Qatari English Corpora Construction

This project will result in the construction of two electronic corpora of Qatari English: the first comprised of texts produced by Qatari students in academic contexts; the other, texts produced by professional writers for Qatari business and governmental purposes. Computerized analysis of linguistic and rhetorical patterns in the two corpora will provide 1) a reliable descriptive basis for curricular planning and assessment; 2) rapid access to authentic examples for use in language learning materials; and 3) a basis for on-going research on language use and development in Qatar that will be of interest to scholars worldwide.