A corpus linguistics sandwich. Learners chewing over reporting verbs in academic writing

Our lessons form part of a module on corpus linguistics from the Master's in Specialized Translation at UNIBO. The lessons are a “sandwich” because the central content, citations expressed through projecting clauses, is approached from the twin perspectives of the two module tracks, language and linguistics. In the language lesson, learners shadow the teacher's exemplification of citation functions, then “classify” corpus data, matching citation functions and examples, and generate functional descriptions. In the linguistics lesson, they apply the knowledge of citation acquired in the language lesson to pursue a corpus-based comparison of two language varieties (native and lingua franca English). Overall, students found that the sandwich was challenging and required critical, autonomous thinking; but arguably this is precisely what is required of future professional translators.