Potential of the Linguistic Corpus Corpus del Español by M. Davis for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The article deals with the didactic potential of the non-academic corpus of the Spanish language Corpus del Español, created by M. Davis. The purpose is to reveal the scope of options of this corpus for students and teachers in classes of Spanish as a foreign language. Among the four Corpus del Español subcorpora (Género/Histórico; Web/Dialectos; NOW 2012–2019; Google Books n-grams), particular attention is paid to the subcorpus of Internet resources of the national varieties of Spanish: the article points out its advantages over other subcorpora, taking into account the latest functions, as well as presents information search options and describes the procedure in detail. Specific examples demonstrate the principles of using the corpus in intervariant research (studying the frequency, semantic and pragmatic features of separate words as well as their lexical and grammatical collocations in the national varieties of the Spanish language). In addition, the paper suggests assignment ideas for students of different levels (from simple introductory and search exercises to rule formulation), taking into account both advantages and disadvantages of using the corpus in the classroom. A conclusion is drawn about the importance of using this tool for linguodidactic purposes due to the wide scope of its functions and easy access to them, which allows one to stimulate students’ inductive activity, increase their motivation and develop a creative approach to learning activities. The article outlines prospects for further work in the field of corpus research related to the study of Spanish as a multinational language in all its diverse manifestations.