What is the vision of EasyCorpus?
EasyCorpus.com is designed to provide an online English language learning portal for registered users (i.e. members) to improve and ultimately master their English language and communication skills. This is achieved by learning words and phrases in context from real-world topics and stories. This experience is also shared interactively or collaboratively with members from all over the world. Therefore, this is called the unique EasyCorpus 3-Step method to language learning. EasyCorpus' vision is to be a world-class online language provider. Our goal is to facilitate language learners to communicate using precise 'choice of words' when conveying thoughts or ideas. This will bring clarity to their communication. The goal for the individual learner is to ultimately become a world-class communicator using the EasyCorpus 3-Step method.
What is a 'corpus' and why is it called EasyCorpus?
A corpus is a collection of written or spoken words from the real-world or authentic context. Therefore, the written or spoken words in a corpus can be collected from various sources such as newspapers articles, books, magazine articles, websites, television, radio, speeches, etc.
Corpus studies are generally the domain of researchers, teachers, academics (i.e. language professors) or even language professionals. In language teaching and learning, corpus studies sit under the branch of 'linguistics', and are therefore called 'Corpus Linguistics'.
Now, the team at 'EasyCorpus' is bringing this exclusive domain within the reach of ordinary people or students of English. Through a range of features, we have made it 'easy' for you to discover, learn, collect, interact, record, and use words interactively and collaboratively. Hence, we called this English language portal 'EasyCorpus' with the tagline "never be lost for words".
To this end, the EasyCorpus method is different from other language learning methods. EasyCorpus illustrates how words are used in different categories or contexts namely business, sports politics, health, entertainment, technology, travel, art, and science. In addition to this, the words or phrases are further sub-categorised according to the 'topics' within the various contexts. The topics are various real-world stories and, thus, will enable users to notice, appreciate and be aware of the range of words used within a topic. The content on EasyCorpus comprises content added by the EasyCorpus administration as well as user-generated content from members.
Why is the tagline 'Never be lost for Words'?
Members are individuals with a burning desire to ultimately master a language through reading, listening, writing and speaking. EasyCorpus members have a laser-like focus to excel in language proficiency and communicate effectively. The goal is to become an articulate, skillful, competent and confident communicator by knowing how to express ideas in an exact or precise manner by using an exact or precise 'choice of words'. This will bring clarity to your communication.
Ultimately, you may be able to summon a word or phrase at will and thus, you will 'never be lost for words' in any situation where you need to communicate effectively. Indeed, people may start calling you a 'walking dictionary'. This will be the ultimate compliment to you.
How is EasyCorpus different from other language portals?
EasyCorpus is a language portal designed to enable English language learning by showing 'how' a word or phrase is used in a real-world context. The various contexts include business, sports politics, health, entertainment, technology, travel, art and science. In addition to this, the words or phrases are further categorised according to 'topics' within the various contexts. The topics are various real -world stories and, thus, will enable language learners to notice, appreciate and be aware of how words function within a topic or story.
By learning words or phrases in context and by topic, students will be able to communicate more confidently and proficiently when speaking, writing, listening and reading. Hence, by improving their word knowledge in various topics, students will 'never be lost for words'. Furthermore, EasyCorpus caters to various needs of different learners from basic, intermediate, and advanced levels as well as to academicians and corporate users. It is, therefore, a comprehensive platform for language learners to enhance their English proficiency.
In essence, EasyCorpus shows 'language in action', and to a certain extent answers important questions like: 1) Can I use this word in a sentence like this? 2) Which is the best word to use when I want to express this 'meaning'? 3) In which context(s) can I use this word?
The only evidence to prove whether the words or phrases can be used in a certain way is to look at EasyCorpus! You can refer to it anytime, anywhere, from all over the world. If you are not sure of a language point, you can get assistance from the Global Corpus Community (i.e. Corpus Community, Corpus Forum and the Founder's Blog) to help you reinforce your learning and understanding of the words and phrases.
Spoken Corpus, Category & Topics Corpus
(i) Spoken Corpus contains Political Leaders, Business Leaders, Sports Personalities, Celebrities, Other Personalities and Members. This is reflected in the Corpus Collection Menu with details of each individual collection ( Eg: Barack Obama from Political Leaders, and so on)
(ii) Category Corpus - this will contain words from various categories and topics
In essence, the Unique Selling Proposition of the language portal is designed to focus on improving vocabulary or word knowledge and ultimately achieving English proficiency by exploring words in a real-world or authentic context under various categories. The words and phrases in context are also from various topics or real- world stories, themes and issues. Also, the words may be collected by learners themselves and added to a global online 'My Corpus' database. This will foster an 'interactive global EasyCorpus learning community' among students from all over the world.
Why was EasyCorpus created by the Founder?
As a student, I used to learn words on my own and it was a very lonely exercise. The sheer number of words that I needed to know in order to become a competent English user was overwhelming and daunting. This process of learning vocabulary can take some learning, unlearning, and relearning of words, phrases and meanings. In other words, I often forgot the new words I had learned the day before simply because the word had not stuck in my mind. Needless to say, working without the help of anybody was a very isolating experience, and because of this, it became very boring!
If fact, when you ask someone for help, chances are that he or she may give you a wrong 'meaning' to a word or phrase OR he or she may simply not know how to explain confidently 'how' to use the word in context. You are left on your own without any help. To this end, most people ultimately give up learning words consciously. When this happens, your language proficiency does not develop and the years will pass quickly until you realise one day that you are unable to express yourself clearly in writing or speaking when the situation warrants. By this time, it can be quite embarrassing if you cannot write skillfully or express your thoughts clearly and precisely as an adult. You may be denied job opportunities and promotions or even fail during the interview process because of your poor command of written or spoken English.
