Language For Specific Purposes Research Articles

Integration of Video Content into the Process of Teaching Professionally-oriented English at the University

The article discusses the problem of the effective use of video materials in the process of teaching a foreign language for specific purposes. The importance of including video in the learning process for the development of sustainable interest and increasing the degree of mastering learning material is emphasized. The purpose of the article is to discuss the theoretical and applied aspects of integrating video materials into the process of teaching English for Specific Purposes in a non-linguistic university. The research methodology is based on a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign scientific approaches to teaching foreign languages in terms of increasing its effectiveness. The article suggests an analysis of domestic and foreign scientific, methodological and specialized literature, as well as the results of an interview conducted among students of two universities in order to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of using authentic video materials in teaching a foreign language. The results of the study prove that audiovisual and video materials not only contribute to increasing the motivation for foreign language learning, but also can significantly enhance the perception of the materials by students. The most effective video materials are directly related to the professional needs of students, and are presented in an interesting format for students. In this case, podcasts, informative short videos, etc. stand out. The authors propose a system of exercises that contribute to the effective work with video materials of a professional orientation. The results obtained allow us to state that the use of video materials is an effective means of optimizing foreign language learning in a non-linguistic university, which, on the one hand, contributes to the development of various aspects of students’ foreign language proficiency, and, on the other hand, increases their interest in learning due to the attractiveness of authentic content of the video.

Greasy Scummy Sumps: Translating Specialized Terminology in Detective Fiction

Fictional texts containing specialized terms pose a challenge for literary translators. Rooted in raw factual accuracy, such terms can nevertheless be used in very expressive ways. Raymond Chandler, for example, used oil industry terminology (bull wheel, derrick, oil field, scum, walking-beam, and especially the term sump), in his first novel The Big Sleep (1939) within intentionally artistic phraseology, involving alliteration, parallel structuring and repetition. The novel was (re)translated into Spanish a number of times (El sueño eterno 1947, 1948?, 1958, 1972 and 2001), enabling an analysis into how different translators met this challenge. Though the published translations reveal a lower frequency of repetition in all cases, as well as inconsistent co-textual use of the terminology and usage of non-terms, omissions and errors, these instances are often qualitatively compensated for with creatively reproduced alliterative elements and added literary devices. This study of a seldomly explored aspect of literary translation shows how professionals are aware of the importance of language for specific purposes in literature and how effective balances between technical accuracy and literary expressiveness can be attained. For theorists who consider that literary and technical translation are separate fields, the results show that literary translators tend to bridge this gap proficiently with both accuracy and literary flair.

VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN TEACHING LSP. A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO HOW ROMANIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS ACQUIRE FRENCH MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

This paper researches and presents a case study approach to teaching lexical items to facilitate vocabulary acquisition of French for specific purposes. Given a confirmed lack of conventional teaching materials in several domains, the research questions addressed in this study relate to the principles and guidelines for initiating and facilitating foreign languages for specific purposes (LSP) vocabulary learning and to the most effective learning strategies and skills that students use while learning and expanding their LSP vocabulary. The beneficiary target group consists of first-year Romanian students who study Medicine and who have chosen French for Specific Purposes as their second language. Literature and practice have noted a significant deficiency in textbooks and grammar books for Romanian students who want to emigrate to French-speaking countries. Hence, this paper highlights theoretic and practical methods to be considered in terms of teaching French medical vocabulary, based on students’ studying predilections.

Interactional-Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Dynamics of Power and Solidarity in German– Lithuanian Business Negotiations

Summary The article analyses German-Lithuanian business negotiations in the English language, focusing on questions of the dynamics of power and solidarity (Tannen, 1993, 1995), realized through various politeness strategies (Brown & Levinson, 1987). In the evaluation of the audio material and the determination of the type of conversation as “business negotiation”, it has been assumed that this is a communication situation in which the participants want to make an agreement based on different or identical objectives (Wagner, 1995). In the first phase of the analysis, the excerpts of the discussions were selected to determine which goal is being pursued by the participants. In the next phase, the politeness strategies used by the participants are explained to determine how the dynamics of power and solidarity arise locally and which intentions are thereby realized by the participants or what special purpose the local dynamics serve against the background of the general discussion goal. The exemplary analysis refers to the theoretical-methodological approaches of Gumperz, Brown, and Levinson as well as Tannen, whereby special importance is given to the studies that deal with the politeness strategies with regard to the generation of the dynamics of power and solidarity in institutional interaction, especially from the point of view of conversational analysis (Kulbayeva, 2020; Zhuang & Huang, 2020). The results of the analysis could be helpful for learners and teachers of a foreign language, especially if they are interested in intercultural business communication and teaching language for specific purposes and want to deal with authentic material.

