NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING
WITH AN EMPHASIS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
THE ROLE OF COGNATES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS
GREICE GONÇALVES GIRARDI
December 2001
(Delivered to the Library in 2007)
2
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
THE ROLE OF COGNATES INCOMPUTER SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS
Dissertação apresentada ao Curso de Mestrado
em Ciências da Linguagem da Universidade do
Sul de Santa Catarina em atendimento à
Resolução CNE/CES nº 2, de 9 de junho de
2005, para fins de reconhecimento do título de
Mestre obtido na New Mexico State University.
Final paper submitted for the Linguistics 505 course under the
Supervision of Dr. Seth A. Minkoff.
3
GREICE GONÇALVES GIRARDI
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
THE ROLE OF COGNATES INCOMPUTER SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS
Esta dissertação foi julgada adequada como
requisito ao processo de reconhecimento do
título de Master of Arts in Teaching with an
Emphasis on Teaching English to Speakers of
Other Languages, em atendimento à Resolução
CNE/CES nº 2, de 9 de junho de 2005.
Tubarão, (dia) de (mês) de (ano da defesa).
______________________________________________________
Presidente Nome do Professor, Dr.
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
______________________________________________________
Prof. Nome do Professor, Dr.
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
______________________________________________________
Prof. Nome do Professor, Dr.
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
4
Este trabalho é dedicado à minha família,
especialmente ao meu esposo, pela paciência e
compreensão durante as horas dedicadas ao estudo,
as quais foram furtadas do nosso convívio diário.
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all those who have contributed in
different ways to this study.
6
“...reading of a previous reading of the world
should be understood as the ‘reading’ that precedes
the reading of the word and that, equally concerned
with the comprehension of objects, take place in the
domain of day-to-day life.”
Paulo Freire
7
RESUMO
Quando os professores de língua inglesa definem que as necessidades de
seus alunos envolvem um vocabulário específico, eles tentam encontrar o programa
adequado, as técnicas e atividades que possam eficientemente ajudar os alunos a
aprender. Através deste estudo, analisamos dois livros de inglês para fins específicos na
área da computação com o objetivo de investigar se e como os dois livros analisados
exploram o uso de palavras cognatas. Observou-se que, nos dois livros, a maioria das
atividades é sobre gramática. Em segundo lugar, está a estrutura das palavras com
algumas atividades sobre afixos e, por último, encontra-se palavras cognatas somente
em um dos livros, em duas atividades. Isso leva a concluir que, na falta de material
específico, cabe ao professor produzir e/ou adaptar materiais sobre palavras cognatas.
Palavras-chave: vocabulário, material, cognatas, informática
8
ABSTRACT
When English language teachers define that the needs of their students
involve specific vocabulary, they try to find available approaches, syllabuses,
techniques and activities in order to adapt the appropriated material that may efficiently
help their students to learn. Through this study, two English book for specific purpose
on computer science area were analyzed with the objective of investigate if and how
both books explore the use of cognate words. It was observed that both books points out
grammar activities. The second strategy is word building with some activities about
affixes and word formation, and the last one is the cognates that appear only in one of
both books and for only twice. We can conclude that if there is a lack of specific
material, teachers must to produce and/or adapt material about cognate words.
