Designing pedagogical support materials in the area of lexis: a techinical and sub-technical terminological corpus

Designing Pedagogical Suppo Ma e ials in The Á ea o Lexis: A Technical and Sub-Technical Te minológica! Co pus Alicia I. Pé ez de Pe ey a y N.Bea iz Aguila de Espinosa Uni e sidad Nacional de Có doba (A gen ina) The pa póse o his a icle is o desc ibe he s eps ha a e being ollowed o elabó a e a bilingual (English- Spanish/Spanish-English), echnical and sub- echnical e minological co pas in he ield o he ag icul u al sciences and o delinéa e he nex phases equi ed o i s comple ion. I. In oduc ion One o he mos challenging p ojec s unde aken by he Language Labo a o y eam a he Facul ad de Ciencias Ag opecua ias (Có doba Na ional Uni e si y) is he compila ion o a co pus o ag icul u al e ms. In he majo i y o Sou h Ame ican coun ies, mos uni e si y g adua es ind i e y di icul o keep ab eas o he p o ession unless hey a e able o ead upda ed bibliog aphical ma e ial which, as is well-known, is mos ly w i en in English. The lack o knowledge o he language some imes becomes an unsu moun able ba ie ; hus, hey a e aced wi h he need o de elop eading comp ehension skills o a conside able deg ee. As uni e si y eache s we ha e been asked many imes o o ganize cou ses o his pu pose. In ou coun y, a cou se o hese cha ac e is ics mus be subjec -speci ic. The easons o his a e, concu en ly, mo i a ion and lack o ime. Ou s uden s, bo h g adua es and unde g adua es, a e gene ally p essed o ime due o academic and wo k demands; so hey a e only mo i a ed by con en ha is closely ela ed o hei ield. S uden s a e o en mo e s imula ed o imp o e hei language p o iciency i hey see he connec ion be ween language and hei ield o wo k. II. Ra ionale A cou se in eading comp ehension aims a de eloping in he leame he capaci y o cons uc meaning om a ex . As Michael Lewis (1993:33) Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N° 4 (1997) 135 Alicia I. Pé ez de Pe ey a y N.Bea iz Aguila de Espinosa poin s ou "mo e o he meaning [o he ex ] is ca ied by lexis han g amma ical s uc u e. Focus on communica ion necessa ily implies inc eased emphasis on lexis, and dec eased emphasis on s uc u e"; al hough, adi ionally, g amma has been conside ed o g ea e impo ance han ocabula y. This is a highly con o e sial opic; howe e , we hink ha he mas e y o a la ge lexical se wi hin each specialism g ea ly acili a es he access o he equi ed speci ic li e a u e. K ashen (1983:155) also e lec s on he impo ance o he lexical sys em in he comp ehension o he message; al hough he e e s o "u e ances", his conside a ion applies equally well o w i en discou se : Vocabula y is basic o communica ion Indeed, i ou s uden s know he mo phology and syn ax o an u e ance add essed o hem bu do no know he meanings o he key lexical i ems, hey will be unable o pa icípa e in he communica ion. And his is exac ly wha has become e iden o us h oughou ou ex ensi e eaching expe ience. Bo h du ing he pe iod o ma e ial selec ion o he de elopmen o ou egula ESP cou ses and du ing he classes, i was obse ed ha he e was a lexical co pus o echnical and sub- echnical e ms which imposed a se e e limi a ion o he luency and p ecisión in he s uden s' eading abili y.This p omp ed us in o he c ea ion o he said co pus which we will make a ailable o he eade s in he o m o a bilingual dic iona y o ag icul u al e ms. III. Me hodology We ollow Sage (1990:3) in his de ini ion o echnical ocabula y as " a collec ion o e ms which has a ce ain cohe ence by he ac ha he e ms belong o a single subjec á ea" and as ega ds sub- echnical ocabula y, we ind T imble's (1989:128-129) de ini ion o be he mos sa is ac o y one o ou pu poses. T imble aces he o igin o he e m o D . Ronayne Cowan who de ines i as "con ex -independen wo ds which occu wi h high equency ac oss disciplines" o which T imble adds ano he dimensión: 136 Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N^ 