rules. This paper discusses the progressive development of hDDL2, and its application to beginner-level classroom settings. The results suggest that hDDL2 can bridge the gap between theoretical DDL approaches and practical classroom implementation, promoting more engaging language learning experiences for beginning-level students.