Lynne Bowker

Working with specialized language : a practical guide to using corpora

Working with Specialized Language: a practical guide to using corpora introduces the principles of using corpora when studying specialized language. The resources and techniques used to investigate general language cannot be easily adopted for specialized investigations. This book is designed for users of language for special purposes (LSP). Providing guidelines and practical advice, it enables LSP users to design, build and exploit corpus resources that meet their specialized language needs. Highly practical and accessible, the book includes exercises, a glossary and an appendix describing relevant resources and corpus-analysis software. Working with Specialized Language is ideal for translators, technical writers and subject specialists who are interested in exploring the potential of a corpus-based approach to teaching and learning LSP.

Towards a new generation of terminological resources: an experiment in building a terminological knowledge base

This paper describes a project to construct a terminological knowledge base, called COGNITERM. First, we position our research framework in relationship to recent developments in computational lexicology and knowledge engineering. Second, we describe the COGNTTERM prototype and discuss its advantages over conventional term banks. Finally, we outline some of the methodological issues that have emerged from our work.

Exploring the Potential of Corpora for Raising Language Awareness in Student Translators

This paper explores the potential of a corpus-based approach for promoting language awareness in student translators. It begins by examining the principal criteria required to produce a good translation, and then explores some of the principal obstacles to language awareness that can be found in the translation classroom: resistance to correction, lack of motivation, and lack of awareness of the distinction between language for general purposes (LGP) and language for special purposes (LSP). The potential of electronic corpora and corpus analysis tools for helping to overcome these obstacles was investigated by testing the following hypotheses: (1) when faced with expert testimony in the form of a corpus, students will be more accepting of corrections; (2) corpora present the students with a new and interesting way of working so they will be more motivated to learn; and (3) the corpus provides a testbed against which students can evaluate LGP/LSP distinctions. A group of students translated a text twice, o...

A Corpus-Based Approach to Evaluating Student Translations

Abstract Translation evaluation is highly problematic because of its subjective nature. In a translation classroom, efforts must be made to develop an approach to translation evaluation that enables evaluators to provide objective and constructive feedback to their students. This article describes a specially-designed Evaluation Corpus and presents an experiment which demonstrates that such a corpus can be used to significantly reduce the subjective element in translation evaluation and illustrates that this reduced subjectivity will benefit both evaluators and students.

Bilingual concordancers and translation memories: a comparative evaluation

Translators are increasingly turning to electronic language resources and tools to help them cope with the demand for fast, high-quality translation. While translation memory tools seem to be well known in the translation industry at large, bilingual concordancers appear to be familiar primarily in academic circles. The strengths and weaknesses of these two types of tool are analyzed in an effort to recommend those circumstances in which each could best be applied.

Lexical knowledge patterns, semantic relations, and language varieties: Exploring the possibilities for refining information retrieval in an international context

SUMMARY As part of their work, terminologists need to find “knowledge-rich contexts,” which are contexts that provide information about semantic relations between concepts in specialized domains. One way of finding these contexts is to search for lexical patterns that have the potential to reveal underlying semantic relations. Consequently, terminology researchers are in the process of compiling inventories of useful lexical patterns so that these can be programmed into specialized information retrieval tools. However, one factor that has not yet been addressed is the impact that different language varieties can have on these lexical patterns. This paper provides an overview of the research done to date on lexical patterns, presents a pilot study investigating the impact of language varieties, and considers applications of this work outside the discipline of terminology.