TVORBA VÝUKOVÝCH MATERIÁLŮ PRO STAVEBNÍ OBORY A TRUHLÁŘE NA PŘÍKLADU ODBORNÉHO CIZÍHO JAZYKA – NĚMČINY

The paper deals with the creation of a digital educational resource (DER) for teaching the German language for specific purposes (GSP) for building trades and carpenters, which was created within the project “Professional foreign language for building trades and carpenters with the implementation of digital education. Builders, let’s go!” It is a comprehensive study material created by teachers from the German Language Department at the Institute of Language Training at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. It informs about the topics of the individual lessons, their structure, and about the types of exercises that have been created for the Internet e-learning portal Moodle. It also mentions teaching videos from the professional environment that had been filmed within the project.

PROFESSIONALLY ORIENTED TRANSLATION AND THE ROLE OF A TRANSLATOR IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

This article is devoted to the study of criminal legal terminology in the modern English language and ways of its transmission in the process of translation. Issues of legal translation of languages for specific purposes (LSP) are relevant today in connection with the increasing pace of globalization. Unfortunately, there are currently no thorough studies in Ukraine devoted to the comparison of criminal legal terminology in different languages and the role of an translator in criminal proceedings. The article presents a general review of criminal legal terminology, the factors that influence its formation, research into the field of its use, with the aim of highlighting the role of translator. During the last decades, approaches to translation analysis have been changed and many modern concepts in the field of translation have appeared requiring linguists and translators/translators to be aware of new trends in the field of translation. This question is extremely relevant among linguists and translators, due to the fact that the requirements of the modernized world have to be met by experts and specialists who are knowledgeable in two languages, more precisely: in the input language (the original language) and the Ukrainian language, which needs adaptation and comparison of linguistic units of the above-mentioned languages. The translation of criminal legal terminology can only be performed by experienced translators who are perfectly oriented in this field and has updated methods of translation transformations. The role of forensic terminology in modern society is quite significant. Forensic science develops, new phenomena appear, and thus terms, reinterpretation and transformation of already existing terminological units takes place. A translator is one of the participants in the criminal proceedings. With the help of translators the right is guaranteed to use native language for those participants who do not know the state language at all, or do not know it well enough. In the article, we will consider the main difficulties that translators have to deal with when working with text of a criminal-procedural nature, with forensic and legal terminology. The article considers the main difficulties that translators have to deal with when working with tests of a criminal-procedural nature, with forensic and legal terminology.

국내 베트남인 유학생의 역량 강화를 위한 방안에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is to present convergence majors and programs, and a systematic methodology for strengthening the competency of Vietnamese students studying in Korea. By applying this methodology, if Vietnamese students succeed in finding jobs or starting businesses in Korea or in Vietnam, a virtuous cycle which creates demands for new Vietnamese students can be established. The specific methods are as follows; first, academic guidance and career coaching by Vietnamese, second, the education of languages for specific purposes, third, the major of Vietnamese interpretation and translation, fourth, reverse study abroad system in Vietnam and credit exchange system with Vietnamese universities based on distance learning system, fifth, convergence majors with Vietnamese characteristics such as Southeast Asian studies and multinational tax accounting major, sixth, joint operation of online courses between Korean and foreign universities and a credit linkage system between the universities in both countries.

Maritime Cooperative Working Agreements

Textual standardization is the expected route for documents in specific disciplinary fields, particularly for legal documents (Gotti 2012). Yet organizations in these fields need common conventions that allow for innovation and flexibility as they face complex professional contexts (Bhatia 2012). Our qualitative data concerning the maritime shipping industry’s use of the legal instruments known as “Cooperative Working Agreements” give evidence that variability allows communities to attain latent professional goals. Genre in language for special purposes, even in legal language, should be seen a double-edged sword, allowing professional communities to legitimately accomplish goals through both standardization and variability.

TRIGGERS OF SPEAKING ANXIETY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES: INSIDERS’ PERSPECTIVES

Learning a new language presents a host of challenges for non-native speakers. Foreign language anxiety of non-native speakers is one of the main issues in teaching and learning a foreign language. Non-native students of foreign languages and their teachers may not be aware of their different views on foreign language anxiety, therefore an attempt at fostering dialogue and mutual understanding must be made with a view to informing all parties concerned. This paper will examine only speaking anxiety of non-native learners of five different foreign languages for specific purposes (FLSP). The aim is to identify FLSP students' and teachers' perspectives on the causes of FLSP speaking anxiety as well as any differences in their viewpoints. A survey was conducted with FLSP students and teachers from all four Slovenian universities in winter 2020/2021. The results show the discrepancies between FLSP students' and teachers' views on the triggers for speaking anxiety of non-native speakers as learners of FLSP.

