Abstract
This paper focuses on the use of web-based discourse by three Spanish undergraduate students in Computer Engineering. Key lexico-grammatical features in Computer English have been analysed by means of corpus linguistics techniques, for which word statistics and collocation functions in the WordSmith concordancer have been highly useful. The information was then used to compare the students' results. The students' reading skills have been evaluated in the documentation process of the three final projects, required prior to their graduation as engineers. Overall observations point to code-switching, re-wording, and key vocabulary identification as strategies that the students demonstrate to be able to operate with significantly after on-line reading. The students also rely more on Internet discourse as a main source of feedback for their projects and useful tool for work. Two of the projects have dealt with the design and use of interactive platforms for language learning (via two different approaches), while the third project has focused on the management of e-learning with the use of Squeak, a special language for programming. The assessment of the three students' reading / interpretation skills has taken place by means of written tasks and personal interviews.
Highlights
In specific settings of English use (i.e., ESP-English for Specific Purposes-) in Spain, as happens in most EFL (English as a Foreign Language) countries, a good number of specialised dictionaries and glossaries is designed to address the needs of university students
Interest in specialised lexicography for translation is evident in a good deal of Spanish research (e.g., Fuertes Olivera, 2007; Errico & Morelli, 2005; Leitchik & Shelov, 2003; Verdejo-Segura, 2003, etc)
Specialised lexicography (e.g., Fuertes-Olivera, 2005) is thereby complemented by analyses of web-based discourse, as Posteguillo-Gómez (2005: 5) notices. With this double-fold perspective-i.e., specialised lexical study and web-based discourse, this paper describes an approach to Computer English reading comprehension via the digital text
Summary
Translation of specialised terms is approached through discourse-level research (e.g., Pisanski-Peterlin, 2005; Alberola-Colomar, 2004; Falcón, 2000) This focus aims to establish translation at a higher plane than the lexical level, i.e., word use and rhetorical structure as combined in text analysis. In this respect, genre / stylistic studies play an important role, as they are increasingly extending to web discourse in academic and professional settings. Specialised lexicography (e.g., Fuertes-Olivera, 2005) is thereby complemented by analyses of web-based discourse, as Posteguillo-Gómez (2005: 5) notices With this double-fold perspective-i.e., specialised lexical study and web-based discourse-, this paper describes an approach to Computer English reading comprehension via the digital text (i.e., web-based). In terms of the significant language used, information processing based on printed documents appear to be less effective than on electronic material, according to scores in the tasks and interviews with the students
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