The SocWoC corpus: compiling and exploiting ESP material for undergraduate social workers

Successful social work is based on communication (Clark, 2000; Pierson & Thomas, 2000; Thompson, 2010), yet there is little consensus in the field as to what exactly constitutes proper communication (Richards, Ruch, & Trevithick, 2005; Trevithick et al., 2004) and where models of good communication might be found. It is therefore not surprising that there is little material available for teaching the language required for social services students studying English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at undergraduate level in European universities (Kornbeck, 2003, 2008). This chapter describes the creation of a specialised corpus of material related to social work to meet the needs of undergraduate students using L2 English in Italy. It focuses on specific needs of this population (such as the language of social work and recent migration patterns), then describes the selection and preparation of source material for a monitor corpus in this domain. The chapter then shows how the resulting corpus can be used by teachers to select samples and analyse texts for classroom discussion. In conclusion, it is suggested that such material will contribute to language development through awareness-raising in the classroom as regards the effects of different language choices in a discourse context, while also mentioning areas for further development.