The Second International Learner Corpus Research Conference

In the past two decades, learner language has gotten a significant impetus from advances in corpus linguistics. Current theories of language learning are increasingly drawing on empirical data collected from authentic samples of learner language. The FRIH UM project ASKeladden (2008-2013) at the University of Bergen has demonstrated that important insights can be gained in this way. The event is planned in a series of biannual international conferences. The first conference was organized by the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics at the Université Catholique de Louvain on September 15-17, 2011 (http://www.uclouvain.be/en-cecl-lcr2011.html). Taken into account the novelty of the field, this event was highly successful and attracted 160 participants; the program had more than one hundred presentations. Prof. Sylviane Granger, the director of this centre and internationally considered a leading figure in the field of learner corpus research, invited the ASKeladden group to arrange the second LCR conferenc e. The Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies (LLE) at the University of Bergen accepted the invitation (see invitation and acceptance letters in attachment). Internationally, the activities within the field LCR and the number of partic ipants involved have grown considerably in recent years, with the participation of researchers from various Humanities disciplines. At LCR2011, the initiative was taken to found an international Learner Corpus Association. The planned conference will prov ide a good opportunity to enhance the profile of Norwegian research groups and their activities for a substantial international audience.