Keywords: vocabulary, material, cognates, computer science
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 01 Infotech............................................................................................................26
Figure 02 Inglês.com.textos.............................................................................................26
10
LIST OF TABLES
Table 02 - Infotech…………………………………………………………….31
Table 03 – Inglês.com.textos...............................................................................33
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION.............................................................................. 13
1.1 INITIAL REMARKS...................................................................................................... 13
1.2 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................................... 14
1.3 METHOD................................................................................................................... 15
1.4 JUSTIFICATION............................................................................................................15
1.5 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ................................................................................15
CHAPTER 2 - REVIEW OF LITERATURE............................................................ 17
2.1 APPROACHES TO FOREIGN-LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION.......................................................... 17
2.2 VOCABULARY TEACHING............................................................................................. 18
2.3 THE USE OF COGNATES IN TEACHING EFL................................................................... 19
2.4 COGNATES AND TEACHING VOCABULARY...................................................................... 19
2.5 FALSE COGNATES AND TEACHING VOCABULARY............................................................ 20
2.6 A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEWED OF COGNATE WORDS............................................... 20
2.6.1 Old English period......................................................................................... 21
2.6.2 Middle English period.................................................................................... 22
2.6.3 Modern English period...................................................................................22
2.7 COMPUTER SCIENCE WORDS......................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 3 - METHOD........................................................................................... 25
3.1 MATERIAL SELECTION................................................................................................ 25
3.2 COMPARING TEXTBOOKS.............................................................................................. 27
3.3 ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES.......................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 4 - ANALYSIS.......................................................................................... 30
4.1 INFOTECH, ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER USERS..................................................................... 30
4.1.1 Parts of the book............................................................................................ 30
4.1.2 Units............................................................................................................... 31
4.1.3 Skills............................................................................................................... 31
4.1.3.1 Reading................................................................................................... 31
4.1.3.2 Listening.................................................................................................. 32
4.1.3.3 Speaking.................................................................................................. 32
4.1.3.4 Writing..................................................................................................... 33
4.1.4 Frequency of activities................................................................................... 33
4.1.5 Cognate words................................................................................................33
4.2 INGLÊS.COM.TEXTOS PARA INFORMÁTICA’...................................................................... 34
4.2.1 Parts of the book............................................................................................ 34
4.2.2 Units............................................................................................................... 34
4.2.3 Skills............................................................................................................... 35
4.2.4 Frequency of activities................................................................................... 35
4.2.5 Cognates......................................................................................................... 36
4.3 GENERAL ANALYSIS.................................................................................................... 36
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CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION................................................................................... 39
5.1 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS ........................................................................................ 40
5.1.1 Infotech, English for computer users............................................................. 40
5.1.1.1 Vocabulary acquisition............................................................................ 41
5.1.2 Inglês.com.textos para Informática................................................................ 43
5.1.3 The Role of Cognates..................................................................................... 44
5.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS REVISITED................................................................................ 45
5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH......................................................................... 46
REFERENCES............................................................................................................. 49
APPENDIXES............................................................................................................... 52
APPENDIX 02..............................................................................................................54
APPENDIX 03...............................................................................................................58
13
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1Initial Remarks
Through more than two thousand years of second language instruction, scholars have
been using numerous methodologies to teach. According to Schmitt (2001), GrammarTranslation was the main language teaching methodology from the beginning of the
nineteenth century with explicit grammar teaching and translation as language practice.
The Direct Method appeared in 1900 and emphasized oral skills. In 1920, the Reading
Method
came
into
being,
emphasizing
reading
and
vocabulary
control.
Audiolingualism, in 1950, focused on building good language habits through drills.
Finally, in 1972, the Communicative Language Teaching method emerged with a focus
on fluency over accuracy. Unfortunately, from all these methodologies, only Reading
Method highlighted reading and vocabulary control.
Nowadays, however, vocabulary assumes an important role in teaching
languages. Instead of concentrating on formal aspects, as it was done by the previous
methods, the use of the language becomes emphasized by the development of
vocabulary. Vocabulary teaching has also a secondary role, since it stops being a simple
support for the language structure and starts to be seen as one of the main components
of the talkative nature of language. As a consequence, it becomes one of the most
important aspects in teaching languages. According to Oliveira (1999), vocabulary
development is sometimes viewed as an ability, being equaled to the abilities of
speaking, writing, reading and listening, and thus being essential for the development of
these abilities.
Viewed as ability, there are many different strategies that can be used to teach
vocabulary. One of them is the use of cognates. According to Fromkin & Rodman
14
(1998), cognates are words from different languages that are spelled the same or almost
the same and share similar meanings. For Brazilian Portuguese speakers, the study of
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) via Latin words would be easier because there are
thousands of words with Latin roots in English language and most of them have similar
meaning in both language. But it seems to be very little material exploring cognates in
foreign language classes.
1.2The Purpose of the Study
In view of the aforementioned state of affairs, this study aims to investigate whether and
how the use of cognates is explored in two English for Specific Purpose (ESP)
textbooks on computation. According to Evans & St John,(1988), while the ESP teacher
should not be the responsible for teaching technical vocabulary, it may be the duty of
the ESP teacher to check that learners have understood technical vocabulary appearing
as carrier content for an exercise. In other words, learners must understand vocabulary
and ESP teacher must act as a facilitator so that this understanding can be achieved. In
this sense, the exploration of cognates can serve as a bridge-gaping tool for the
understanding of technical vocabulary.
But where teachers can achieve appropriate material to teach vocabulary? What
kinds of activities make use of cognates? How often the study of vocabulary is based on
the cognates?
The more specific objectives of the present study can be subsumed under three
research questions (RQs) as follows:
( i ) Is the use of cognates explored by the two textbooks?
