Hildegunn Dirdal

• Dirdal, Hildegunn & Vold, Eva Thue (2025). Investigating writing development, cross-linguistic influence and feedback practices through a longitudinal corpus of children's school writing. Applied Corpus Linguistics. 5(2). doi: 10.1016/j.acorp.2025.100131. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Philip (2024). Representativeness and metadata presentation in learner/child corpora: Lessons from the GiG and TRAWL corpora. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. 3(3). doi: 10.1016/j.rmal.2024.100145. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Representativeness is a key requirement in corpus linguistics, and the evaluation of the representativeness of an existing corpus depends on the provision of metadata. The present paper discusses challenges to both representativeness and metadata presentation based on our experiences in compiling corpora of school writing from young learners. Our discussion lends support to the calls for more transparent documentation and standardization, but also highlights some dangers that need to be kept in mind when attempting to standardize metadata.

• Durrant, Philip; Dirdal, Hildegunn & Tveitan, Veronica Dahlby (2024). Vocabulary sophistication in children’s L2 school writing. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research. ISSN 2215-1478. doi: 10.1075/ijlcr.23025.dur. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper tests three hypotheses about written vocabulary in child L2 English. Specifically, as children mature, (1) the mean frequency values of the nouns they use increase; (2) the mean frequencies of other parts-of-speech decrease; (3) the use of academic vocabulary increases only in certain types of writing. Using a corpus of writing by children in Norway, hypothesis 1 was confirmed up to the mid-teenage years. The mean frequency values of nouns then decreased. Analysis showed that the early increase is due to decreased repetition of low-frequency topic words. After age 15, frequencies drop as the main source of vocabulary moves from a region around the 150th most frequent lemma to one around the 550th. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were partially confirmed. Mean frequencies of non-nouns decreased in non-stories after Year 9. Non-stories became more academic across school years. Stories had much lower scores overall but also showed an increase at Year 10.

• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2022). Development of L2 writing complexity: Clause types, L1 influence and individual differences. In Leńko-Szymańska, Agnieszka & Götz, Sandra (Ed.), Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in Learner Corpus Research. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027212580. p. 81–113. doi: 10.1075/scl.104.04dir. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2022). Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of relative clauses by Norwegian learners of English. Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning (NJLTL). 10(2), p. 327–351. doi: 10.46364/njltl.v10i2.1079. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper reports on an exploratory study of cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of relative clauses by young Norwegian learners of English, comparing L1 Norwegian and L2 English material from the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) Corpus to L1 English material from the GiG (Growth in Grammar) Corpus. Previous reports of cross-linguistic influence in this domain have usually involved language pairs that have very different relativization strategies. This study investigates whether similarities between relative clause systems may lead to more subtle effects in the choice of relativizer, the type of head nominal, the syntactic function of the relativized item, the extent of relativization from embedded clauses and the use of relative clauses in special constructions such as existentials and clefts. Although the material is limited, the study found traces of the Norwegian system in the learners L2 English, signalling that this is an area worth further investigation. The learners struggled with the choice between who and which, but used that/zero in a very similar way to their L1 English peers. The L2 English group also had slightly higher frequencies of relative clauses belonging to existentials and clefts, and where the relativized item stemmed from a further embedded clause. These results are consistent with a usage-based theory of second language acquisition, where learners are assumed to transfer features of constructions from their L1 when they are similar enough for them to make a cross-linguistic identification.

• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Hasund, Ingrid Kristine; Drange, Eli-Marie D.; Vold, Eva Thue & Berg, Elin Maria (2022). Design and construction of the Tracking Written Learner Language (TRAWL) Corpus: A longitudinal and multilingual young learner corpus. Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning (NJLTL). 10(2). doi: 10.46364/njltl.v10i2.1005. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article describes the design and construction of the Tracking Written Learner Language (TRAWL) Corpus. The corpus combines several features that are all rare for learner corpora: it is longitudinal, following individual pupils over several years; it has data from young learners from school years 5 to 13 (ages 10–18); it is multilingual, containing learners’ texts in several L3s (French, German and Spanish), L2 English and L1 Norwegian; and it includes teacher comments on a number of the texts. In addition, some of the texts exist in both a first and a second revised version, all tied to a rich set of meta-data. Not only does such a corpus offer new possibilities for research on language acquisition in general; it can also be used to provide valuable insights for teachers, teacher training and policymaking within the national context of Norway. In this article, we describe the design of the TRAWL Corpus and outline its uses and benefits for the research community. We also describe the compilation process in the hope that it may inspire and enable others to build similar corpora for their own national contexts.

• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2021). L2 development of -ing clauses: A longitudinal study of Norwegian learners. In Pérez-Paredes, Pascual & Mark, Geraldine (Ed.), Beyond Concordance Lines: Corpora in Language Education. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027209894. p. 75–96. doi: 10.1075/scl.102.04dir. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Although -ing clauses are frequent in English, their acquisition has not received much attention, and there is a lack of longitudinal studies and detailed explorations of cross-linguistic influence. This longitudinal case study of five young Norwegian students reveals a developmental sequence for the syntactic roles of -ing clauses: complements of aspectual verbs > complements of other verbs and prepositions > bare adjuncts and postmodifiers of nouns > subjects. The sequence may arise from a combination of frequencies in the input and grammatical selection. Syntactic restrictions on Norwegian present participle clauses are not mirrored in the acquisition of -ing clauses, indicating that the students do not make an interlingual identification. Cross-linguistic influence is evident mainly in late acquisition and infrequent use of -ing clauses.

• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2019). Factors influencing the translation of -ing participial free adjuncts: Semantic role, context and a translator's individual style. In Wiegand, Viola & Mahlberg, Michaela (Ed.), Corpus Linguistics, Context and Culture. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110486728. p. 197–222. doi: 10.1515/9783110489071-008. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Corpus Linguistics, Context and Culture demonstrates the potential of corpus linguistic methods for investigating language patterns across a range of contexts. Organised in three sections, the chapters range from detailed case studies on lexico-grammatical patterns to fundamental discussions of meaning as part of the ‘discourse, contexts and cultures’ theme. The final part on ‘learner contexts’ specifically emphasises the need for mixed-method approaches and the consideration of pedagogical implications for real world contexts. Beyond its contribution to current debates in the field, this edited volume indicates new directions in cross-disciplinary work.

• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2017). Sentence-initial "and/og" in English and Norwegian. In Janebová, Marketá; Lapshinova-Koltunski, Ekaterina & Martinková, Michaela (Ed.), Contrasting English and Other Languages through Corpora. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISSN 9781443896016. p. 102–129. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2017). Student translators and the challenge of -ing clauses. In Haan, Pieter de; Vries, Rina De & Vuuren, Sanne Van (Ed.), Language, Learners and Levels: Progression and Variation.. Presses universitaires de Louvain. ISSN 9782875585950. p. 203–225. Full text in Research Archive
• Egan, Thomas Laurence & Dirdal, Hildegunn (2017). Lexis in Contrast Today. In Egan, Thomas Laurence & Dirdal, Hildegunn (Ed.), Cross-linguistic Correspondences. From lexis to genre. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027259561. p. 1–33. doi: 10.1075/slcs.191.01ega. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2014). Individual variation between translators in the use of clause building and clause reduction. Oslo Studies in Language (OSLa). 6(1), p. 119–142. doi: 10.5617/osla.711. Full text in Research Archive

