“Actually, my family they live all the over the world…” Exploring the language development of a Hungarian learner in a preparatory university course from a thematic perspective, using two approaches

Abstract

The paper explores the individual linguistic development of a Hungarian learner over a one-year-long intensive preparatory language course at the University of Pécs, focusing on two themes: family and human relationships.
After outlining the significance and methodological background of longitudinal studies, the paper presents the
Hungarian preparatory course and describes why students in this program are especially suitable subjects for longitudinal studies. The case study investigates the learner’s writing and examines her language development through her written texts, using two approaches: text analysis and corpus linguistic analysis.