Restricted collocations in ESP of Engineering: Friends and false friends of Estonian students Terje Keldoja Kaarin Raud
GENERAL AIM to be of more systematic benefit to students of engineering professionals in engineering
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)
QUESTION Should we teach ESP collocations explicitly? Which ones: false friends, friends or both?
ESP (= English/Estonian for Specific Purposes) JUDGEMENTS Expert opinion = 3 practicing engineers 2 of them PhD students in engineering
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
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
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
TEST in March 2008 (4) Variant 1 and Variant 2: suure survetugevusega materjalid = materials of... compressive strength materials of low compressive strength = survetugevusega materjalid
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 =.
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
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
TEST RESULTS (%) 1 at very low temperatures = väga.. temperatuuridel 100 80 60 40 20 madalatel väikestel EST madal = low EST väike = small 0 97% 3%
TEST RESULTS (%) 2 at very high temperatures = 90 80 70 kõrgetel väga.. temperatuuridel 60 50 40 suurtel EST kõrge = high 30 20 10 0 82% 15% 3% kõrgetel või suurtel EST suur = big/large
TEST RESULTS (%) 3 the effect of high temperatures on concreting operations = temperatuuride mõju betoonitöödele 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 80% 14% 3% kõrgete suurte tugev EST kõrge = high EST suur = big/large
TEST RESULTS (%) 4 the effect of low temperatures on concreting operations = temperatuuride mõju betoonitöödele 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 97% 3% madalate madalate või külmade EST madal = low EST külm = cold
RESULTS for CONGRUENT COLLOCATIONS (= friends) compared 100 80 60 40 20 0 97% 82% 80% 97% at very low temperatures at very high temperatures the effect of high temperatures the effect of low temperatures
PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) materials of low compressive strength = EST väikese survetugevusega materjalid Prototypical meaning of: EST väikese = small/little
PROTOTYPICAL MEANINGS DO NOT COINCIDE (= false friends) materials of high tensile strength = EST suure tõmbetugevusega materjalid Prototypical meaning of: EST suure = big/large
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
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
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
TEST RESULTS (%) 5 materials of low compressive strength =.. survetugevusega materjalid Experts: väikese 50 40 30 20 10 0 48% 27% 12% 12% väikese madala madala või väikese nõrga
TEST RESULTS (%) 5A materials of high tensile strength =.. tõmbetugevusega materjalid 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 82% 12% 6% suure kõrge tugeva Experts: suure
TEST RESULTS (%) 6 soil of low bearing capacity =.. kandevõi mega pinnas Experts: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 väikese/nõrga 0 69% 6% 17% 6% väikese nõrga madala other
TEST RESULTS (%) 6A soil of high bearing capacity = =... kandevõimega pinnas Experts: suure/tugeva 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 suure tugeva kõrge other 64% 21% 3% 12%
TEST RESULTS (%) 7 the slope of X must be high enough = kaldenurk peab olema piisavalt. Experts: suur 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 86% 14% suur kõrge
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
TEST RESULTS (%) 8 in lowstrength concrete =. tugevusega betooni puhul 50 40 30 20 10 väikese madala nõrga other Experts: väikese 0 49% 26% 17% 9%
TEST RESULTS (%) 8A in highstrength concrete =. tugevusega betooni puhul 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 73% 18% 3% 6% suure kõrge tugeva other Experts: suure
RESULTS for NON-CONGRUENT COLLOCATIONS compared 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 48% 82% 75% 85% 86% 70% 49% 73% low compressi ve strength high tensile strength low bearing capacity high bearing capacity
48% 48% and 49%? materials of low compressive strength 49% in low-strength concrete Cf the congruent ones: 80-97%
EST to ENG and ENG to EST compared (1) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 77% 11% 3% 3% 3% high big great huge other suure survetugevusega materjalid = materials of.. compressive strength Prototypical EST suure = ENG big/large
EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (2) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 high väikese suure survetugevusega low compressive strength suure survetugevu sega materjalid Expert Corpus? materials of low compressive strength Experts: väikese
EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (3) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 86% 6% 3% 3% 3% low small little väikse other väikese tõmbetugevu sega materjalid = materials of.. tensile strength Prototypical EST väikese = ENG small
EST to ENG and ENG to EST (%) compared (4) 86 85 84 83 82 81 80 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
EST to ENG and ENG to EST compared (5) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 77% 48% 86% 82% suure survetugevusega low compressive strength väikese tõmbetugevusega high tensile strength
48%? What yielded the 48% accuracy?
TEST RESULTS (%) 5 materials of low compressive strength =.. survetugevusega materjalid Experts: väikese 50 40 30 20 10 0 48% 27% 12% 12% väikese madala madala või väikese nõrga
48% 48% and 49% materials of low compressive strength 49% in low-strength concrete Cf the congruent ones: 80-97%
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