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2. Tips and ideas
Concordancing in the classroom / Data-driven learning techniques
Enter the search string and select from the list box the type of search. This may be:
1. equal to: only exact matches found
2. starts with: all instances containing the search string as a prefix
3. ends with: all instances containing the search string as a suffix
4. contains: all instances containing the search string
The keyword is normally printed but can be gapped if this option is selected. The keyword is then replaced by "(_____)" in each case. Use this option to create classroom concordancing exercises.
This can represent any letter. Thus for example, a search for equal to b%tt%n will result in concordances being returned for button, bitten, and batten; similarly, a search for %%tten will yield gotten, bitten, cotten and so on, and g%t will find all instances of got and get.
By default concordances will be sorted alphabetically according to the right collocates, but this can be changed to left collocate sort or unsorted by selecting from the "Sort type" list box.
These can be listed separately following the concordance list, listed either alphabetically or by frequency, showing also the number of instances for each collocate. Note that this is only for sorted lists.
For practical reasons concerning download time and volume it is necessary to limit the number of concordance strings which the search returns. The default is 2000 for sorted strings, and 10,000 for unsorted. You can change this by selecting from the alternatives (500, 1000, 1500) in the "Stop after" list box.
By default the width of each concordance string is 35 characters to the left and 35 to the right of the key word. Select from the list box options to modify this in the range 30 - 60.
The keyword in each concordance string is hyperlinked to the context in which it is found. Click on the keyword to see the wider context displayed.
The best way to learn more about this and get some very useful ideas and examples for using DDL is to visit Tim Johns Data-driven Learning Page. Also check out the Tim Johns Virtual DDL Library at the same site.
Web Concordancer is a server based application which is an adaptation of ConcApp for Windows 95 / Windows NT 4. This program is free and can be downloaded in a WinZip file containing the full setup program.