Destreses comunicatives per a professionals de la informàtica: anàlisi i ensenyament-aprenentatge d'aspectes discursius i lingüístics

 

 

The language of computer science can be defined as an LSP since it is related to an area which requires a deep and structured knowledge of a scientific field. The work that we present in this paper is a project of one of the subjects included in the academic programme of Computer and Multimedia Studies offered by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC, namely Communicative competence for professionals of Computer Science . The aim of the subject is to improve the expressive ability of the students in their speciality. It is the result of the collaboration between two linguists and a computer scientist in order to provided the students and teachers of Computer Studies a tool by which future computer scientists know how to use language properly and efficiently in specialized contexts, either academic or professional.

The project started from the identification of the main problems observed in the texts produced by UOC students. The linguistic and textual aspects identified as specially relevant for text production in the Computer Science field were selected and organized in a programme.

Methodologically, we have followed the communicative approach since it departs froms linguistic usage, and is more adequate to fullfil the specific needs of specialized discourse production. Text linguistics and, especifically, text properties are the general framework of a syllabus which is organized in three parts:

1. Basic concepts: communicative competence, text, text properties, text typology.

2. General caracterization of some texts and genres produced in Computer Science.

3. Techniques for producing specialized texts: production process, adequation to the context, text coherence, text cohesion.

The exposition is exemplified with real texts, often written by students, allows to observe practical problems and to contextualize the theoretical explanations from an applied perspective. This is a crucial point because the general aim of the subject is not the adquisition of grammatical or textual concepts, but the comprehension and application of concepts which are relevant for the production of specialized discourse.

The paper deals with the description of the work and its context of application, its theoretical framework and its methodology. These aspects are illustrated by texts and activitaties.

The project, which is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration, is new for Catalan and also for other languages. It follows the lines of several works on scientific Catalan (Marquet, 1993; Riera 1992, 1994) and on academic writing and communication (such as Alberola et al. 1996; Alejandro & Bobenrieth, 1994; Carreras 1994; Dawson & Martin 2002; Montolío et al. 2000). It is also based in guides and manuals of style (e.g. Mestres et al. 1998; Guia de comunicació eficaç of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona or, in the field of Computer Science, Guia d'estil of Softcatalà). However, it is important to work on new projects which can include all these aspects and adequate them to a specific specialization field beyond the analysis of terminology, which is also taken into account in the subject (cfr. Termcat 2003) . This perspective allows to focus on real practical problems for the student either from an academic or a professional point of view. Last but not least, it must be noticed that our project can be easily adapted to other speciality fields.

 

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