Online Dictionaries and the Teaching/Learning of English in the Expanding Circle. A Statistical Approach to Term Extraction

Authors

  • Pedro A. Fuertes Olivera University of Valladolid
  • Beatriz Pérez Cabello de Alba UNED
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes.12.1.116711
Keywords: Internet, Business Dictionary, Business English, Knowledge, Definitions, Encyclopaedic Information

Supporting Agencies

  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

Abstract

This article follows current research on English for Specific Business Purposes, which focuses on the analysis of contextualized business genres and on identifying the strategies that can be associated with effective business communication (Nickerson, 2005). It explores whether free internet dictionaries can be used for promoting effective business communication by presenting a detailed analysis of the definitions and encyclopedic information associated with three business terms that are retrieved from YourDictionary.com, and BusinessDictionary.com. Our results indicate that these two dictionary structures can be very effective for acquiring business knowledge in cognitive use situations. Hence, this paper makes a case for presenting free internet dictionaries as adequate tools for guiding instructors and learners of Business English into the new avenues of knowledge that are already forming, which are characterized by an interest in continuous retraining, especially in the field of ESP where both teachers and students have to deal with areas of knowledge with which they might not be very familiar.

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Author Biographies

Pedro A. Fuertes Olivera, University of Valladolid

Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera is Associate Professor at the University of Valladolid, Spain, where he teaches specialised discourse. He has also taught at the University of Aarhus. His research interest lies in specialised lexicography, translation, and language teaching. He has published around 100 academic contributions, some of which have been published in well- known journals and academic series. He has also co-authored several dictionaries.

Beatriz Pérez Cabello de Alba, UNED

Beatriz Pérez Cabello De Alba graduated in English Studies from the University of Granada and holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Córdoba. She has been visiting scholar in the University of Amsterdam and the University of Verona, and has lectured in Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and in the London School of Economics and Kingston University, UK. In 2001 she joined the National University of Distance Learning in Spain where she has been working since. She has carried out research on lexicology, lexicography and knowledge representation.
Published
15-05-2012
How to Cite
Fuertes Olivera, P. A., & Pérez Cabello de Alba, B. (2012). Online Dictionaries and the Teaching/Learning of English in the Expanding Circle. A Statistical Approach to Term Extraction. International Journal of English Studies, 12(1), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes.12.1.116711
Issue
Vol. 12 No. 1 (2012): Open Issue
Section
Articles

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