Restricted collocations in ESP of Engineering: Friends and false friends of Estonian students. Terje Keldoja. Kaarin Raud

Transcription

1 Restricted collocations in ESP of Engineering: Friends and false friends of Estonian students Terje Keldoja Kaarin Raud

2 GENERAL AIM to be of more systematic benefit to students of engineering professionals in engineering

3 AIM MORE SPECIFICALLY to differentiate between the collocations whereby the prototypical meanings of the component words in EST and ENG coincide (= congruent collocations = friends) do not coincide (= noncongruent collocations = false friends)

4 QUESTION Should we teach ESP collocations explicitly? Which ones: false friends, friends or both?

5 ESP (= English/Estonian for Specific Purposes) JUDGEMENTS Expert opinion = 3 practicing engineers 2 of them PhD students in engineering

6 TEST in March 2008 (1) Test respondents: 68 first-year (Semester 2) students of Engineering: structural 20 hydraulic and wastewater 12 mechanical 19 ergonomics 9 land surveying 8

7 TEST in March 2008 (2) high/low collocations: 1 congruent (= friend) high/low temperatures 3 non-congruent (= false friends) high/low strength/bearing capacity/slope

8 TEST in March 2008 (3) Variant 1 and Variant 2: the effect of high/low temperatures on concreting operations =. temperatuuride mõju betoonitöödele at very low/high temperatures = väga. temperatuuridel

9 TEST in March 2008 (4) Variant 1 and Variant 2: suure survetugevusega materjalid = materials of... compressive strength materials of low compressive strength = survetugevusega materjalid

10 TEST in March 2008 (5) Variant 1 and Variant 2: from EST into ENG suure survetugevusega materjalid =. väikese tõmbetugevusega materjalid =. from ENG into EST materials of low compressive strength =.. materials of high tensile strength =.

11 TEST in March 2008 (6) Variant 1 and 2 in each group 20 items incl 7 high/low collocations timed: max 15 minutes function in syllabus: introduction to Basic English for Science

12 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS COINCIDE (= friends ) at very high/low temperatures EST väga kõrgetel/madalatel temperatuuridel located on high/low ground EST kõrgetel/madalatel kohtadel Prototypical meaning of EST kõrge = high, EST madal = low

13 TEST RESULTS (%) 1 at very low temperatures = väga.. temperatuuridel madalatel väikestel EST madal = low EST väike = small 0 97% 3%

14 TEST RESULTS (%) 2 at very high temperatures = kõrgetel väga.. temperatuuridel suurtel EST kõrge = high % 15% 3% kõrgetel või suurtel EST suur = big/large

15 TEST RESULTS (%) 3 the effect of high temperatures on concreting operations = temperatuuride mõju betoonitöödele % 14% 3% kõrgete suurte tugev EST kõrge = high EST suur = big/large

16 TEST RESULTS (%) 4 the effect of low temperatures on concreting operations = temperatuuride mõju betoonitöödele % 3% madalate madalate või külmade EST madal = low EST külm = cold

17 RESULTS for CONGRUENT COLLOCATIONS (= friends) compared % 82% 80% 97% at very low temperatures at very high temperatures the effect of high temperatures the effect of low temperatures

18 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) materials of low compressive strength = EST väikese survetugevusega materjalid Prototypical meaning of: EST väikese = small/little

19 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) materials of high tensile strength = EST suure tõmbetugevusega materjalid Prototypical meaning of: EST suure = big/large

20 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) soil of high/low bearing capacity EST suure or tugeva/väikese or nõrga kandevõimega pinnas Prototypical meaning of: EST suur = big/large, EST väike = small EST tugev = strong, EST nõrk = weak

21 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) the slope of X must be high/low enough EST Xi kaldenurk peab olema piisavalt suur/väike Prototypical meaning of: EST suur = big/large, EST väike = small/little

22 PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) in high/low-strength concrete EST suure/väikese tugevusega betooni puhul Prototypical meaning of: EST suur = big/large, EST väike = small/little

23 TEST RESULTS (%) 5 materials of low compressive strength =.. survetugevusega materjalid Experts: väikese % 27% 12% 12% väikese madala madala või väikese nõrga

24 TEST RESULTS (%) 5A materials of high tensile strength =.. tõmbetugevusega materjalid % 12% 6% suure kõrge tugeva Experts: suure

25 TEST RESULTS (%) 6 soil of low bearing capacity =.. kandevõi mega pinnas Experts: väikese/nõrga 0 69% 6% 17% 6% väikese nõrga madala other

26 TEST RESULTS (%) 6A soil of high bearing capacity = =... kandevõimega pinnas Experts: suure/tugeva suure tugeva kõrge other 64% 21% 3% 12%

27 TEST RESULTS (%) 7 the slope of X must be high enough = kaldenurk peab olema piisavalt. Experts: suur % 14% suur kõrge

28 TEST RESULTS (%) 7A the slope of X must be low enough = Xi kaldenurk peab olema piisavalt.. väike madal väike or madal 70% 12% 6% Experts: väike

29 TEST RESULTS (%) 8 in lowstrength concrete =. tugevusega betooni puhul väikese madala nõrga other Experts: väikese 0 49% 26% 17% 9%

30 TEST RESULTS (%) 8A in highstrength concrete =. tugevusega betooni puhul % 18% 3% 6% suure kõrge tugeva other Experts: suure

31 RESULTS for NON-CONGRUENT COLLOCATIONS compared % 82% 75% 85% 86% 70% 49% 73% low compressi ve strength high tensile strength low bearing capacity high bearing capacity

32 48% 48% and 49%? materials of low compressive strength 49% in low-strength concrete Cf the congruent ones: 80-97%

33 EST to ENG and ENG to EST compared (1) % 11% 3% 3% 3% high big great huge other suure survetugevusega materjalid = materials of.. compressive strength Prototypical EST suure = ENG big/large

34 EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (2) high väikese suure survetugevusega low compressive strength suure survetugevu sega materjalid Expert Corpus? materials of low compressive strength Experts: väikese

35 EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (3) % 6% 3% 3% 3% low small little väikse other väikese tõmbetugevu sega materjalid = materials of.. tensile strength Prototypical EST väikese = ENG small

36 EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (4) low suure materials of low tensile strength suure tõmbetugevuse ga materjalid väikese tõmbetugevu sega materjalid materials of high tensile strength Prototypical EST väikese = ENG small

37 EST to ENG and ENG to EST compared (5) % 48% 86% 82% suure survetugevusega low compressive strength väikese tõmbetugevusega high tensile strength

38 48%? What yielded the 48% accuracy?

39 TEST RESULTS (%) 5 materials of low compressive strength =.. survetugevusega materjalid Experts: väikese % 27% 12% 12% väikese madala madala või väikese nõrga

40 48% 48% and 49% materials of low compressive strength 49% in low-strength concrete Cf the congruent ones: 80-97%

41 ESP COLLOCATIONS (incl friends and false friends) and ESP CORPORA Expert Corpora of Engineering Expert Corpus ENG Expert Corpus EST Learner Corpora Learner Corpus ENG = summary of thesis Learner Corpus ENG-EST = student translations of ESP texts