Vocabulary profiling with electronic corpora: A case study in computer assisted needs analysis

Since the inception of computer assisted language learning (CALL), computers have been successfully used to provide leaning and assessment opportunities for groups or individual learners. This article describes a use of computer that is fundamentally different to most CALL approaches, and yet contributes to language learning. While presenting a case study conducted in higher education in the Gulf of Arabia, the paper builds a strong case for computer assisted vocabulary profiling as a means of objective needs analysis and language program evaluation. This approach is based on a lexical comparison of learner corpora with the corpora of teaching resources. The software used for this purpose is The Compleat Lexical Tutor.