Micro-concord: A language learner's research tool

Abstract Micro-concord is a simple interactive KWIC (keyword-in-context) concordancing program that runs under a variety of configurations on the Spectrum home microcomputer. Based on the proposition that CALL (computer-assisted language learning) should, if it is to make maximum use of the possibilities opened up by the new technology, involve more than simply making the computer a sort of surrogate teacher or trainer (Higgins, J. and Johns, T. Computers in Language Learning, Collins 1984), it offers both language learners and language teachers a research tool for investigating “the company that words keep” that has hitherto usually been available only on mainframe computers to academic researchers in such fields as computational linguistics, lexicography, and stylistics (Hockey 1980).