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Shin’ichiro Ishikawa,The ICNALE Guide: An Introduction to a
Learner Corpus Study on Asian Learners’ L2 English (st ed.).
London and New York: Routledge, . xiii + pp.
ISBN
Reviewed by Jingxin Zhang, Yabo Yan and Yong Mei
(Hubei University)
Learner corpus research (LCR) has greatly contributed to our understanding of
English learners’ language development and use in various contexts (Granger
et al., ). Ishikawa’s () monograph, The ICNALE guide: An introduction to
a learner corpus study on Asian learners’ L2 English (st ed.) introduces a learner
corpus that focuses on English produced by learners in an Asian context. In addi-
tion, this book covers empirical studies of the corpus data introduced. Specically,
it adopts the contrastive interlanguage analysis (CIA) (Granger, ) framework
and employs corpus-based methods to conduct a comparative analysis of lexi-
cal, grammatical, and pragmatic features that distinguish Asian learners of Eng-
lish from L English native speakers (ENS). Additionally, it explores the eect of
individual dierences such as gender, motivation and learning history of learn-
ers, and discusses the automatic assessment of learner output. This book pro-
vides an invaluable resource and reference for linguists, teachers of English, and
researchers of learner language.
The book consists of nine chapters divided into two parts, with Part I cover-
ing the rst three chapters and Part II encompassing the remaining six chapters.
Chapter reviews the historical background of LCR and discusses two ground-
breaking corpora released by the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics: the Inter-
national Corpus of Learner English (ICLE; Granger et al., ) and the Louvain
International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI; Gilquin et al.,
). It also covers the latest developments as well as the major theories and
methods in the eld of LCR. For example, learner corpora (LC) are increasingly
focusing on young learners’ data, longitudinal data, phonological data, multilin-
gual data, and data quantity, intending to address limitations of earlier LC iter-
ations. Furthermore, the chapter provides a typology of LC data and introduces
the analytical framework dubbed CIA, initially proposed by Granger () and
further rened by Granger ().
Furthermore, this chapter outlines common limitations of many studies in
LCR, notably the absence of homogeneity of prociency levels present, rendering
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.00049.zha |Published online: 27 August 2024
International Journal of Learner Corpus Research ISSN 2215-1478 |E‑ISSN 2215-1486
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
direct comparisons of results challenging due to diering levels of learner pro-
ciency. Another noteworthy limitation is the exclusive reliance on ENS data as
the singular and denitive benchmark for comparative analysis. Additionally, the
author also points out that studies of the language use of Asian EFL (English as
a Foreign Language) or ESL (English as a Second Language) learners are under-
represented in the eld.
Chapter presents seven key strengths of ICNALE. These strengths encom-
pass the diversity in participants’ backgrounds, the accumulation of both spoken
and written outputs, the carefully controlled conditions surrounding the produc-
tion, the comprehensive and detailed metadata survey, the incorporation of mul-
timodal data from which registered users can download all the sound and video
les, the avoidance of an exclusive reliance on ENS data as a reference (e.g., by
also collecting data from procient L speakers data), and the accessibility of
the data through both online and downloadable versions. To comprehensively
explore English learners from Asia, ICNALE comprises learner data from college
students across ten countries and regions in Asia (China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore/Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thai-
land), in alignment with Kachru’s () “three Concentric Circles” model. In the
Asian context, it is important for us to survey both ESL used in the Outer Cir-
cle and EFL used in the Expanding Circle (pp. ). Furthermore, as highlighted
by Callies (), the appropriate basis of comparison for LCR data remains a
“serious but yet unresolved issue in CIA” (pp.). To address this concern, the
ICNALE team has collected ENS data from college students, English teachers,
and business persons from Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, the US,
Nigeria, Ireland, the Philippines, in an eort to address the “one norm to rule
them all” that is criticized by Gilquin ().