Special issue: Language for Specific Purposes – Trends and Perspectives

This special journal issue comprises articles in the field of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP), most of which were presented at the Language for Specific Purposes: Trends and Perspectives International Conference held on 17-18 September 2021 in Budva, Montenegro. The conference was organised as part of the Erasmus+ ReFLAME project (Reforming Foreign Languages in Academia in Montenegro). ReFLAME is a CBHE project, the aim of which is to strengthen the capacities of Montenegrin universities to offer modern, market-oriented foreign language education for non-philology students, in response to the growing demand for foreign language skills in most work positions. The project is coordinated by the Faculty of Philology of the University of Montenegro, in partnership with the University of Donja Gorica, and Mediterranean University from Montenegro, and the University for Foreigners of Perugia, the University of Warsaw and the University of Zagreb as EU partners. The LSP conference provided an international forum for sharing experience, knowledge and results related to the theory, methodology and practice of teaching languages for specific purposes. It brought together over 100 researchers and practitioners from various countries who were focused on modern LSP concepts and approaches, establishing links with the needs of both academia and the labour market. The conference participants presented their research results, projects and experience, showing significant advances and demonstrating good practice in different areas of LSP. The current journal issue includes 19 articles that revolve around seven thematic issues related to the LSP field: LSP and Higher Education, LSP and Eteaching and E-learning, ESP Coursebook Design and Materials Development, Corpus-based Research in ESP, the Pragmatic Aspects of LSP discourse, ESP and Literature, and ESP and Translation

Language for Specific Purposes in academia vs. Labor Market Needs: the Trends and Perspectives in Montenegro

The present paper outlines the key findings of a study that was carried out in Montenegro with the aim of getting an overview of the current state of play in language for specific purposes teaching and the actual needs from the perspective of students, university staff members (both academic and nonacademic) and employers. To this end, an online survey was designed and distributed among the target groups with an overall total of 1,985 participants. Furthermore, an online English placement test was conducted among the first year students at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Montenegro with an overall number of 853 respondents, in order to compare the language proficiency entrance levels to the curriculum expectations. The results suggest the high level of need for LSP proficiency, both for academic and occupational purposes, the general dissatisfaction with the English language proficiency level of the prospective employees that apply for job posts, the need to master an additional foreign language apart from English and the need to enhance the policy of LSP teaching at HEIs in Montenegro, which are seen by employers as a key partner in terms of quality control and assurance in language teaching. The paper concludes with recommendations for LSP teaching and planning at HEIs in Montenegro.

The Relevance of Online Video Clips for the Online Informal Learning of English for Transport Technology – A Corpus-Based Approach

As a result of the vast opportunities for the use of English in everyday online life, the field of online informal learning of languages, in particular English, has attracted a new wave of research attention. Importantly for this study, it has been confirmed that online engagement in activities involving the use of English has a positive effect on the development of English language proficiency, and that watching online video clips in English is one of the most frequent activities that students engage in. Nevertheless, the number of corpus-based studies in this field remains scant. In addition, no research study has addressed the relevance of online video clips for the online informal learning of English in the specific field of transport technology. In order to bridge this research gap, the objective of this paper is to adopt a corpus-based approach to explore whether a careful selection of video clips in the specific domain of transport technology has the potential to support or supplement the core course materials. The construction of a specialised corpus of video clips adopted a six-step methodology that allowed the preparation, collection, documentation, construction, analysis, and finally evaluation of the corpus. This corpus was then compared against the corpus of the core course materials in terms of lexical density, terminology, and four-grams. The findings of the study indicate that, if carefully selected, video clips have the potential to support the formal language learning process, and should therefore contribute to the understanding of the potential of online informal learning of English in discipline-specific settings; moreover, the adopted methodology may serve as a guide for informed audio-visual material selection and analysis in any language for specific purposes.

