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Section 3. Applied and mathematical linguistics
5. Taisia Popova. Structura ispanskogo nauchno-tekhnicheskogo teksta. Moscow: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, 2011.
6. Valeria Chernyavskaya. Interpretatsiya nauchnogo teksta. Moscow: DomKniga, 2006.
7. Valeria Chernyavskaya. Lingvistika teksta. Polikodovost. Intertekstualnost. Interdiskursivnost. Moscow: Librokom, 2009.
8. Anglo-russkiy tolkovy slovar logisticheskikh terminov. ECR, Aldata Solution, Seanews, 2008.
9. David Soler Garcia. Diccionario de logfstica. Marge Books, 2009.
Paci Margarita, Polytecnic University of Tirana Msc. in English Teaching E-mail: [email protected]
Characteristics of English for Engineering
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to list the characteristics of English for engineering. We relied on several articles related to this field. The focus was on vocabulary and grammar. It was found out that most characteristics had remained the same through the passing of time but some others had changed. English for Engineering, being a branch of English for Science and Technology (EST), had most of its typical features.
Keywords: English for Engineering, EST and ESP.
Introduction
History of English for science and technology
English for Engineering is an example of English for Science and Technology and its history is the one of EST which on the other hand is closely related to English for Specific Purposes (ESP). In fact ESP in the ‘Tree ofELT’ (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) consists of three branches: a) English for Science and Technology (EST), b) English for Business and Economics (EBE), and c) English for Social Studies (ESS). Each of these subject areas is further divided into two branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). An example of EOP for the EST branch is ‘English for Engineers’ whereas an example of EAP for the EST branch is ‘English for Medical Studies.
The large-scale international scientific, technical and economic developments after the Second World War, requested for an international language to serve the needs and demands of people. These people were doctors, scientists, engineers, merchants who needed English to update their knowledge or simply do their job in a global labor market. They had no time to learn general English they needed English related to their field of study or occupation. Hence, there were
made many attempts to focus on English for Specific Purposes and English for Science and Technology (EST). Most of the work in the 1960s was in the area of English for Science and technology (EST) and for some time ESP and EST were regarded as almost synonymous (Hutchinson & Waters).
Characteristics of English for Engineering
Being categorized under the umbrella of EST, English for Engineering manifests many characteristics typical of EST. We will focus mainly on vocabulary and grammar.
Vocabulary
There are several characteristics ofEST vocabulary.
1. Technical terms
Technical terms are widely used in EST. A great number ofthem come from dailylife and many ofthem derive from Greek or Latin. According to the U. S. science and technology expert, Oscar E. Nybaken, in 10000 common English words, about 46% of the vocabulary derives from Latin and 7.2% comes from Greek. These percentages are much higher in the highly specialized scientific English vocabulary.
2. One Word with Multiple Meanings
Polysemi is another characteristic of the
EST vocabulary. One word has multiple meanings
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Characteristics of English for Engineering
which may vary from one field to another. For example, “transmission”, in telecommunications means “the process of sending a message, picture or other information from one location to another [7], in Mechanical Engineering, it means “a device interposed between a source of power and a specific application for the purpose of adapting one to the other”; In General Physics, it means the extent of which a body or medium transmits light, sound or some other form of energy; etc.
3. Acronyms and blending
From the respect of linguistics, the vocabulary of EST is formed by compounding, blending, affixation, acronym, clipping, back-formation, coinage, functional shift and borrowing from the foreign words. However there are some word formation methods that are used more frequently such as acronyms and blending.
Blended words are used more commonly in the EST than in other language texts. People with a professional knowledge of science think that it is easy to understand the meaning of the original word by imagination.
An acronym is a word made up from the first letters of the name of something. Since it is very convenient to use this brief form, acronyms are widely adopted in English technical terms. Furthermore, with the rapid development of science and technology, more and more acronyms are extensively used in various fields
4. Noun phrases with noun modifiers
Compared with general English, noun phrases
are more frequently used in EST. In general, there is a chain of nouns where some nouns modify the head noun (Ferguson (2004:1).
Eg.
Modifying noun: Head noun
nuclear submarine refit centre
This is because scientific literature contains more abstract concepts such as definitions, principles, laws, conclusions, etc. and because noun phrases represent information in a compact and dense form.
