Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Informatic Terminology
Informatic Terminology
Informatic Terminology
CHAPTER I GENERAL OUTLINES ...................................................................................................... 2 1.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 2 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT ...................................................................................................... 2 1.3 JUSTIFICATION .................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.4.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE ..................................................................................................... 3 1.4.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................... 3 1.5 HYPOTHESIS ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.6 TYPE OF RESEARCH ......................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................ 4 2.1 ENGLISH AS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE ............................................................................. 4 2.2 TECHNOLOGY IN OUR SOCIETY ........................................................................................ 5 2.3 SOCIAL LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................. 5 2.4 TEACHING ENGLISH WITH TECHNOLOGY ......................................................................... 6 2.5 ACQUIRING VOCABULARY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW A WORD? ............................. 6 2.6 THE NATURE OF WORDS FOR HUMAN BEINGS ................................................................. 8 2.7 THE RETENTION OF VOCABULARY .................................................................................... 9 2.8 VOCABULARY ACQUISITION STRATEGIES: SOME SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES ................. 10 2.9 SOURCES TO HELP IN THE ADQUICITION OF LANGUAGE ................................................ 10 CHAPTER III METHOD OF INVESTIGATION ...................................................................................... 12 3.1 TYPE OF RESEARCH ........................................................................................................ 12 3.3 REACH OF THE RESEARCH .............................................................................................. 12 3.4 DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................... 12 3.5 VARIABLES ....................................................................................................................... 13 3.6 POPULATION AND SAMPLE .............................................................................................. 16 3.7 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT ................................................................................................. 16 3.8 VALIDITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................. 16 3.9 ACTION PLAN ................................................................................................................... 17 3.10 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................... 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 18 GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................................... 19 ANNEX ............................................................................................................................................. 21
1.3 JUSTIFICATION
Nowadays more and more people are involved in technology through the Internet. That is why informatic terms are learned naturally by the community because technological revolution cannot be stopped. That new phenomenon brings a lot of advantages for any science. However, it is not the same for Spanish language which is spoken in La Paz city. People prefer to refer a term which 2
has a parallel meaning in Spanish with the Anglo-Saxon term. For this reasons this study is going to provide important theories related to this phenomenon, is going to display our social attitude and is going to be a useful tool for next studies.
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
The frequently apparition of English terms related to informatics causes the adoption of those terms instead of Spanish because people is constantly with computer.
To support this study, the author does a literature review related to the topic of this study that is about the characteristics of English informatic terms that our society used. That is why this section presents concepts about: The Elements of acquiring vocabulary, manners of learning vocabulary and the process of teaching new words. All those theories were evaluated according to the relationship with the study.
3rd singular in present tense). Regular verbs have only four forms: Infinitive + Present, Past Tense + Past Participle, 3rd person singular Present Indicative, Present Participle. There are almost no Inflections. No number or gender inflection for adjectives, articles, adverbs. For adjectives there is only comparative and superlative, almost only number for nouns. English is one of the most analytical languages, with no significant synthetic, fusional or agglutinative characteristics.
these are used. Just like books or any other resources, technology is used within a social environment, and mediated by interaction with peers and teachers. Learning is never solely a matter of hardware and software.
g) use it with the words it correctly goes with, i.e. in the correct collocation h) use it at the appropriate level of formality; i) be aware of its connotations and associations.