The Influence of the Digital Teaching of Language for Specific Purposes on Students’ Motivation

The common framework for languages has set two primary goals for foreign language teaching to achieve: multilingualism and learner autonomy. Teachers are accountable for the development of learner autonomy, through the micro-planning of teaching, and each of us reading from experience has come to the conclusion that the learner autonomy cannot exist without motivation (and vice versa). The aspect of motivation plays the most important role in the acquisition of language skills, but as it is highly subjective, it is very hard to “tame” it methodologically. That problem is particularly challenging in the teaching of language for specific purposes: on the one hand, these are adult learners who by the nature of things are consciously motivated, although often extrinsically; on the other hand, this is not the main subject which they have chosen to study which can often negatively impact their motivation. Due to this, motivating students has always been like walking a tight rope between a “carrot and stick” approach (especially if we consider the common means of evaluation from one side of the spectrum to another of the extrinsically motivated learning). The aim of this paper was to study the degree to which switching to classes in a digital environment, impacted by the pandemic, influenced learner motivation. This paper is based on empirical research via a questionnaire sent to students at university faculties where German for Specific Purposes is taught. The intention was to embrace two aspects of this problem: whether the switching to classes in a digital environment had a positive or a negative impact on the motivation and whether the impact (if there was one) lead in any way to the internalisation of the motivation. In the summary of the paper is the attempted systematization of the aspects of the digital teaching from our practices, which presented accordingly through the empirical research, show that the aspects can be beneficial for the improvement of motivation in a digital environment.

LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES AT THE FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

The teaching of languages for specific purposes has been an increasingly appealing and relevant topic both in the academic and the professional sphere for decades. In today’s globalised world and, more specifically, in an increasingly united Europe, the importance of learning and using foreign languages need no longer be particularly emphasized. Using foreign languages in professional communication facilitates participation in political and economic exchange and arrangements. The field of law is a peculiar area in terms of its professional language. Law is firmly dependant on its national language, making it an even more closed system, creating its own unique concepts in the national language, often without obvious counterparts in other systems. However, communication between legal experts and the European integration of which Croatia is part make it necessary for legal professionals to master the foreign languages of the legal profession. This is particularly true of English, as it is still the dominant working language in EU institutions, but also of French, being the principal working language of the Court of Justice of the EU, and finally of German. The importance of German is twofold – not only is the Croatian legal system rooted in the traditions of German and Austrian law, but it is also those two countries that have a strong presence in economic transactions in Croatia. The importance of German in the legal professions seems sometimes to be recognized by students in their senior years or even after they graduate. This is evident from the fact that many students who enrol in the paying lifelong learning courses of German for law are in fact senior-year students or fresh graduates of Law. Hopefully, the interest in German in other study programmes will be rekindled in the coming years, despite the growing dominance of English as the language of international communication.

Future military engineers intellectual abilities development technology components

The article describes the fact that future engineers intellectual abilities development may be effectively carried out with the help of communicative tasks founded on professional problem-based communicative situations in the English language for specific purposes. The interconnection between intellectual abilities development and studying or professional performance is highlighted and intellectual abilities development is considered to be impossible without any performance. The textbook Professional English language and communicative tasks founded on professional problem-based communicative situations are characterized as the main elements of the future military engineers intellectual abilities development technology. Future military engineers intellectual abilities are claimed to involve cognitive component, goal-orienting component and prognostic component. Enabling cadets to solve various professional challenges in cooperation with each other speaking or writing English is claimed to lead to intensive future military engineers intellectual abilities and their components development.

Language Translation in International Accounting: Challenges and Way Forward

This paper examined the challenges inherent in international accounting language translation especially as it relates to communicating financial information to people of different cultural and linguistic origin and proffered possible solutions to the challenges. The paper drew attention to the innate danger of misunderstanding in the use of special register as a means of communication in accounting because of the problematic nature of translating Language for Specific Purpose (LSP) and the need to distinguish meanings associated with professional terminologies from meanings associated with everyday language usage. The work is also aimed at creating awareness on the need for a more sensitive approach to translation by accounting researchers particularly in Nigeria which could culminate into more scholarly articles on translation in this part of the world. This is because, if as a result of poor information translation, investors and other critical stakeholders of a particular firm misconstrue elements of foreign language financial statements, misguided investment decisions might be made. The study found that, translation is indispensable due to the fact that; individuals and organizations engage in international trades. Secondly, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and European Union (EU) declarations are translated into diverse of language cultures. Thirdly, language translation is of fundamental importance in international accounting, however, Nigeria has paid far less attention to translation in this area than other academic disciplines. It recommends that, culture should be instilled in translation so as to be widely accepted. Translators should be aware of the boundaries as well as ensure completeness of translation.

PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES AND ENGLISH FOR GENERAL PURPOSES: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Features of phraseologisms in the Language for Special Purposes and their role as markers for the professional subculture of the aviation community are reflected in the paper. The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the need to study the semantic and functional specifics of the phraseology of the aviation thesaurus. In contrast to existing researches of Aviation English, the linguistic and social analysis role of phraseology in international communication with the organization of professional activities is proposed. Shying away a danger to repeat the already studied aspects of the problem of professional communication, our aim is to highlight the specifics of standard phraseologisms as a form of commands verbalization in the field of aviation communication. The study is based on the theoretical provisitions of the mutual condition for language, culture and thinking in the works by V.V. von Humboldt, Sepir E. and phraseology by Balli Sh, and on the materials of foreign researchers on the practice of aviation phraseology as well. The paper opens the semantic difference between special and commonly phraseoligisms. The functional unambiguity of special phrases in Aviation English is substantiated by conventionality and a common for communicators logical way for comprehending reality. In the paper is emphasized the danger of using a non-standard phraseologisms and non-logical judgment forms. Promoting an idea of a need for the complex and professional competence of an aviation specialist. The result of the done researches is outputs about its own phraseology justified formation by every professional community with a clearly defined function of the activities regulation of multilanguage speakers, who are united by the activity character, ways of thinking and a professional subculture.The provisions, which are mentioned in the conclusions of our study, define as a promising direction for further development so a problem of forming the communicative competence of a perspective aviation specialist. Keywords: aviation English; English for Specific Purposes; English for General Purposes; phraseolism; subculture.

The role of English for specific purposes (ESP) in supporting the linguistic dimension in English-medium instruction (EMI)

Partly because of the Bologna Declaration, the so-called English-Medium Instruction (EMI) courses in universities have undergone a strong surge in the last 15 years. This initial phase of growth in EMI has had an impact on LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) courses, which have in some cases suffered a consequent decline. This article seeks to highlight the potential of LSP to prepare students in EMI communication, support academic disciplinary skills, develop transversal skills, and foster intercultural communication. The study analyses an LSP-focused curricular design that aims to help students develop English-language communicative effectiveness for a domain-specific context: social and human services. The various integrative practices inherent in LSP instruction call attention to its potential as a harmonizing and empowering force for content- and language-integrated learning when used alongside EMI.
 Keywords: English-Medium Instruction (EMI); Language for Specific Purposes (LSP); English for Specific Purposes (ESP); Content-and-language integrated learning (CLIL); Integrating content and language in higher education (ICLHE).

DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCY IN UNDERGRADUATES OF NON-LINGUISTIC SPECIALTIES IN THE CONDITIONS OF DISTANT LEARNING

Modern society requires highly qualified professionals who can quickly adapt to the development and implementation of innovative technologies, as well as to the changes that are taking place in various spheres in Ukraine and abroad. The course “Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes” (FLSP) aims at developing undergraduates’ ability to communicate in a foreign language to fulfil certain professional needs in the future. The aim of the article is to study the effective methods for developing foreign language competence in undergraduates of non-linguistic specialties in the context of distance learning. The authors have analysed the latest works of the Ukrainian and foreign scholars relevant to the topic. The concepts of “communicative competence”, “professional competence”, and “professional communicative competence” have been clarified. The authors consider foreign-language communicative competence as the undergraduates’ ability and readiness for foreign language communication with native speakers, their perception and understanding of partners, and the adequate and timely expression of their mental intentions. Certain empiric research methods applied by the authors (observation and a survey of students (in the form of a questionnaire)) helped to obtain data for the further theoretical understanding of the problem. It has been stated that undergraduates’ non-linguistic specialties communicative competence can be formed due to the development of four language skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. The authors believe that the professional communicative competence of undergraduates as future professionals can be developed due to the use of means of modern information technology, and interactive teaching methods that help students to develop their creative approach to learning a foreign language and improve their attitude to the subject.

‘Arm’s length’ phraseology?

Abstract In the last decades, the study of phraseology within general and specialized lexicographic resources has been of interest to scholars. However, phraseology has not been studied in language for specific purposes (LSP) as much as in language for general purposes (LGP). Therefore, this study (i) offers an overview of the definitions regarding LSP phraseology, (ii) provides a series of linguistic analyses of specialized phraseological units (SPUs) extracted from a specialized bilingual dictionary, and (iii) draws a comparative line between LGP and LSP phraseology. To do so, 11,086 entries were extracted to build the analysis database. This study provides 1,054 morphosyntactic and 4,369 semantic patterns, a definition and a taxonomy of SPUs based on the data analysis and revision of LGP phraseology notions, and a hybrid lexicographic indexation method for SPUs. The contributions of this paper answer the question ‘what is a SPU?’; while highlighting similarities and differences with LGP phraseology.