Grammar
1. Passive voice
One of the most typical grammatical features of EST and English for Engineering is the extensive use of the passive which shifts the focus from the
doer of the action to the action. It is widely used to achieve objectivity and because in technical writing or lab reports, it is not important the actor but the process or principle being described. Science and technology documents put emphasis on recounting and reasoning. Moreover, Quirk et al. (1972), cited in Master (1991), states that:
The passive has been found to be as much as ten times more frequent in one text than in another. The passive is generally more commonly used in formative than in imaginative writing , notably in the objective, impersonal style of scientific articles and news items.
On the other hand, Blicq (1981), cited in Master (1991), says “... unfortunately, many scientists and engineers in industry still believe that everything should be written in the passive voice. with the passage of time, this outdated belief is slowly being eroded”. In fact, Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineer says:
"Like active voice, pronouns were once unacceptable in engineering writing. According to some engineers, using pronouns made writing more "personable” and less "scientific."However, this trend is changing. Some instructors, publications and industries now accept pronouns in written documents. For example, "We tested each sample," as opposed to 'The sample was tested"”
Furthermore, Eisenberg (1982) cited in Master (1991) points out that “... the use of the passive verb slows down the pace, requires more words, and tends to make the going difficult for your readers.”
In fact, Master’s study of the use of active and passive in technical journals shows that the passive voice has a greater use in scientific writing, but the active still has dominance.
Thus, we could conclude by citing Dudey-Evans & John (1998):
"The idea that scientific... writing uses the passive voice more frequently than the active is a myth; what is true is that such writing uses the passive voice more frequently than some other types of writing. The choice of active or passive is constrained by functional considerations..."
2. More Non-Finite Forms ofVerbs
EST requires simple and clear expression and close structure [8] so it frequently uses non-finite forms of verbs instead of attributive clauses and
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Section 3. Applied and mathematical linguistics
adverbial clause. These make the sentence short and striking.
3. Extensive use of Imperatives and Modals
The imperatives and modals are widely used in providing instructions which comprise most technical manuals that engineers have to read, interpret or design.
Conclusion
English for Engineering has a specific style. It is rather difficult to decide what English to teach to
engineers. First, there are numerous kinds ofengineers (civil engineers, architectural engineer, mechanical engineer, chemical engineer etc) with widely different field of work and terminology. Furthermore most English for Engineers courses are often for people still in full- time education who do not know yet what job they might do exactly. As a result knowing the main grammatical and lexical features of engineering English may help instructors in designing their syllabuses and in choosing learning materials.
References:
1. Peng Jia “The Characteristics and Translation of English for Science and Technology (EST)” (2005)
2. http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/how-to-teach-english-for-engineers.html
3. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A Learner-Centered Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Mohammad Al Towaim, “Grammatical and Lexical Features of Scientific and Technical Language” retrieved 10.07.015: http://www.scribd.com/doc/193396618/Grammatical-and-Lexical-Features-of-Scientific-and-Technical#scribd
6. Writing in Engineering (Language and Learning Online), referred on 12.06.2016, http://www.monash. edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/engineering/index.xml
7. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transmission
8. http://www. Usingenglish.com\glossary.html
Cenaj Mirjeta, Sports University of Tirana PhD student Faculty of Foreign Languages, English Department
E-mail: [email protected]
Harmonization of teaching strategies with students’ learning styles in the ESP classroom
Abstract: Evaluation of students’ learning styles is important as it can enable teachers to make changes in their classrooms in order to improve their teaching process. In the light of this I have carried out a survey on learning styles of my students at Sports University of Tirana. The study aims to identify the way these students perceive information in the English language classroom; through which sensory channel external information is most effectively perceived, how they process information, and how they progress toward understanding and mainly how they acquire foreign language best. In other words “How do they learn English best”. The sample of this study are 160 first year students, first-year bachelor students in the academic year 2014-2015, they were asked to answer to a 30-item questionnaire, Willing’s (1988) questionnaire titled “How do you learn best?”, the learner types identified by Willing and the learning methods mentioned in the questionnaire are comprehensive, applicable and relevant to language learning contexts. The data gathered by this 4-point Likert scale questionnaire was processed by SPSS package and Reliability Statistics Results showed a high value of internal consistency (alpha cronbach =0.907) for the 30 items of the ques-
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