Liu, Jiawei (1998) A corpus-based investigation of the lexis of the postgraduate engineering textbooks with reference to the needs of Southeast Asian students. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This research is mainly concerned with establishing the vocabulary learning needs and
goals of the Engineering students from Southeast Asia studying at British universities.
The research was motivated by the needs to enhance the reading skills of these
students. Subtechnical and technical vocabulary are the focus of this investigation.
The research is based on data derived from a 536,051 word corpus of text from
recommended Engineering textbooks. The relative frequency and range of lexis within
the corpus was found to be a good criterion for identifying subtechnical and technical
vocabulary. The students proved to have a better receptive knowledge of subtechnical
than technical vocabulary. The research suggests that there is a need for collaborative
work between ESP teachers and subject teachers to help the students with technical
vocabulary.
The thesis is divided into nine chapters. Chapter One is a review of literature to the
research. It clarifies various definitions and concepts, describes the research approach,
and provides a framework of the thesis. Chapter Two investigates my subjects overall
vocabulary knowledge. Chapter Three introduces some preliminary data that contrasts
the received opinions in ESP regarding technical and subtechnical vocabulary. For
further investigation of these two types of vocabulary, Chapter Four describes the data
on which empirical studies are based. Chapter Five analyses the data. Chapter Six
presents the empirical studies and concludes that students receptive knowledge of
subtechnical vocabulary is better than their technical vocabulary. Chapter Seven
examines the reasons why technical vocabulary was problematic. Chapter Eight
summarises the research findings and proposes pedagogical implications in the teaching
of subtechnical and technical vocabulary to the specified group of learners. And
Chapter Nine draws conclusions, discusses limitations of the research and makes
recommendations for future research.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education T Technology > T Technology (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Technology -- Language, Engineering -- Textbooks, Southeast Asians -- Great Britain, Engineering students, Foreign -- Great Britain, Graduate students, Foreign -- Great Britain, English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
Official Date:	December 1998
Dates:	Date Event December 1998 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for English Language Teacher Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Nesi, Hilary
Extent:	vii, 301 leaves
Language:	eng

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