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Using key-word analysis to create LSP materials: identifying lexical layers

Using key-word analysis to create LSP materials: identifying lexical layers. Mike Nelson 20.3.2012. What language do we teach our LSP students?. What language? How do we know? What criteria do we use?. One option is to use key word analysis. What I will talk about today.

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Using key-word analysis to create LSP materials: identifying lexical layers

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  1. Using key-word analysis to create LSP materials: identifying lexical layers Mike Nelson 20.3.2012 IATEFL 20.3.2012

  2. What language do we teach our LSP students? • What language? • How do we know? • What criteria do we use? IATEFL 20.3.2012

  3. One option is to use key word analysis IATEFL 20.3.2012

  4. What I will talk about today • Background: register analysis and the layers of ESP • Some definitions and the methodology: • key and key-key words • corpus creation and analysis • Lexical layering in Grey’s Anatomy • In the classroom: materials from research results • Ideas for doing the same yourself IATEFL 20.3.2012

  5. Register analysis and the layers of ESP • Early ESP and register analysis • Layers: • Close (1965): 3 layers of scientific English • Cowan (1974): 4 categories / sub-technical • Inman (1978): 3 categories IATEFL 20.3.2012

  6. Key word analysis IATEFL 20.3.2012

  7. Creating the ’MAC’ • Medical Anatomy Corpus • Gray’s Anatomy • Time taken: 2.5 hours • Permission to use for research purposes • 556, 479 words IATEFL 20.3.2012

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  9. Key words • Key words are those whose frequency is unusually high in comparison with some norm. Scott (2007): WordSmith Tools 5 Manual IATEFL 20.3.2012

  10. Key words • Key-words provide a useful way to characterise a text or a genre. Potential applications include language teaching, forensic linguistics, stylistics, content analysis, text retrieval. Scott (2007): WordSmith Tools 5 Manual IATEFL 20.3.2012

  11. Key words • The program/s compare two pre-existing word-lists. • One of these is a large word-list which will act as a reference file. The other is the word-list based on one text which you want to study. • The aim is to find out which words characterise your text. Scott (2007): WordSmith Tools 5 Manual IATEFL 20.3.2012

  12. Reference corpus My text/s BNC SAMPLER Gray’s Anatomy Various statistical methods can be used to compare the relative frequency of the words in each ’corpus’ IATEFL 20.3.2012

  13. Key and key key-words • Words ’key’ in several texts • These were then analysed and categorised IATEFL 20.3.2012

  14. The layers • Words of location • Common anatomical terms many of which can that used in several contexts • some terms that change meaning in a medical context • Sub-technical terms: words that are not medical, but often appear in a medical context • Core words, combining forms, prefixes and suffixes (core latin/Greek terminology) IATEFL 20.3.2012

  15. Top 500 key key-words IATEFL 20.3.2012

  16. Words of location and movement • Latinate • Normal • Movement IATEFL 20.3.2012

  17. Multi-area words 1. Lexis related to either an elevation or depression of some kind, ridge, eminence, elevation and crest, in contrast to groove, notch, furrow, depression and fissure. 2. Lexis related to an opening of some kind: opening, aperture, passage, foramen, and orifice. 3. Three dimensional structures that may or may not be able to hold a liquid: duct, canal, capsule, bulb, lobe, vessel and sac. 4. Structures that givesupport to others: column, wall, and arch. IATEFL 20.3.2012

  18. Sub-technical IATEFL 20.3.2012

  19. Sub-technical • 1. Interrelationships between parts of the body: connected, divides, ends, attached, separates, joins. • 2. Description of body parts: shaped, imbedded, enclosed, meshes. IATEFL 20.3.2012

  20. Sub-technical: Distribution plot for ‘situated’ IATEFL 20.3.2012

  21. Overview • The majority of words are nouns referring to parts of the body (membrane, tissue, arteries). • The positioning of these words is then identified according to a very limited and predefined set of words of Latinate and Anglo-Saxon origin (proximal, dorsal, median). • Readers are then given a further description of the core anatomical lexis according to its appearance or structure (sac, sulcus, foramen) • Finally, the sub-technical terms act as linguistic cement to bind all these sections together (connect, separate, enter, divide). • Layers not separate, but interlocking and mutually supportive • Dispersion of words tied to specific parts of the body IATEFL 20.3.2012

  22. DIY: the Web or WordSmith Tools • Access texts • Save as a text file • Use the web • http://www.lextutor.ca/keywords/ • … or use WordSmith Tools IATEFL 20.3.2012

  23. IATEFL 20.3.2012

  24. Take-home message • LSP vocabulary can be seen to consist of clearly distinct layers • Layers can help students create order out of chaos • You can try it yourself online, quickly and for free IATEFL 20.3.2012

  25. Thank youKiitos IATEFL 20.3.2012

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