To Richards (1974) in Carter & Mc Cathy (1988 ) knowing a word means : 1. Knowing the degree of probability of encountering it and the sorts of words most likely to be found associated with it (frequency and collocability ). 2. Knowing its limitation of use according to function and situation (temporal, social, geographical; field, made, etc.). 3. Knowing its syntactic behaviour (e.g. transivity patterns, cases). 4. Knowing its underlying forms and derivations. 5. Knowing its place in a network of associations with other words in the language. 6. Knowing its semantic value (its composition). 7. Knowing its different meanings (polysemy). Jeremy Harmer (1992) summarises knowing a word in the following way: WORD USE WORDS WORD INFORMATION WORD GRAMMAR Meaning in context Sense relations Metaphor and idiom Collocation Style and register Parts of speech Prefixes and suffixes Spelling and pronunciation Parts of speech Prefixes and suffixes Spelling and pronunciation
MEANIG
These assumptions made in the light of descriptive linguistics, psycholinguistics and computational linguistics reveal the fact that knowing a word means more than just understanding its meaning. 7
They reveal the complex nature of the vocabulary learning process. Then, the lexical part shouldn't be ignored in language teaching. Carter & McCarthy (1988) quote Wilkins stating the centrality of meaning: "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." Carter & McCarthy also quote Rivers stating that vocabulary can be presented and explained but ultimately it is the individual who learns: "Students must learn how to learn vocabulary and find their own ways of expanding organizing their word stores." Then individualisation and self-management seem to be a necessary ingredient in language learning. By involving the learner actively in the vocabulary acquisition process, it is possible to increase efficiency. Having learned L1 learners have an experience of language learning, which is a great advantage on the part of the learner. So learners have a lot to contribute from themselves. They must be involved in this process and they must organize their own learning and form their own lexicon. Willis (1990 P.130) also argues that the job of the teacher is to help learners manage their own learning, discover for themselves the best and most effective way for them to learn. To understand an utterance, Widdowson argues, we have to use the linguistic signs as indicators to where meaning is to be found in the context of the immediate situation of utterance, or in the context of our knowledge and experience. In language use, meaning is achieved by indexical and not symbolic means. Giving the following expression:"The liquid passed down the pipe" Widdowson (1986) asks: Why is that we understand the pipe referred to here as a length of tube, rather than a device for smoking tobacco or a Musical Wind instrument? Because the association of liquid and pipe calls up a familiar frame of reference, is indexical of a conventional schema. Wallace (1988) distinguishes between form and meaning by giving the following example: Jack was sitting on the bank of the river, I am going to the bank to cash a cheque and He calls them different lexical items because they have different meanings. So learners must be aware of such indexical meaning in order to be able to use them.
Gairns and Redman (1990) argue that the second theory is supported by a number of experiments. In one of these, subjects were given lists of words to learn and then tested on their powers of 8
recall. Later they were tested again, only this time they were given relevant information to facilitate recall. For example, if a list contained the words "sofa", "armchair" and "wardrobe" the subjects would be given the super ordinate "Furniture" as a cue to help them. These experiments showed that recall was considerably strengthened by appropriate retrieval cues, thus suggesting that the information was not permanently lost but only "mislaid". But in both cases one thing is very clear: learners' active involvement is needed to keep the vocabulary active and this seems to be possible with adequate strategies. Carter (1987) mentions a research reported in Cornu (1979) which indicates that individuals tend to recall words according to the categories or semantic fields in which they are conceptually mapped. Then, if learners study the vocabulary in terms of categories and semantic fields, they will be able to retain more vocabulary for a longer time.
Carter & McCarthy (1988) argue that learners make semantic, phonological and associational links between L1 and L2. It seems that learners can store and retain vocabulary more easily if they study items relating by topic, forming pairs etc. That is, they do it in a systematized way. When we think of the number of words in our mental lexicon, the speed is incredible. Gairns and Redman (1990 p.88) cited Freedman and Loftus (1971): the subjects were asked to preform two different types of tasks. 1. Name a fruit that begins with a P 2. Name a word beginning with P that is a fruit. The subjects were able to answer the first type of question more quickly than the second. When they are in the fruit category they can remember other fruits more quickly. Semantically related items are stored together in a series of associative networks. Gairns and Redman consider word frequency as another variable which affect storage. Items which occur most frequently are also easily recognized and retrieved.
SOCKS
CLOTHES
SKIRT
HAT SHIRT
COAT
Variation 1: Limit association in some way. For example, write only adjectives that can apply to the central noun so "clothes" might get words like: black, old, smart, warm and beautiful. Variation 2: A central adjective can be associated with nouns, for example, "warm" could be linked with: day, food, hand, personality. Or a verb can be associated with adverbs, for example, "speak" can lead to: angrily, softly, clearly, convincingly, sadly.
10
paraphrasing the word by merging it with the source text. This indicates that the learner should be able to overcome such problems if he is to take advantage of dictionary use. Hartman also warns that learners will often fail to find the information they seek if they lack the required constituent skills. Then, students must be taught the proper use of the dictionary. For example, students can be given some exercises which require rearranging words in alphabetical order, finding derived forms under another headword, finding out pronunciation, checking spelling and so on. The dictionary can also give them useful grammatical information. Wallace (1988) diagnoses a choosing the meaning appropriate to a given context when several meanings are defined as the major problem in the use of the dictionary. What type of dictionary to use is another point to be considered. At early stages a bilingual dictionary can be used, but it is a fact that monolingual dictionaries encourage students to think in the target language. Harima (1991) states that there is nothing wrong with bilingual dictionaries except that they do not usually provide sufficient information for the students to be able to use. The entries for the following English words in an English - Turkish bilingual dictionary are all the same:
float (v): yzmek skin (v): yzmek swim (v): yzmek
There is no doubt, then, learners need more than that. They must be offered a better alternative. Because of the advancements in computer technology, learners are lucky to find a monolingual dictionary as Collins Cobuild dictionary (1990). This dictionary presents a real break away from the traditional ones: It gives examples of real language i.e. how they are used in actual situations with all types of usages.
