Register and task variation in Learner Corpus Research (VAR4LCR), Louvain-la-Neuve, 7-8 July 2025
To mark the end of a Hoover Seedfund collaborative project between the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and the Department of English at Northern Arizona University (NAU), a conference on Register and task variation in Learner Corpus Research will be organized in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, on 7-8 July 2025 under the aegis of the Learner Corpus Association. The conference will be an on-site event only.
RATIONALE
Ample evidence has been provided to demonstrate that language varies according to register. Much of this evidence for register variation comes from corpora, which have provided insights into linguistic patterns associated with distinct registers (see, e.g., Biber 1988, Biber 2006, Biber & Egbert 2018).
Register variation is an important aspect of any language and language variety, but it is particularly relevant in the case of learner language, because L2 learners may not show the same register awareness as native/expert writers/speakers (cf. Gilquin & Paquot 2008, Larsson 2019).
Learner Corpus Research (LCR) has taken register into account in the sense that studies have been carried out on the basis of learner corpora representing certain registers (e.g. essays in Ädel 2006 or interviews in Götz 2013). However, studies comparing learner language registers are less common. Yet, the LCR studies that have drawn such comparisons have highlighted the importance of register for learner language (e.g. Fuchs et al. 2016, Staples et al. 2018, Larsson et al. 2021).
Related to register is the notion of task, particularly relevant in LCR since learner corpora are often compiled from data produced as part of specific pedagogical tasks (e.g. writing a letter, describing a graph, retelling a movie scene). As with register, LCR studies comparing different tasks are not very common, but they have underlined the potential effect of this variable (e.g. Tracy-Ventura & Myles 2015, Alexopoulou et al. 2017, Gablasova et al. 2017, Goulart & Dixon 2025).
SUBMISSIONS
We welcome submissions which compare two or more registers or tasks in corpora of learner language, using the methods of corpus linguistics / LCR, and which analyse the possible effects of register/task on the linguistic features of learner language. The learner registers/tasks may, in addition, be compared against some reference corpus data such as native or expert language. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are welcome, with a focus on any aspects of language (phraseology, grammatical complexity, fluency, etc.).
We are particularly interested in submissions that - use data representing different registers/tasks produced by the same L2 learners; - compare registers/tasks displaying different degrees of formality or involving different degrees of communicative control; - combine quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis; - discuss the methodological issues related to the comparison of registers/tasks in learner language; - include under-researched registers/tasks/languages.
There will be three different categories of presentation: - full paper - work-in-progress report - poster
ABSTRACTS
Abstracts should be about 500 words (not including references) and specify how the paper will contribute to the theme of the conference, in particular by highlighting the registers/tasks that will be compared and the corpora that will be used. They should also provide a clear outline of the aim(s) of the paper, including clearly articulated research questions, sufficient details about the methodology and (preliminary) results.
Abstracts should be uploaded to OpenReview (https://openreview.net/group?id=VAR4LCR/2025/Conference) no later than 20 January 2025 at 23:59 UTC. If you are new to OpenReview, you will first have to create a profile. We recommend that you use an institutional email address to do so, as profiles created without an institutional email address will go through a moderation process that can take up to two weeks. Please note that most questions asked as part of the creation of a profile are optional. Providing your current institution (under ‘History’) and a link to a webpage that displays your name and email address (under ‘Personal Links’) will be sufficient.
IMPORTANT DATES
- Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20 January 2025 - Notification of acceptance/rejection: 15 March 2025 - Conference: 7-8 July 2025
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
We are pleased to announce that the following speakers have agreed to give a keynote presentation at the conference:
- Prof. Douglas Biber (Northern Arizona University) - Prof. Marije Michel (University of Groningen) - Prof. Shelley Staples (University of Arizona)
LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Sylvie De Cock (UCLouvain) Gaëtanelle Gilquin (UCLouvain) Sylviane Granger (UCLouvain) Pauline Jadoulle (UCLouvain) Magali Paquot (UCLouvain) Lieven Vandelanotte (UNamur)
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Douglas Biber (NAU) Sylvie De Cock (UCLouvain) Jesse Egbert (NAU) Gaëtanelle Gilquin (UCLouvain) Sylviane Granger (UCLouvain) Francesca Grixoni (NAU) A.J. Holmberg (NAU) Pauline Jadoulle (UCLouvain) Tove Larsson (NAU) Magali Paquot (UCLouvain) Randi Reppen (NAU)
CONFERENCE WEBSITE: https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ilc/cecl/register-and-task-varia...
CONTACT: var4lcr@uclouvain.be
REFERENCES
Ädel, Annelie. 2006. Metadiscourse in L1 and L2 English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Alexopoulou, Theodora, Michel, Marije, Murakami, Akira & Meurers, Detmar. 2017. Task effects on linguistic complexity and accuracy: A large-scale learner corpus analysis employing natural language processing techniques. Language Learning 67(S1): 180-208. Biber, Douglas. 1988. Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Biber, Douglas. 2006. University Language: A Corpus-based Study of Spoken and Written Registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Biber, Douglas & Egbert, Jesse. 2018. Register Variation Online. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fuchs, Robert, Götz, Sandra & Werner, Valentin. 2016. The present perfect in learner Englishes: A corpus-based case study on L1 German intermediate and advanced speech and writing. In Valentin Werner, Elena Seoane & Cristina Suárez-Gómez (eds) Re-assessing the Present Perfect (pp. 297-338). Berlin: De Gruyter. Gablasova, Dana, Brezina, Vaclav, McEnery, Tony & Boyd, Elaine. 2017. Epistemic stance in spoken L2 English: The effect of task and speaker style. Applied Linguistics 38(5): 613-637. Gilquin, Gaëtanelle & Paquot, Magali. 2008. Too chatty: Learner academic writing and register variation. English Text Construction 1(1): 41-61. Götz, Sandra. 2013. Fluency in Native and Nonnative English Speech. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Goulart, Larissa & Dixon, Tülay. 2025. The relative influence of language backgrounds, communicative text types, and disciplines in undergraduate student writing. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 11(1). Larsson, Tove. 2019. Grammatical stance marking across registers: Revisiting the formal-informal dichotomy. Register Studies 1(2): 243-268. Larsson, Tove, Paquot, Magali & Biber, Douglas. 2021. On the importance of register in learner writing: A multi-dimensional approach. In Elena Seoane & Douglas Biber (eds) Corpus-based Approaches to Register Variation (pp. 235-258). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Staples, Shelley, Biber, Douglas & Reppen, Randi. 2018. Using corpus-based register analysis to explore the authenticity of high-stakes language exams: A register comparison of TOEFL iBT and disciplinary writing tasks. The Modern Language Journal 102(2): 310-332. Tracy-Ventura, Nicole & Myles, Florence. 2015. The importance of task variability in the design of learner corpora for SLA research. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 1(1): 58-95.