Chapter elucidates ICNALE’s “+” module, consisting of three core mod-
ules (Written Essays, Spoken Monologues, Spoken Dialogues) and two additional
modules (Edited Essays, Global Rating Archives). This chapter provides informa-
tion about these modules, including their participants, metadata, sample selec-
tion, task design, data collection, and processing procedures. The Written Essays
module comprised essays, while the Spoken Monologues module featured
speeches discussing two topics: part-time jobs and smoking. The Spoken Dia-
logues module collected data through interviews, each lasting minutes and
covering ten dierent task types, including free conversations, sequential picture
descriptions, and role-plays. The Edited Essays are revised versions of essays
from the Written Essays module, and the Global Rating Archives contain assess-
ments for essays and role-play speeches from the Written Essays and Spo-
ken Dialogues modules.
[2] Jingxin Zhang, Yabo Yan and Yong Mei
The second part covers Chapters –, which reports on an in-depth inves-
tigation and analysis of Asian learners’ L English use based on the data from
ICNALE. In this part, the author conducts case studies on Asian EFL learners’
vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, and individual dierences, respectively. The
ndings from these studies show the potential of ICNALE and why it is important
to focus on EFL learners from the Asian context.
Chapter examines the vocabulary usage of Asian ESL and EFL learners,
focusing on uency, diversity, sophistication, and keywords and key phrases (tri-
grams). The data used come from the ICNALE Spoken Monologues and Writ-
ten Essays. The ndings highlight the impact of both learner-related (e.g., ESL
or EFL) and task-related (e.g., written or spoken task) parameters on the quality
and quantity of the vocabulary employed. For instance, the lexical gap between
ESL and EFL regions was conrmed in uency and diversity in speeches, and
partly in sophistication in essays. Furthermore, a comparative study of keywords
and keyphrases (trigrams) in learner essays and their edited versions shows that
there are particular challenges faced by learners. These diculties include inac-
curate use of singular nouns instead of plural forms and inclusion of nouns with-
out articles.
Using data from the ICNALE Edited Essays, Chapter traces the develop-
ment of Asian EFL learners’ grammar skills across prociency levels. A mul-
tidimensional analysis (Biber, ) is also carried out, looking at distinct
lexicogrammatical features to determine the typological characteristics of Chinese
learners’ production compared to ENS. It was concluded that Chinese learners
struggle with coherence, consistency, and attentiveness to their audience.
Chapter explores pragmatic devices, politeness strategies, and gestures
employed by Asian ESL and EFL learners using the data from Written Essays and
Spoken Dialogues. The results show that the selection of politeness level during
communication appears to be “highly person-dependent” (pp. ), leading to the
conclusion that Asian EFL learners’ development in L pragmatic skills is more
individually variable than generally believed (pp.). Furthermore, multimodal
gestures were found to play important pragmatic roles. Learners’ utilization of
diverse pragmatic tools is reported to be a promising avenue for future research.
Chapter delves into the topic of individual dierences, such as gender, moti-
vation, and learning history. This chapter presents the impact on learners’ vocab-
ulary usage of three learner variables associated with motivation and learner
variables related to learning history (e.g., the extent of L practice in the four
language skills, and experience with an ENS teacher). The data come from the
Spoken Monologues and Written Essays modules. The ndings of this analysis
indicate that the female learners’ production was characterized by attributes such
as speaking less and being more polite and cooperative. Moreover, they have
Review of Ishikawa () [3]
observed that learners’ L learning motivation and L learning history may inu-
ence the lexical quality (token and STTR) of their spoken and written outputs to
some extent.
Chapter outlines potential applications of learner corpora in the context
of language assessment. The chapter starts with a report on the internal consis-
tency and inter-rater reliability of the rating data included in the ICNALE Global
Rating Archive. Furthermore, it looks at how the background of raters might
inuence the resultant ratings. One noteworthy discovery is that no signicant
dierences were observed in the ratings provided by ENS raters and non-ENS
raters, nor by raters with or without prior teaching experience. Subsequently, a
multiple regression analysis is run with the aim of exploring the ecacy of auto-
mated assessment.