4 (1997) Designing Pedagogical Suppo Ma e ials in The Á ea o Lexis... " ... hose 'common' wo ds ha occu wi h special meanings in speci ic scien i ic and echnical ields". He conside s ha " Toge he , he wo se s o wo ds make up he EngUsh sub- echnical ocabula y". These echnical and sub- echnical e ms a e lexical i ems (con en wo ds) as opposed o g amma ical i ems ( unc ion wo ds) (Lado,1964:115; Halliday 1989:61). In Halliday's discussion (1989:61) abou lexical densi y in w i en language he poin s ou ha " he e a e wice as many lexical wo ds as he e a e g amma ical wo ds This is a cha ac e is ic di e ence be ween spoken and w i en language. W i en language displays a much highe a io o lexical i ems o o al unning wo ds". This highUgh s he impo ance o a ho ough unde s anding o he meaning o con en wo ds, in ou case, he ocabula y o he ag icul u al sciences. Faced wi h he p oblem o selec ing app op ia e ma e ials o ou cou ses, we sea ched o adequa e sou ces o e e ence such as speci ic bilingual dic iona ies, lexicons, glossa ies and we ound he e a e only a ew a ailable and hose do no uUy mee ou s uden s' needs. Apa om he many gene al bilingual dic iona ies, o ou knowledge, he e only exis in ou milieu: an Ag onomic Glossa y compiled in he Uni e si y o Pa aná (A gen ina), a Glossa y o Seed Te ms used in he In ema ional Cen e o T opical Ag icul u e — Cali, Colombia and a Glossa y o Soil and Wa e Conse a ion om he Cen o Regional A.I.D., México. Al hough we ind he a emp s made o ill his gap p aisewo hy, we ha e no iced mos o hem ha e a limi ed co e age o speci ic e ms and/o ields, no o men ion egionalisms which a e o en comple ely o eign o he A gen inian a ie y o Spanish. How ha e we app oached his wo k? In he i s place, we deemed app op ia e o make a needs analysis o he p ospec i e eade . On his basis we ound ha he mos commonly consul ed bibliog aphic ma e ial we e mainly joumals, specialized magazines, s udy books, echnical ex s, scien i ic pape s and abs ac s. A s udy o he s yle, médium and pu pose o he sou ces was hen unde aken; he s yle is o mal, he médium is w i en and he pu pose is scien i ic communica ion. Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N° 4 (1997) 137 Alicia I. Pé ez de Pe ey a y N.Bea iz Aguila de Espinosa The me hodology employed o he coUec ion o his lexical Co pus was, i s , o selec se en hema ic á eas. The c i e ion o selec ion was pe inence o he Ag icul u al ield de e mined: 1. on he basis o he subjec s in he cu icula o se e al Schools o Ag icul u al Sciences om di e en A gen ine uni e si ies and 2. on he basis o consul a ions o esea che s and eache s o he abo e men ioned ins i u ions. F om he linguis ic poin o iew he selec ion was ca ied ou no only conside ing he inclusi eness o he ields bu also aking ca e o a oid o e lapping o he lexical á eas; ne e heless, i has o be bo ne in mind ha in he same way di e en disciplines o e lap, lexical ields in e sec . The second s ep was o compile a balanced lis o English e ms ep esen a i e o each o he hema ic á eas; o da e, app oxima ely wo housand i ems. Gi en ha lexical i ems a e pa o an open se which ex ends inde ini ely and ha language is dynamic, we can only conside his a p elimina y lis . By means o a quali a i e analysis only e ms wi h a no mal o special(Lado, 1964:120) deg ee o di icul y we e selec ed. These i ems we e chosen om a ex ual co pus o pa ag aphs ex ac ed andomly om he sou ces men ioned abo e which a p esen con ains app oxima ely 200,000 wo ds. The linguis ic dis ibu ion o a wo d can only be alida ed by adequa e and a ied con ex s; hus, o each ex we selec ed comple e pa ag aphs up o 500 wo ds each. The pa ag aph was aken as he selec ional uni as he only means o e ie e meaning objec i ely because "i is necessa y o wo k wi h eal empi ical knowledge o he language,( .... )because only a linguis ic co pus o da a would p oduce he desi ed objec i i y" (La a,1987:13). The c i e ion