The pedagogical benefits of a lexical database (SciE-Lex) to assist the production of publishable biomedical texts by EAL writers

• Natalia J. Laso ^[1] ; Suganthi John ^[2]
  1. [1] Universitat de Barcelona

     Universitat de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] University of Birmingham

     University of Birmingham

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos ( AELFE ), ISSN-e 2340-2784, ISSN 1139-7241, Nº. 33, 2017, págs. 147-172
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Los beneficios pedagógicos de una base de datos de léxico (ScieE-Lex) como apoyo a la producción de textos biomédicos publicables por escritores que utilizan el inglés como lengua adicional
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen
  • español

    La investigación ha demostrado que el uso del inglés como lengua adicional (English as an Additional Language, EAL por sus siglas en inglés) en la escritura académica representa un reto para los investigadores no nativos de dicha lengua, en tanto que estos deben adquirir competencia fraseológica en inglés académico y desarrollar un conocimiento del lenguaje formulaico propio de la disciplina.

    Este artículo busca explorar si la base de datos de artículos de investigación biomédicos SciE-Lex puede utilizarse por estos escritores para mejorar su dominio del lenguaje formulaico en la escritura biomédica en lengua inglesa. En este trabajo se describen los retos asociados al lenguaje formulaico (las llamadas combinaciones de palabras) a los que se enfrentan los escritores de EAL y valora los beneficios pedagógicos de la utilización de esta base de datos léxica como apoyo a la producción de textos publicables. En concreto, se describen dos talleres de escritura diseñados para escritores de EAL (investigadores del ámbito de la medicina en el presente estudio). En los talleres estos investigadores trabajaron sobre varios borradores de textos utilizando SciE-Lex. Se describen los beneficios de su uso a través de las revisiones de los textos que llevaron a cabo los investigadores. El presente trabajo busca contribuir al debate actual sobre el llamado English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP, por sus siglas en inglés) en la comunidad de escritores de EAL, comunidad que juega un papel primordial en la difusión del conocimiento científico.

  • English

    Research has demonstrated that it is challenging for English as an Additional Language (EAL) writers to acquire phraseological competence in academic English and develop a good working knowledge of discipline-specific formulaic language. This paper aims to explore if SciE-Lex, a powerful lexical database of biomedical research articles, can be exploited by EAL writers to enhance their command of formulaic language in biomedical English published writing. Our paper builds on the challenges associated with formulaic language (namely collocations) for EAL writers, it reflects on the benefits of using a lexical database and it evaluates a pedagogical approach to helping EAL writers produce publishable texts. It specifically highlights results from two writing workshops conducted for EAL writers (medical researchers in the present study). The workshops involved medical researchers working on drafts of their writing using SciE-Lex. Our paper reports on the specific benefits of using SciE-Lex as demonstrated by revisions in the writing produced by the EAL medical researchers. This paper aims to contribute to current discussion on English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) for the EAL community who now form the main contributors to research knowledge dissemination

