Data-driven learning: changing the teaching of grammar in EFL classes

This study aims to investigate the experience of six early-career teachers who team-taught grammar to EFL college students using data-driven learning (DDL) for the first time. The results show that the teachers found DDL an innovative and interesting approach to teaching grammar, approved of DDL's capacity to provide more incentives for students to engage in discussion, and endorsed its effectiveness in transforming relatively passive students into active learners. The results also indicate some challenges that DDL entailed and possible ways for the teachers to meet them. The challenges included increased workload and technical difficulties in designing DDL materials and conducting DDL-centred activities, but the teachers still eventually improved their DDL teaching by following three key practices: reducing the number of corpus entries used, deploying complete concordance lines whenever possible, and asking the students focused guiding questions. This article concludes with suggestions for future DDL practice in EFL grammar classrooms.