11
In this chapter the writer discusses about data collection, population and sample. Also is presented the instrument of the research, action plan and the analysis method that is applied through this research. Those important aspects are relevant to simplify the field of the study.
12
Techniques
Disadvantage(s) Subjective, need practice Transcription difficult, time consuming, often inhibiting Subjective
Use(s) Specific issue Case study General impression Detailed evidence Diagnostic Diagnostic Triangulation Specific in information depth
Field notes
Can be teacher-pupil, pupil-pupil Visual comprehensive Highly specific, easy to administer, comparative Easy administer, provides guides to action Illuminative Illuminative, discussion promote
Time consuming Awkward and expensive, can be distracting Time consuming analyze, problem right answer to of
Visual material Diagnostic Specific information and feedback Analyses social relationships Provides context and situation
Questionnaires
Goniometry
Can threaten isolated pupils Difficult to obtain, time consuming Difficult to obtain superficial
Case study
Time consuming
In doing this study is obtained data by using questionnaires and field notes. Also, used audio tape recording to record the data obtained because by audio tape recording technique an accurate and detailed data is needed to gain the data of populations opinion about informatic terms. Stringer (1996) asserts that the use of a tape recorder has the advantage of allowing the researcher to record accounts that are both detailed and accurate.
3.5 VARIABLES
The variables are elements that have some particular characteristic of being measured and provable with criteria (Tamayo, 1999). This concept helps us to understand that our variable in this research are closely related with the hypothesis. It means that hypothesis is going to direct to complete the instrument. This research presents the following variables:
13
DIMENSION CONCEPTS
TERMINOLOGY: It is the set of technical words or expressions used in a particular subject with particular meaning. INFORMATICS: It is the study of processed for storing and obtaining information COMPUTER: An electronic machine that can store, organize and find information, do calculations and control other machines
SUBDIMENTATION INDICATORS VALUES Knowledges degree of informatic Some , many and a lot terms Young people Kind of people familiarize with Teenager people those terms (age) Adult people Elderly people Male Genre Female Common words (Computers/ Internet) Special word (Informatic terms) Kind of informatic terms Particular terms (Expressions like slangs and others) People learn them at school People learn them by social interaction People learn them naturally With colleagues With friends With any kind of person With relatives Hour per day that people interact with computers Kind of material that people look for or use in the computers The languages sources
14
Other media to be in contact with informatic terms DEPENDANT VARIABLE ADOPTION OF INFORMATIC TERMS INSTEAD OF SPANISH ADOPTION: The act of adopting or choosing words in order to use like proprietor. The reasons to prefer to use English informatic terms instant of Spanish The reasons to be in contact with those terminology
Magazines Newspapers Book Social movements Common expression Medias language words volunteer Obliged
15
16
17
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crystal, David (2001) El LENGUAJE E INTERNET. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11-37.
ORELLY & ASSOCIATES, INC. (1997) The Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society. Harvard University Press. pp. 27-38 (Bill Gates). Posteguillo, Santiago (2003) Netlinguistics. Castello de la plata: Publicaciones de la Universitat Jaume I. Ramelan (1992) An Introduction to Language Analysis. Semarang: IKIP Semarang Press. Sampieri, Roberto (2006) METODOLOGIA DE LA INVESTIGACION. Mexico: Mc Graw Hill. Stringer, E.T. (1996) ActionResearch: A Handbook for Practitioners. London: Sage Publication Ltd. Syafei, A. (1988) English Language:Theory And Practice. Jakarta: Depdikbud, Dirjen Dikti. Tripp, D. (1996) SCOPE: Supporting Work Place Learning Education Department of Western Australia. Eaglewood Ur, P. and A. Wright. (1993) Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: University Press.