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• Egan, Thomas Laurence & Dirdal, Hildegunn (2017). Cross-linguistic Correspondences. From lexis to genre. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027259561. 298 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hasund, Ingrid Kristine; Durrant, Philip; Goulart, Larissa; Drange, Eli-Marie D.; Dirdal, Hildegunn & Johansen, Stine Hulleberg [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2026). Combining categorical and multidimensional approaches to situational genre variation in the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) multilingual corpus. Full text in Research Archive
• Hasund, Ingrid Kristine; Durrant, Philip; Goulart, Larissa; Dirdal, Hildegunn & Drange, Eli-Marie D. (2025). Developing a multidimensional tool to characterise types of writing tasks across five languages at secondary level. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Phil (2025). Connections between languages in Norwegian student writing. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2025). Tekstbinding: Strategier på tvers av språkfagene. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn & Johansen, Stine Hulleberg (2024). Comparisons across languages learnt in Norwegian schools: Linking adverbials and extramural activities. Full text in Research Archive
• Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Dirdal, Hildegunn (2024). Linking adverbials across L1, L2 and L3. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Philip (2024). Text selection, processing and metadata representation in learner corpora: Challenges of corpus compilation and consequences for corpus users. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn & Johansen, Stine Hulleberg (2024). Extramural use of languages learnt in Norwegian schools. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Philip (2024). Syntactic complexity across L1, L2 and L3. Full text in Research Archive
• Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Dirdal, Hildegunn (2024). Comparisons across languages with respect to clause types, linking words and extramural use: An update from the MULTIWRITE project. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Philip (2023). Clause types in early L3 writing. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn & Vold, Eva Thue (2023). Forskningsprosjektet Multiwrite - om skriveferdigheter på tvers av fag i videregående skole. Full text in Research Archive
• Durrant, Philip; Dirdal, Hildegunn; Hsiao, Yaling & Gonzalez-Diaz, Victorina (2023). Corpus linguistic approaches to school-aged children's writing. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn (2023). Hvordan bruker vi de språkene vi kan når vi lærer et nytt? Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Johansen, Stine Hulleberg & Durrant, Philip (2022). The MULTIWRITE project – interaction between first, second and third languages. Full text in Research Archive
• Dirdal, Hildegunn; Vold, Eva Thue; Haukås, Åsta & Evang, Kaja Helchie Sletten Østmo (2021). The MULTIWRITE project. Full text in Research Archive
• Graedler, Anne-Line; Rørvik, Sylvi; Dirdal, Hildegunn; Hasund, Ingrid Kristine & Drange, Eli-Marie D. (2017). "TraWL (Tracking Written Learner language): Corpus design and research plans". Full text in Research Archive
• Graedler, Anne-Line; Dirdal, Hildegunn; Guldal, Tale Margrethe; Hasund, Ingrid Kristine; Rørvik, Sylvi & Nacey, Susan Lee [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2017). Tracking Written Learner Language (TRAWL): A longitudinal corpus of Norwegian pupils' written texts in second/foreign languages. Full text in Research Archive
• Wesenberg, Mari Wærner; Dirdal, Hildegunn & Vold, Eva Thue (2026). Metalinguistic Feedback in Multilingual Education: A Multimethod Study on Teachers’ Practices and Students’ Comprehension. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Metalinguistic awareness is important for language learning, and teachers’ provision of metalinguistic information (MI) is key for developing such awareness in students. Written feedback offers MI directly linked to students’ own language production, which they can process at their own pace. In previous research, MI has largely been treated as a uniform category yet operationalized inconsistently, and little is known about the forms metalinguistic feedback (MF) takes when provided in naturalistic classroom settings. This doctoral project uses a qualitative multimethod design to explore the nature of authentic MF (defined as feedback on language-related aspects, using some form of metalanguage) and students’ understanding of it. It draws on two datasets: 1) 592 student texts written by upper secondary students of L2 English and L3 Spanish with feedback from 32 teachers, and 2) stimulated recalls, think-aloud protocols and semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 students of L3 Spanish. Results reveal that L2 and L3 teachers provide MF to different extents and on distinct areas, and that this feedback type is considerably more varied and complex than previously suggested. Based on these findings, a typology of MF has been developed, consisting of two dimensions: the tools and the different levels of metalanguage teachers can employ. The typology aims to provide a framework for future research on this feedback type and a “toolbox” for teachers. Findings further demonstrate that students often struggle to understand MF, and point to several factors affecting comprehension. Different types of MI can be more or less challenging, indicating that teachers can use the typology in order to adapt feedback to individual students in different contexts. The thesis discusses implications for research and practice, and how enhancing students’ metalinguistic awareness is key to developing their feedback literacy in a context of multilingual education. It points to an untapped potential to consider students’ language learning more holistically through multilingual pedagogical approaches.

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