Lesson 6 activities (hands on)
Surfing the internet and other computer collocations
Activity 1
Skim through the text to answer the questions below.
What is SKELL?
SKELL (Sketch Engine for Language Learning) is a simple tool for students of English to easily check how real speakers of English use a phrase or a word. No registration or payment is required. Just type a word and click a button.
All examples, collocations, and synonyms were automatically identified by intelligent algorithms and state-of-the-art software analysing large multi-billion text samples. In the manual work was involved.
Word Sketch – collocations
Collocations cannot be guessed; they must be learned. That is why Word Sketch in SKELL is an invaluable tool. Word Sketch is a summary of the most typical collocations divided into logical categories i.e., noun (n.), adjective (adj.), adverb (adv.), or verb (v.).
![SKELL homepage.](https://uq.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/58/2022/10/02_Skell_website.png)
Activity 2
- Access SKELL. Read the instructions on how to use SKELL, paying attention to context cues (i.e. Figures 3, 4 and 5).
- Type in a word and click on Word Sketch, as shown in the image below.
![Example of the word ‘language’ in WordSketch.](https://uq.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/58/2022/10/03_WordSketch.png)
3. Click on a collocation to see examples in context (concordance), as shown in the image below.
![Example of the collocations with 'programming' and ‘language’ in WordSketch.](https://uq.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/58/2022/10/04_Collocation.png)
4. By default, the most frequent parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) are shown first.
5. By clicking on the Show Context button, you will be shown a broader typical context (if it exists), (e.g., speak is the most frequent verb with language as object) but a broadened context will show that the past participle – spoken, is the most common form of this particular combination.
![Example of ‘language’ with context in WordSketch.](https://uq.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/58/2022/10/05_WordSketch_Context-2.png)
Activity 3
Use SKELL to help you answer the questions below.
Activity 4
Look for examples of…
Images in Activity 4 are from Pexels.
Activity 5 (Lesson Assessment)
Discuss the following questions with your peers. Take notes of your key discussion points in the space provided below.
Homework Activity 1
Homework Activity 2
Choose the best option to complete the sentences.