Towards a more meaningful involvement of librarians in academic program reviews

Purpose Using a descriptive case study approach, this paper aims to validate academic librarians’ perceptions that they are marginalized by faculty during academic program reviews, and recommends ways for the two groups to collaborate more effectively to make program reviews more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes a case study at a Canadian university where the six types of documents produced as part of the program review process for ten graduate programs were analyzed using corpus analysis tools and techniques, such as keyword generation and key word in context analysis. For each program, documents were examined to determine the volume and nature of the discussion involving libraries in the self-study, library report annex, site visit itinerary, external reviewers’ report, academic program’s response and final assessment report. Findings The empirical evidence from the corpus analysis validates the findings of previous perception-based studies and confirms that librarians currently have a minor role in program reviews. Best practices and gaps emerged, prompting five recommendations for ways in which academic librarians can play a more meaningful role in the program review process. Practical implications The results suggest that programs are not currently putting their best foot forward during program reviews, but this could be improved by including librarians more fully in the program review process. Originality/value The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about the role of academic librarians in the program review process by providing direct and empirical measures to triangulate previous perception-based investigations that rely on surveys and interviews. It summarizes limitations of the current institutional quality assurance process and the benefits to be gained by involving librarians more in the process. It offers recommendations for policymakers and practitioners with regard to potential best practices for facilitating librarian involvement in academic program reviews.

Aligning Accreditation and Academic Program Reviews: A Canadian Case Study.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the potential benefits and limitations associated with aligning accreditation and academic program reviews in post-secondary institutions, using a descriptive case study approach. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes two Canadian graduate programs that are subject to both external professional accreditation and institutional cyclical reviews, as they underwent an aligned review. The process was developed as a collaborative effort between the academic units, the professional associations and the university’s graduate-level quality assurance office. For each program, a single self-study was developed, a single review panel was constituted, and a single site visit was conducted. The merits and challenges posed by the alignment process are discussed. Findings Initial feedback from the academic units suggests that the alignment of accreditation and program reviews is perceived as reducing the burden on programs with regard to the time and effort invested by faculty, staff and other stakeholders, as well as in terms of financial expenses. Based on this feedback, along with input from reviewers and program evaluation committee members, 14 recommendations emerged for ways in which an aligned review process can be set up for success. Practical implications The results suggest that aligned reviews are not only resource-efficient but also allow reviewers to provide more holistic feedback that faculty may be more willing to engage with for program enhancement. Originality/value The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about conducting aligned reviews in response to external accreditation requirements or institutional needs. It summarizes the potential benefits and limitations and offers recommendations for potential best practices for carrying out aligned reviews for policymakers and practitioners.

Précis-writing as a form of speed training for translation students

ABSTRACT Translators are required to work under time pressure, and employers seek graduates who can integrate seamlessly into the professional work environment. However, conventional translator training does not emphasize speed training. Translation is a complex activity with a high cognitive load. This paper explores the introduction of speed training using monolingual text summarization exercises where translation students are encouraged to sharpen their decision-making skills without having to deal with language transfer. Because précis-writing skills have particular relevance for translator training, a ten-week experiment was designed around a series of exercises where 21 students in the third year of a BA in Translation program had to summarize texts on a very short deadline. The resulting summaries were analyzed and feedback was provided. Students’ progress was charted over the course of the semester, and they were surveyed about their experience at three different points – beginning, middle and end – during the experiment. Results suggest that it is possible to beneficially incorporate some form of speed training into the broader translation curriculum with a view to helping students to acquire the types of transversal skills sought after by employers. Moreover, these speed training exercises can serve to reinforce other aspects of the translation curriculum.

Didier Bourigault, Christian Jacquemin and Marie-Claude L'Homme (eds), Recent Advances in Computational Terminology .

Although it grew out of the First Workshop on Computational Terminology, which took place at COLING-ACL’98, this volume is much more than a simple workshop proceedings. Contributors have been given the opportunity to revisit, revise, deepen, expand and evaluate the research they presented at the workshop. The result is a collection of 17 articles that provides a relatively in-depth report on cutting-edge investigations in the field of computational terminology. This is a welcome addition to the literature as it represents one of the few places where papers on this topic are gathered in one volume. Previously, information on computational terminology was scattered throughout the literature in isolated journal papers, conference papers, etc. The editors are to be commended for consolidating high-quality research on computational terminology into a single collection.