Steps for developing the English Corpus of Public Administration (ECOPA) for public administration students: A qualitative corpus approach

Corpus linguistics has opened up exciting possibilities for enriching classroom learning, yet only some corpus-based tools exist, specifically for didactic purposes. This is particularly true in public administration, where a lack of dedicated corpora presents a significant research opportunity. This study addresses this gap by developing the English Corpus of Public Administration (ECOPA), a novel corpus-based didactic tool designed to enhance the learning and teaching of public administration vocabulary. This study employed a qualitative approach grounded in corpus linguistics principles, utilizing the corpus analysis steps outlined by Toriida (2016) and a semantic scale validation process adapted from Dang (2020). ECOPA was meticulously compiled from 561 written text references representing diverse genres relevant to public administration, including narrative, general, academic, formal, and informal texts. Analysis of this corpus yielded a comprehensive list of 6.283 online words pertinent to the field. ECOPA is a valuable resource for public administration learners, as it provides exposure to authentic language use and facilitates vocabulary acquisition. Lecturers can utilize ECOPA to design engaging language-focused activities and assessments, while scholars can leverage the corpus for further research into the linguistic landscape of public administration. This study underscores the profound impact of corpus development on enriching linguistic resources within specialized fields.