FutureLearn

Corpus Linguistics: Method, Analysis, Interpretation (FutureLearn)

Offered by Lancaster University,

Get a practical introduction to the methodology of corpus linguistics for researchers in the social sciences and humanities. Learn how to build and query corpora in this practical course
On this course, you’ll get a practical introduction to corpus linguistics, an extremely versatile methodology of language analysis using computers.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Over eight weeks, you’ll build the skills necessary to collect and analyse large digital collections of text (corpora).
You’ll be introduced to a number of topics demonstrating the use of corpora in areas as diverse as discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and language learning and teaching.

What topics will you cover?

Introduction to corpus linguistics and basic techniques: concordancing
Further corpus techniques: collocation and keywords
Corpus-based discourse analysis
Building a corpus: tagging and processing data
Sociolinguistics: analysing BNC1994 and BNC2014
Textbook and dictionary construction
Language learning and corpus linguistics
Swearing extravaganza: looking at language and society

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Interpret corpus data using techniques such as concordancing, collocation and keywords.
Describe the main methodological underpinnings behind corpus linguistics.
Apply corpus linguistic techniques to the analysis of different types of data.
Collect own corpora.
Design research studies using corpus methods.
Explain corpus methods as well as a range of applications of this versatile methodology.
Perform corpus analysis using a range of corpus tools such as #LancsBox, CQPweb, USAS and BNClab.

Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone with an interest in the study of language.

Go to Class

MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

FutureLearn

University of Southampton

Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching (FutureLearn)

Education Personal and Professional Development

An introduction to some key concepts in the effective teaching and learning of languages. What is language? How do we learn meaning in a new language? What is easy and hard about learning another language? And what is the best way to teach other languages? This free online course suggests some answers to these questions. It has been developed by the University of Southampton and the British Council, and draws on their exciting joint online course, MA in English Language Teaching.

No sessions available

4 Weeks

Language Teaching Languages Learning Languages

FutureLearn

British Council

Language Assessment in the Classroom (FutureLearn)

Education Languages & Literature

Assessment is becoming increasingly important in language education. Understand it better with this course for language teachers. In the last 15 years, assessment has had an increasingly significant impact on education policy globally. Consequently, there is a growing need among teachers to understand how assessment works.

Oct 18th 2021

4 Weeks

Language Teaching Assessment

Coursera

University of Michigan

Community Awareness: Police Brutality in the U.S. (Coursera)

Social Sciences

The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have sparked a wave of renewed protests against police brutality across the United States. These nationwide uprisings have transformed into an intense interest from the public around understanding systemic racism and abuse of power. Millions of Americans and people around the world are watching incidents of police violence and excessive force captured on video, but are looking to learn about the inequalities at the root of these incidents. While the calls of Black Lives Matter protesters to #DefundThePolice are being heard for the first time by many Americans, they are part of a longstanding effort by communities and activists to reinvest in communities rather than policing and prisons.

Nov 16th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Social Sciences United States Violence

Coursera

Princeton University

Paradoxes of War (Coursera)

Social Sciences

The Paradoxes of War teaches us to understand that war is not only a normal part of human existence, but is arguably one of the most important factors in making us who we are. Through this course, I hope that you will come to appreciate that war is both a natural expression of common human emotions and interactions and a constitutive part of how we cohere as groups. That is, war is paradoxically an expression of our basest animal nature and the exemplar of our most vaunted and valued civilized virtues.

Nov 16th 2026

13-24 Weeks

History Sociology Democracy

FutureLearn

University of Groningen,University Medical Center Groningen - UMCG

Language Testing During Awake Brain Surgery (FutureLearn)

Health & Society Languages & Literature

Discover the importance and the process of language testing during awake brain surgery. Language representation in the brain can be studied by testing language during awake brain surgery. In this course, you will get to know the importance of neurolinguistics and awake brain surgery by seeing the collaboration between surgical staff and neurolinguists before, during and after the operation.

Self Paced

5-12 Weeks

Language Brain Surgery Language Testing

Coursera

Stanford University,The University of British Columbia

Game Theory II: Advanced Applications (Coursera)

Robotics & Computer Vision

Popularized by movies such as "A Beautiful Mind", game theory is the mathematical modeling of strategic interaction among rational (and irrational) agents. Over four weeks of lectures, this advanced course considers how to design interactions between agents in order to achieve good social outcomes. Three main topics are covered: social choice theory (i.e., collective decision making and voting systems), mechanism design, and auctions.

Nov 9th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Game Economics Social Sciences

FutureLearn

University of Groningen,University of Warsaw,Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society,ACTiSS

Social Network Analysis: The Networks Connecting People (FutureLearn)

Health & Society Social Sciences

Explore the structure and dynamics of different types of social networks and use models to identify patterns of social influence. Learn how norms, viruses and info spread through social networks. Have you ever wondered how a tiny virus can spread across the planet, how people share false information through social media, or why people abide by group norms, even when they are harmful? With easy-to-use computational models you will explore the social dynamics explaining these processes.

Self Paced

3 Weeks

Networks Social Sciences Social Networks

FutureLearn

University of Birmingham,The University of Nottingham,British Library

Learning from the Past: A Guide for the Curious Researcher (FutureLearn)

Humanities History

Learn how to understand the past to explain the present, and get to know the amazing sources and resources of the British Library. Discover sources that help you understand the past, and explain the present! The language of history determines how we view our world and understand urgent issues, such as the environment, conflict and human rights.

Available now

3 Weeks

Image History Language

Coursera

University of London,SOAS University of London

Global Energy and Climate Policy (Coursera)

Sci: Energy & Earth Sciences Social Sciences

The Global Energy and Climate Policy course offers an introduction to the theoretical and practical understanding of how energy and climate change policies are designed, shaped, advocated and implemented. As energy markets go truly global, domestic energy policies are becoming more and more entangled with wider issues of international governance. Concurrently, the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to climate change and transition to a low-carbon future is adding a further layer of complexity.

Nov 16th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Energy Climate Change Renewable Energy

FutureLearn

The University of Nottingham

How to Read Your Boss (FutureLearn)

Management & Leadership Personal and Professional Development

How can we talk more effectively in the workplace? This course introduces linguistic techniques to enhance business communication. Think about the conversations you have had in your workplace over the past few months. Do you ever come out of meetings wishing you had said something differently, felt misunderstood or not been given credit for your ideas?

No sessions available

2 Weeks

Business Job Workplace

FutureLearn

University of Glasgow

Multilingual Learning for a Globalised World (FutureLearn)

Education Teacher Professional Development

This free online course will explore multilingual education and how it can impact and improve education and even wider society. Our languages are an essential part of who we are as human beings. They are instruments of communication and are often a source of dignity and of human pride. Our life experiences and views of the world are bound up in our languages. Our sense of self might be strengthened by our ability to speak the language we choose or curtailed by our inability to understand the language that speaks to us.

Self Paced

3 Weeks

Learning Language Multilingual

Coursera

Emory University

"Making" Progress Teach-Out (Coursera)

Social Sciences

What is “progress”? How do we decide when we’re moving forward and not taking steps backward? And how do we explore the idea of progress around public sites of memory? This Teach-Out is an invitation to think about what progress means, and how you can look for it wherever you are—in your city, community, or neighborhood—and reflect upon your own ideas about the place you live in.

Nov 16th 2026

2 Weeks

Community Social Sciences Public Spaces