Christian Jones (University of Liverpool), Ulrike Bavendiek (University of Liverpool) & Sandra Strigel (University of Law, UK), 24-52
2026 Issue 2
Abstract
One barrier which learners face in a foreign language context is access to models of conversations matching their needs and showing the realities of conversational discourse. The current study focuses on the perceptions of learners after using learner-led and corpus-informed self-access conversation materials designed for students of German in UK higher education. The materials were developed based on the kinds of conversations learners themselves suggested they wished to have. They feature the use of higher-level learners as models of conversational competence and highlight frequent linguistic features of conversations which enable successful interaction. In this sense, we define them as ‘learner-led’. They also employ corpus linguistic methods to demonstrate high frequency features of conversation, including reference to spoken corpora of German. In this sense they are ‘corpus-informed’. Results show the positive perception that these materials help with conversational difficulties the learners reported, and that they help them notice some of the spoken language in conversations after studying them, that they could help them notice gaps in their own conversational language, and that learners could envisage using some of the language in future. The less positive perceptions centred around some aspects of the materials design.