18
GLOSSARY
Acrolect NOUN a dialect (=way of speaking a language) that is considered better than all others Basilect NOUN a dialect (=way of speaking a language) that is considered lower in status than other dialects Creole NOUN a language that is a mixture of a European language and one or more other languages, spoken as the first language of a people Dialect NOUN a way of speaking a language that is used only in a particular area or by a particular group Diglossia NOUN a situation in which a language exists in two forms, one formal or literary and the other informal, and you use the form that is suitable for a particular situation First language NOUN the first language that you learn to speak First language NOUN the main language that people speak in a region or country Heritage language NOUN in English-speaking countries, a language other than English that is the main language someone learns as a child Home language NOUN Someones native language Interlanguage NOUN a mixture of two languages, especially one used by someone learning a new language, that contains features of the persons first language mixed with those of the language they are learning Interlingual ADJECTIVE Involving two languages Interlingual ADJECTIVE relating to an interlanguage Language NOUN the method of human communication using spoken or written words Langue NOUN a language considered as a system of communication that belongs to the people who speak it Lingo NOUN a language, especially one other than your own Lingua franca NOUN a language that people use to communicate when they have different first languages Litotes NOUN the use of a negative statement to say something positive, for example by describing something as not unreasonable Metalanguage NOUN a set of words used for describing and discussing language Metonymy NOUN expressions in which you refer to something using the name of something else that is closely related to it, as, for example, when journalists use the expression Downing Street to refer to the British Prime Minister Mother tongue NOUN the main language that you learn as a child Natural language NOUN a language that has developed in a natural way, rather than being created for a specific purpose Parole NOUN language considered as the way that individual people use it Patois NOUN
19
a type of spoken language used by people in a particular area, that is different from the main language in a country Pidgin NOUN a language made up of two or more languages, used as a way of communicating by people whose first languages are different from each other Prose NOUN written language in its ordinary form, as opposed to poetry Register NOUN the type of language that you use in a particular situation or when communicating with a particular group of people rhyming slang NOUN a way of talking in which you replace the normal word for something with a word or phrase that rhymes with it. An example is dog and bone instead of phone. Rhyming slang is used especially by cockneys (=people from East London). second language NOUN a language that you can speak but which is not your main language signing NOUN the use of sign language to communicate, instead of speaking or writing sign language NOUN a way of communicating with people who cannot hear, using hand signals instead of words Sociolect NOUN a type of language spoken by people in a particular social class or group Speech NOUN spoken language, not written language Stress-timed ADJECTIVE in a stress-timed language, there is a regular pattern of stressed syllables Syllable-timed ADJECTIVE in a syllable-timed language, each syllable has a regular rhythm and there are no stresses Tone language NOUN a language such as Chinese in which the meaning of some words changes when you say them in a different tone Tongue NOUN a language Vernacular NOUN the language spoken by a particular group or in a particular area, when it is different from the formal written language A living language a language that people still speak and use in their ordinary lives Plain English/language/wording language that is easy to understand because it does not use difficult or technical words
20
ANNEX
INSTRUMENT OF COLLECTING DATA
QUESTIONNAIRE Genre: Male / Female / Teenager person / Adult person / Elderly person
1.
In your opinion, how many informatic terms do you consider that is frequently used by yourself? a) b) c) Some terms Many terms A lot of terms
2.
What kind of informatic terms do you consider that is used? a) b) c) d) Terms that appear on the Internet Terms that appear on computers Terms that are informatics terms Some particular terms like common word (Facebook)
3.
When do you thing that those terms were learned? a) b) c) At school By social interaction Those terms were learned naturally
4.
When do you use them? a) b) c) d) With colleagues With friends With any kind of person With relatives
5.
In your opinion, how many hours do you spend with a computer? a) b) c) d) e) 1 to 2 hours per day 2 to 4 hours per day 4 to 6 hours per day 6 to 8 hours per day More than 8 hors
21
6.
7.
Do you have any difficulty with language sources like finding information on English? a) b) c) Yes, Because all on internet is in English No, Because I understand the most common terms Other ____________________________________
8.
What kind of media contribute to be in contact with informatic terms? a) b) c) d) Magazines Newspapers Books Other _____________________________________
9.
Why do you prefer to use English informatic terms instant of Spanish? a) b) c) Because is a social movement Because is a common expression Because is the medias language
10.
Why you are in contact with that terminology? a) b) c) d) Volunteer Obliged Everyone used them I cannot avoid them
22