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Anthony, L. (2014). AntConc (Version 3.4.3) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. URL: http://www.laurenceanthony.net/ [21/03/2016].
  • Bennet, G. (2010). Using Corpora in the Language Learning Classroom. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press.
  • Bhatia V.K., N. Langton & J. Lung (2005). “Legal discourse: Opportunities and threats for corpus linguistics” in U. Connor & T. Upton...
  • Bianchi, F. & R. Pazzaglia (2007). “Student writing of research articles in a foreign language: Metacognition and corpora” in R. Facchinetti...
  • Biber D. (2006). University language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Bloch, J. (2008). Technologies in the Second Language Composition Class. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  • Bloch, J. (2009). “The design of an online concordancing program for teaching about reporting verbs”. Language Learning and Technology 13,1:...
  • Bloch, J. (2010). “A concordance-based study of the use of reporting verbs as rhetorical devices in academic papers”. Journal of Writing Research...
  • Boas, M. C. (2005). “Semantic frames as interlingual representation for multilingual databases”. International Journal of Lexicography 18,4:...
  • Cargill, M & S. Burgess (2008). “Introduction to the Special Issue: English for research publication purposes”. Journal of English for...
  • Cargill, M. & P. O’Connor (2013). Writing Scientific Research Articles. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Charles, M. (2007). “Reconciling top-down and bottom-up approaches to graduate writing: Using a corpus to teach rhetorical functions”. Journal...
  • Charles, M. (2011). “Using hand-on concordancing to teach rhetorical functions: Evaluation and implications for EAP writing classes” in A....
  • Cohen, A.D., H. Glasman, P. R. Rosenbaum-Cohen, J. Ferrera & J. Fine (1988). “Reading English for specialised purposes: Discourse analysis...
  • Etherington, S. (2008). “Academic writing and the disciplines” in P. Friedrich (ed.), Teaching Academic Writing, 26-58. London: Continuum.
  • Ferguson, G., C. Pérez-Llantada & R. Plo (2011). “English as an international language of scientific publication: A study of attitudes”....
  • Flowerdew, J. (2003). “Signalling nouns in discourse”. English for Specific Purposes 22: 329-346.
  • Flowerdew, J. (2012). Corpora and Language Education. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Flowerdew, L. (2015). “Corpus-based research and pedagogy in EAP: From lexis to genre”. Language Teaching 48: 99-116.
  • Friginal, E. (2013). “Developing research report writing skills using corpora”. English for Specific Purposes 32: 208-220.
  • Gledhill, C. (2000). Collocations in Science Writing. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
  • Granger, S. & F. Meunier (eds.) (2008). Phraseology in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Granger, S. & M. Paquot. (2015). “Electronic lexicography goes local: Design and structures of a needs-driven online academic writing...
  • Howarth, P.A. (1996). Phraseology in English Academic Writing: Some Implications for Language Learning and Dictionary Making. Tübingen: Max...
  • Howarth, P.A. (1998). “Phraseology and second language proficiency”. Applied Linguistics 19,1: 24-44.
  • Hyland, K. (2008). “As can be seen: Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation”. English for Specific Purposes 27: 4-21.
  • Hyland, K. (2016). “Academic publishing and the myth of linguistic injustice”. Journal of Second Language Writing 31: 58-69.
  • Janssen, M. (2004). “Multilingual databases, lexical gaps, and SIMuLLDA”. International Journal of Lexicography 17,2: 137-154.
  • Johns, T. (1990). “From printout to handout: Grammar and vocabulary teaching in the context of data driven learning”. CALL Austria 10: 14-34.
  • Kaszubski, P. (2000). Selected Aspects of Lexicon, Phraseology and Style in the Writing of Polish Advanced Learners of English: A Contrastive,...
  • Kennedy, G. (2014). An introduction to corpus linguistics. London: Routledge.
  • Laso, N.J. (2009). A Corpus-Based Study of the Phraseological Behaviour of Abstract Nouns in Medical English: A Needs Analysis of a Spanish...
  • Laso, N.J. & S. John (2013). “A corpus-based analysis of the collocational patterning of adjectives with abstract nouns in medical English”...
  • Laso, N.J. & S. John (2013). “An exploratory study of NNS medical writers’ awareness of the collocational patterning of abstract nouns...
  • Meunier, F. (2012). “Formulaic Language and Language Teaching”. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 32: 111-129.
  • Miller, G.A., R. Beckwith, C. Fellbaum, D. Gross & K.J. Miller (1990). “Introductions to WordNet: An on-line database”. International...
  • Oakey, D. (2002). “Lexical phrases for teaching academic writing in English: Corpus evidence” in S. Nuccorini (ed.), Phrases and Phraseology...
  • Paquot, M. (2012). “The LEAD dictionary-cum-writing aid: An integrated dictionary and corpus tool” in S. Granger & M. Paquot (eds.), Electronic...
  • Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (2015). “Learning L2 collocations incidentally from reading”. Language Teaching Research, 1-22.
  • Pérez-Llantada, C. (2014). “Formulaic language in L1 and L2 expert academic writing: Convergent and divergent usage”. Journal of English for...
  • Reppen, R. (2011). “Using corpora for pedagogy: Does it make a difference?” Plenary paper presented at the American Association for corpus...
  • Simpson, R.C. (2004). “Stylistic features of academic speech: The role of formulaic expressions” in U. Connor & T.A. Upton (eds.), Discourse...
  • Sinclair, J.M. (ed.) (1987). Looking Up: An Account of the Collins COBUILD Project. London: Collins ELT.
  • Sinclair, J.M. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Tribble, C. (2013). “Introduction. Corpora in the language-teaching classroom” in C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.
  • Vossen, P. (2004). “EuroWordNet: A multilingual database of autonomous and language specific Wordnets connected via an inter-lingual index”....
  • Williams, G. (2005). “Challenging the native-speaker norm: A corpus-driven analysis of scientific usage” in G. Barnbrook, P. Danielsson &...
  • Wray, A. (1999). “Formulaic language in learners and native speakers”. Language Teaching 32: 213-31.
  • Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.