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 Huddersfield

Stylistics: Using Linguistics to Explore Texts and Meaning (FutureLearn)

Languages & Literature

Gain insights into political speeches, beautiful poetry, and everything in between as you take a deep dive into stylistics. Uncover the real meaning behind the words you read and hear with stylistics Stylistics is the study of linguistic style in texts. It helps to explain how politicians mislead; how novelists and poets move their readers; how advertisers persuade us to buy their products and how the media influence public opinion. Stylistics empowers students to become critical readers by developing rigorous techniques of linguistic analysis.

Sep 27th 2021

4 Weeks

Speech Linguistics Critical Reading

Coursera

University of Florida,University of Arizona,Drexel University

Introduction to the Orbital Perspective (Coursera)

Social Sciences

The goals of this course are to develop the student’s critical thinking skills, global awareness, and ability to work as an integral part of a team in an increasingly complex global job market. The course provides a foundation in such skills as team building, collaboration, and elevated empathy using real-world scenarios from some of world’s most effective collaborative projects including the Earthrise-2068 Project.

Aug 17th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Earth Social Sciences Space

FutureLearn

University of Reading

Understanding Multilingual Children's Language Development (FutureLearn)

Education

Discover the benefits of multilingualism to enhance your practice in classroom, clinical, and home settings. Discover the value of multilingual environments at school and at home. Most people in the world speak more than one language and schools across the globe are becoming more and more multilingual as families move around. On this three-week course, you’ll gain the skills to support and nurture multilingual children.

Self Paced

3 Weeks

Language Multilingual Multilingual Learning

Coursera

Leiden University

EU policy and implementation: making Europe work! (Coursera)

Social Sciences

People have become more critical of EU policy and often seem to prefer local policy solutions in response to globalisation problems. How do you experience EU policy? Does it help? And if not, how can we change this? In this course, we learn how the European Union prepares and decides on policy, and how policy is transferred to member states and implemented by various authorities, including regional and local governments. We discuss the challenges of the European multi-level governance structure. We also focus on the main causes of policy failure or success. On this journey, we focus on actual policy and present the views of various experts: how easy is it to establish yourself in another EU-country?

Aug 17th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Europe Government Social Sciences

FutureLearn

The Open University,Università per Stranieri di Siena - UniStraSi,NUI Galway

Studying in Italian - Language and Literature: a MOVE-ME Project Course (FutureLearn)

Languages & Literature

Study Language and Literature in Italian and develop the skills you need to take part in a European student mobility program. Each year thousands of students travel across Europe to study in a foreign language like Italian. This can be daunting, even for those who are fluent. This online course, developed within the MOVE-ME project by UniStraSi, NUI Galway and The Open University, will help, guiding you through the peculiarities of academic discourse in Italian, and enabling you to understand and produce written and aural academic texts.

No sessions available

5-12 Weeks

Language Italian Writing Skills

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

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

FutureLearn

The University of Sheffield

Making Sense of Data in the Media (FutureLearn)

Economics & Finance Social Sciences

Learn how to make sense of social statistics and economic data with this introductory course on quantitative social science. Increasingly, we’re bombarded with all sorts of data about how society is changing. From opinion poll trends and migration data to economic results and government debt levels.

Available now

3 Weeks

Data Media Social Sciences

Coursera

University of London,UCL Institute of Education

What future for education? (Coursera)

Education Social Sciences

Through this course you will start to critically examine your own ideas about education, teaching and learning. The critique will be developed through engagement with theories and ideas developed through educational research. You will be encouraged to use these ideas to challenge or support your own ideas about education. Each week we will focus on one key question, using video lectures, key readings and challenges to explore some commonplace notions about education.

Aug 17th 2026

5-12 Weeks

Education Learning Social Sciences

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 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

Coursera

Duke University,Emory University,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Copyright for Educators & Librarians (Coursera)

Education Social Sciences

Fear and uncertainty about copyright law often plagues educators and sometimes prevents creative teaching. This course is a professional development opportunity designed to provide a basic introduction to US copyright law and to empower teachers and librarians at all grade levels. Course participants will discover that the law is designed to help educators and librarians.

Aug 17th 2026

5-12 Weeks