o o ganiza ion o he mac os uc u e (Al a Ezque a, M., 1983: 121) o he co pus is he alphabe ic sequence. Tha is o say, he only link each wo d has wi h he p eceding o he oUowing one is a s ong o mal esemblance ega dless o he speci ic á ea o which i belongs. Polysemes, homog aphs, synonyms, compound wo ds and de i a i es 138 Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N" 4 (1997) Designing Pedagogical Suppo Ma e ials in The Á ea o Lexis... we e weighed o de e mine hei ea men as sepá a e en ies, aking in o accoun ha "i is impo an o decide whe he he en y e m ep esen s he concep o is simply he linguis ic o m o he e m" (Sage 1990, 145). In he case o his wo k hey we e inco po a ed as sepá a e en ies conside ing ha en y e ms ep esen concep s. Conside able p og ess has been done as ega ds he selec ion o Spanish equi alen s o he English i ems. To de e mine he pe inence o hese equi alen s an analysis based on wo axes —in e linguis ic and in alinguis ic— was ca ied ou . Fo he in alinguis ic selec ion we con e ed wi h specialis s in he di e en subjec s, chosen o hei expe ience as pos -g adua e s uden s o ellows in English-speaking coun ies; we consul ed ele an bibliog aphy in Spanish; and we eso ed o ou ex ensi e expe ience in he ield. A ca e ul selec ion o a he equi alen ensu es i s e ec i eness. This is easible because he conno a ion o he e m becomes na owe gi en he high speci ici y o he ields conside ed he choice o he app op ia e equi alen was made aking in o accoun he con ex in which he English lexical i em occu ed. Whe e e no one- o-one equi alen exis ed, we eso ed o "inclusi e pa aph ase" (M.Al a Ezque a, 1983: 124). How do we plan o con inué? The e a e se e al s ages o go be o e we can eel we ha e comple ed ou ask, in he nex academic pe iods we plan o: • inish o he sea ch o Spanish equi alen s o he exis ing English e ms • add o he exis ing lis o English e ms • ca y ou a equency coun plus a dis ibu ional s udy o con i m he pe inence o he e ms; o his pu pose, he bes a ailable so wa e will be used and compu a ion specialis s will be consul ed • make his co pus a ailable o he public bo h in p in ed and machine - eadable o m IV. Conclusión We expec his co pus o be o help o g adua es and s uden s alike, no Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N^ 4 (1997) 139 Alicia I. Pé ez de Pe ey a y N.Bea iz Aguila de Espinosa only in he ield o he Ag icul u al Sciences bu also in ela ed ields such as Biology o Chemis y. I can also p o e use ul o p o essionals, ellows, esea che s and he s a o business concems and o ganisa ions ela ed o ag icul u e. We belie e ha once he comple e co pus is a ailable we will be in a be e pposi ion o add ess he ques ion ha , as eache s, ul ima ely d i es ou easea ch: Can a lexical co pus like he one in p epa a ion p omo e mo e e icien eading comp ehension? Du ing he coming yea s, we hope o es ou hypo hesis empi ically. WORKS CITED Al a Ezque a, M. 1993."Lexicog a ía" in López Mo ales, H. (ed.) In oducción a la Lingüís ica Ac ual. Mad id: Edi o ial Playón Halliday, M.A.K. 1989. Spoken and W i en language. Hong Kong: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess. K ashen, S. & T.Te ell. 1983. The Na u al App oach. England: Alemany P ess and Pe gamon P ess. Lado, Robe . 1964. Language Teaching—A Scien i ic App oach. U.S.A.: McG aw-Hill. La a, Luis F. 1987. "Me hodology in a Non-Spanish Dic ionsi y o he Spanish Language: The Dicciona io del Español de México" in Robe F. Ilson (ed.) A Spec um o Lexicog aphy. Ams e dam: John Benjamin's Publishing Co. Lewis, Michael. 1993. The Lexical App oach. England: Language Teaching Publica ions. Sage , Juan. 1990. A P ac ical Cou se in Te minology P ocessing. Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Co. T imble, Louis. 1989. English o Science and Technology — A Discou se App oach. Camb idge: Camb idge Uni e si y P ess. 140 Re is a de Lenguas pa a Fines Especí icos N- 4 (1997)