{"id":5978,"date":"2021-11-26T08:34:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T06:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.lab.fi\/labfocus\/?p=5978"},"modified":"2021-11-26T08:34:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T06:34:36","slug":"teaching-terminology-work-to-help-students-write-professional-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.lab.fi\/labfocus\/en\/teaching-terminology-work-to-help-students-write-professional-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Terminology Work to Help Students Write Professional English"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Knowing the basics of terminology work is a meta-skill that may help students construct conceptual systems and produce more detailed professional writing in English (Guedra & Nuopponen 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At LAB University of Applied Sciences, English for professional communication is taught at the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Accordingly, students who have B2 level writing skills should be able to produce detailed text on a wide range of subjects (CEFR 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To write about professional topics, students should be familiar with related conceptual systems\u2014they should have professional knowledge. It is not self-evident, however, that students have such knowledge, especially at the beginning of their studies \u2014 let alone in English. Learning some basics of terminology work and concept analysis may help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terminology Work: Some Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Terminology work focuses on collecting, describing, and presenting concepts and their terms (ISO 1087 2019, 3.5.1). The so-called satellite model \u2014 a mind-map-like cognitive tool \u2014 is useful for visualizing conceptual systems. Its idea was developed by Anita Nuopponen at the University of Vaasa (Figure 1). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 1. The basic idea of the satellite model (based on Nuopponen 2016, 191\u2212192; 2018, 463\u2212466). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While mind-mapping is the first and more associative step, creating a satellite model that identifies concept relations is the more systematic step in visualizing conceptual systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching every concept relation type (see e.g., Nuopponen 1994 & 2018) in an English language course would not be useful. However, already introducing type<\/strong> (or logical), part<\/strong>, process<\/strong>, and origin<\/strong> relations gives students a good cognitive toolkit to analyze professional topics and their conceptual systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n