Data-Driven Learning for ESP Courses: a Case Study in a Vocational School for Hairdressers.

Starting with a brief description of the development of different teaching approaches throughout the last century, corpora and the Data-driven learning (DDL) approach are introduced and discussed. A popular idea is that DDL is more appropriate for advanced learners, and that a considerable amount of preparation time and training is usually needed. These assumptions are investigated in the following chapters through a case study developed in a vocational school for hairdressers where mastering the English language is not considered as a priority within the students' overall career. Prior the beginning of the project, the students had poor motivation, a relatively low level of English, and no previous experience of Data-Driven learning. The present study is based on a small, tailor-made corpus compiled in London using transcriptions of recordings of native English people's speech which was an invaluable resource to be employed in class. The results of the study highlight the importance of experimenting different approaches in class and will hopefully contribute to further promote DDL in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. The goal of this study is to research principles and applications of Data-Driven learning, to introduce more language teachers to this approach and its advantages, especially given the huge amount of resources now freely available online, and to encourage them to investigate Data-driven learning further and use it in their classrooms.