In the concluding Chapter , the author summarizes six points to be consid-
ered in future LCR research. The rst point is how to avoid overgeneralizing the
conclusion to the whole L learners merely based on the data collected from a
limited range of learners (e.g., only university learners). The second point is how
to explore the L development in learners from a dynamic perspective. The third
point is how to choose appropriate referential criteria for comparative analysis to
avoid overdependence on ENS data. The fourth point is how to promote trian-
gulation in terms of data, theory, and methodology, the h is how to deal with
statistics more appropriately in LCR, and the sixth is how to further widen the
research scope.
This book serves as a comprehensive guide to using ICNALE, covering its
essential methods, principles, and metadata. Furthermore, it explores aspects of
both interlanguage analysis and foreign language acquisition, oering insights of
great value to both corpus linguistics and L research. However, this book also has
certain limitations. For example, the entirety of the data introduced and analyzed
comprises exclusively cross-sectional data, meaning that we are unable to observe
any longitudinal and dynamic features of learners’ L development.
Nonetheless, there are three key contributions of the book. First, the publi-
cation of this book is a timely response to the challenges posed by inadequate
data and limited research on Asian EFL and ESL learners. This book discusses the
features of English that are characteristic of Asian L learners in terms of vocab-
ulary, grammar, and pragmatics, along with individual variations among learn-
ers. It helps EFL teachers in Asia to better understand the linguistic knowledge of
learners in their countries/regions and adjust their teaching accordingly.
Second, the value of this book is further amplied by its broad and varied
content, which provides inspiration for educators, researchers, and corpus devel-
opers alike. For instance, the author shares valuable insights and experiences with
[4] Jingxin Zhang, Yabo Yan and Yong Mei
corpus researchers and developers, guiding them in their endeavors to construct
corpora.
Third, this monograph is written in an easy and clear style, rendering it acces-
sible to readers with and without prior experience in corpus research. It oers a
thorough introduction of ICANLE and its construction, as well as results from
detailed case studies. In short, the meticulous design facilitates a comprehensive
and in-depth understanding of ICNALE and its applications.
Funding
This work is supported by the Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored by the
Department of Education of Hubei Province (Grant No. Y) and the Wuhan Educational
Science Planning Project (Grant No. ZG).
References
Biber, D. (). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Callies, M. (). “Learner corpus methodology”. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin, & F. Meunier
(Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of learner corpus research (pp.–). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gilquin, G. (). One norm to rule them all? Corpus-derived norms in learner corpus
research and foreign language teaching. Language Teaching, (), –.
Gilquin, G., De Cock, S., & Granger, S. (). The Louvain International Database of Spoken
English Interlanguage. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
Granger, S. (). From CA to CIA and back: An integrated contrastive approach to
computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In K. Aijmer, B. Altenberg, & M. Johansson
(Eds.), Languages in contrast: Papers from a symposium on text-based cross-linguistic
studies (pp. –). Lund: Lund University Press.
Granger, S. (). Contrastive interlanguage analysis: A reappraisal. International Journal of
Learner Corpus Research, (), –.
Granger, S., Dupont, M., Meunier, F., Naets, H., & Paquot, M. (). The international corpus
of learner English (Version 3). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
Kachru, B. B. (). “Teaching world Englishes”. In B.B. Kachru (Ed.), The other tongue:
English across cultures (2nd ed.) (pp. –). Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois
Press.
Review of Ishikawa () [5]
Address for correspondence
Yong Mei
Hubei University
School of Foreign Languages
, Youyi Avenue, Wuchang District
Wuhan City, Hubei Province
China
ymei@foxmail.com
Co-author information
Jingxin Zhang
Hubei University
School of Foreign Languages
zjx-kobe@hotmail.com
Yabo Yan
Hubei University
School of Foreign Languages
yaboyan@foxmail.com
Publication history
Date received: September
Date accepted: February
Published online: August
[6] Jingxin Zhang, Yabo Yan and Yong Mei
