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)