Pattern-Hunting and Pattern-Refining in Data-Driven Learning

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Computer-Assisted Language Learning 

This entry examines the central role of patterns in language, distinguishing them from prescriptive rules and highlighting their pervasive presence at all levels of the hierarchy of language. It acknowledges the challenges students face in learning language from language and proposes a guided discovery approach using well-designed tasks. These tasks help students explore patterns and apply them to refine their own writing and speaking. Many students bring reasoning skills, such as those used in the scientific method, to their language learning, which can enhance discovery-based, task-oriented approaches. For students preparing for professional careers, understanding the patterned nature of language is vital. Developing inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning skills, alongside the ability to effectively use corpus tools, equips students to improve their linguistic output and develop metacognitive skills. This accretion of cognitive and procedural knowledge develops in concert with their metacognitive knowledge, which in turn equips them to become autonomous language learners beyond their formal education.