Fortunately, you don't have to worry anymore! You will be learning words as part of a community and help is at hand from this EasyCorpus community
From my experience in learning English, the stage from noticing a new word to ultimate mastery of the word will inevitably take many years to achieve. This challenging process can be accelerated if you learn words with your friends or with new friends that you meet as a member of EasyCorpus. This will make your learning fun and the words or phrases will stick in your mind!
EasyCorpus was created to fill a need, a pressing need I may add, to alleviate the pain that students experience. What are the pains, you may ask?
1. Through my years as a language instructor, I have observed that students often 'know' a word but they do not know 'how to use' it! Therefore, they may understand the meaning of the word when they hear (i.e. when listening) or when they see it somewhere (i.e. while reading), but they are not able to use it when they are writing or speaking. On the other hand, they may not know that the word ever existed, let alone be able to use it!
2. Students are not aware how one word goes with another word (called 'word partnership') in a sentence or 'word association' in a topic of interest or real-world story. They struggle to articulate in the language because of their limited vocabulary.
3. Students are not sure how to spell, pronounce and write English using proper sentence structure.
4. Students are not sure how to structure the vocabulary and grammar together to create "meaning" in a sentence.
5. Students are not confident about talking or writing on a particular topic or story.
6. Students do not understand the written word when reading or while listening to a conversation. Hence, they will not understand the 'meaning' being conveyed.
7. The list goes on...
What features will give benefits to members?
You will have access to:
1. 'Discussion section' in Step 3 of the EasyCorpus 3-Step Method to discuss each word or phrase in the sentence and interact with others to better understand its meaning and context as well as to explore other language issues.
2. 'Spoken Corpus' to see how words or phrases are actually used by political leaders, business leaders, sports personalities, celebrities, others as well as members.
3. 'Categories and Topics' to learn words in context in different categories and by topics.
4. 'My Corpus' where they can add and collect words or phrases that interest them. This becomes your own personal collection of words and phrases i.e. a vocabulary notebook. Also, you can submit any words to the 'EasyCorpus administration' if you would like to share your discovery of the words and phrases from your own reading or listening. The words you share will be published in the main home page in the "Shared Corpus" section.
5. Discuss and interact within the global EasyCorpus community through various tools. With these interactive tools, learning will never be boring or in isolation. Instead, you'll learn while interacting with other word enthusiasts and like-minded individuals from all over the world. This makes learning fun, collaborative and interactive. Ultimately, you will learn how to express yourself exactly or precisely in a confident and articulate manner as well as to use exact or precise words for effective communication. With a robust vocabulary, you will 'never be lost for words' and will be in the elite company of learners from all over the world who are eager to share their word knowledge for mutual benefit. Indeed, it is through sharing and teaching other people that you will reinforce and retain your word knowledge.
6. The indexing and sub-indexing within each category and to a useful search function for quick and easy look-up of words and phrases.
7. Tutorials which incorporate other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Skype and You Tube.
Benefits of EasyCorpus
1. Learn at your own time and pace (i.e. self paced and independent learner) and become an 'autonomous learner' with the features and tools in EasyCorpus. This will give exposure to usage of words in the real-world context and this will supplement other traditional resources for learning English.
2. Members will be able to learn, discuss, interact, practice, use and enhance their vocabulary 'interactively' among themselves with the various tools.
3. Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube are incorporated for tutorials, interactivity and collaboration on word knowledge and topics for members.
4. You are not alone and isolated in learning. You can make friends globally, set up groups, and interact with fellow members globally. Also, you will be able to interact with like-minded people in different cultures from all over the world with a common objective and passion to master English and share word knowledge. It is a win-win situation to mutually improve language proficiency regardless of background, level of proficiency, culture or nationality.
5. You will enhance your word knowledge by learning how words typically partner with another word (i.e. word partnership), learn word structure in a sentence, understand word behaviour, and increase awareness on word association. Crucially, you will notice and be aware of how words interact with one another to create 'meaning' and bring clarity in communication.
6. You will notice and invariably be aware of how words are used in context and how they fall frequently within particular topics. This will give you daily exposure to words in context and enable you to retain and use words effectively for clarity of expression when you are writing or speaking on a particular topic. This will keep your mind fresh with the latest words in context.
7. We also make it easy for you to learn and collect words from your daily reading or listening. It is easy to collect your written and spoken words and this is recorded in your very own "My Corpus" when you become a member. You can later revise, update and practice by using the words in your speaking and writing.
8. We provide a convenient platform where users can learn English by noticing how words are used in real-world contexts, for example, politics, business, sports, travel and health. To adopt a phrase from Tim Johns, one of the pioneers in corpus linguistics, you become 'language detectives' by analysing and commenting on the definition, meaning, structure, and grammatical aspects of the word or sentence. You can become 'EasyCorpus language detectives' in exploring the language. This will create an awareness of how words behave in authentic communication and students can learn, interact and collaborate with members to enhance their knowledge about words.
9. You can accelerate the learning process and may acquire word knowledge more quickly, so that you can better enjoy using your receptive skills of reading and listening. You will also be more confident when using your productive skills of writing and speaking.
10. You will appreciate that words can appear in many different context and topics and it is important to equip yourself with this knowledge if mastery of English is your ultimate goal.
11. You become confident, competent, articulate and skilful in communicating because of your word knowledge and, therefore, you will not shy away from speaking or writing. You will also enhance your reading and listening skills.
12. You will be more precise in your choice of words when you are expressing your thoughts or ideas because you have built a knowledge of words in your mind which is your own mental lexicon.
13. Finally, you will reach your objective of 'never be lost for words' when you are asked to write or speak about a topic. You will always be perceived as an intelligent, confident, articulate and ultimately a marketable and effective individual at the workplace.