Foreign Language Classroom Contexts and Students’ Uptake

A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between classroom contexts and students’ uptake and what can facilitate students’ uptake. To examine classroom contexts, a corpus was constructed from recorded classes by the author to compare the differences between the classroom contexts among classes. The results showed that students’ uptake influences their study and that it will lead to learning. Also, using the L2 in class can promote students’ vocabulary and sentence uptake, while both the L1 and the L2 have a role in grammar uptake. As for the three activities compared in this study (Language-learning task, Translation, and Drill) Language-learning tasks contributed to students’ uptake the most. The study shows the possibility of using a corpus approach to gaining knowledge of what language teachers should do to help students effectively learn languages.