( ii ) If so, how are those cognates explored?
( iii ) What kind of activities makes use of cognates?
15
The RQs above reflect the descriptive and qualitative nature of the
present study. In the next section, the methods adopted to achieve the aforementioned
purpose and objectives are discussed.
1.3Method
To achieve the purpose and objectives above, this study analyzes two books used during
English language classes in order to compare if they explore the cognate words as a
support to the development of the vocabulary. The books are: InfoTech, English for
computer
users
by
Santiago
Remacha
Esteras,
Third
Edition,
2002,
and
‘Inglês.com.textos para Informática’, by Décio Torres Cruz, Alba Valéria Silva and
Marta Rosas, 2003. We have chosen these books because they are the only available
textbooks to teach specific English language to computer science students.
1.4Justification
The importance of this study is to demonstrate if both analyzed books explore cognates
to develop learners’ vocabulary. If so, how are cognates explored and what kind of
activities makes use of cognates. Facing the lack of material exploring cognates to
improve students vocabulary, it is important teachers know if they will find appropriate
material or they will have to create their own material to teach.
1.5Organizational Structure
Chapter one presents the initial remarks of this study, the purpose method and
organizational structure.
In the second section, an explanation about the origins of English language
points out the introduction of Latin words and how it has undergone substantial changes
16
to that language through the time.
In order to visualize the historical development of that words into English the
three major periods were explored: the Old English period that is considered the time of
the earliest written records, from the seventh century to the end of the eleventh century;
the Middle English period, from 1100 to 1500, and Modern English from 1500 to the
present.
If the students understand that the Latin words they can find through the English
language have the same root of the Portuguese words they know, it will be easier to
learn that foreign language.
The third chapter presents a brief language history to introduce a view about
cognate and borrowing words. In this part, we intend to comment about the changes a
living language suffer minor or gradual enough to be imperceptible.
Chapter 4 presents the results of the comparison between the two books in
relation of the use of the cognate words as a support to the development of the
vocabulary.
Chapter 5 reports the conclusions about the analysis and the suggestions to
improve the development of the vocabulary through the study of the cognate words in
ESP classes, and further research.
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CHAPTER 2 - REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1Approaches to foreign-language instruction
According to Schmitt (2001), there are records of second language learning dating at
about the second century B.C. At that time, Roman children studied Greek to read by
first mastering the alphabet, and after processing through syllables, words, and
connected discourse.
In the medieval period, when students started studying Latin, the study of
grammar was predominant. Since then, many approaches to foreign-language
instruction have been developed. Schmitt (2001) states that Grammar Translation was
the main language methodology from the beginning of the nineteen century with
explicit grammar teaching and translation as a language practice. Fromkin & Rodman
(1998) notes that through this method, learners inflected words, memorized words and
syntactic rules and used them to translate from English to a L2 and vice-versa.
The Direct Method, which appeared in 1900, included lots of oral interaction,
spontaneous use of language, no translation between first and second languages, and
little or no analysis of grammar rules (Brown, 1994; Schmitt, 2001). In 1920, the
Reading Method appeared emphasizing reading and vocabulary control. According to
Brown, (1994), Audiolingualism, which appeared after World War II, considered
language as a set of forms which required mastering through repetition, drilling,
imitation and reinforcement. Fromkin and Rodman (1998) observe that “if this is so for
second-language acquisition, it differs vastly from what we know about first language
acquisition” (p. 349). To Schütz (2003), the Communicative Approach, which appeared
18
in the early 60s, was the British version of the movement in reaction to structuralism
and behaviorism embodied in Audiolingualism.
2.2Vocabulary teaching
At present, vocabulary assumes an important role in teaching languages. Instead of
concentrating on formal aspects, as it was done by the previous methods, the use of the
language becomes emphasized by the development of vocabulary. Vocabulary teaching
has also a secondary role, since it stops being a simple support for the language
structure and starts to be seen as one of the main components of the talkative nature of
language. As a consequence, it becomes one of the most important aspects in teaching
languages. According to Oliveira (1999), vocabulary development is sometimes viewed
as an ability being equaled to the abilities of speaking, writing, reading and listening,
and thus being essential for the development of these abilities.
Brown (1994) points out that “currently, in our attention to communicative
classroom that are directed toward content, tasks, or interaction, we are once again
giving vocabulary the attention it deserves” (p. 365). The author points out that now this
attention comes from a different perspective: “rather than viewing vocabulary items as a
long and boring list of words, vocabulary is seen in its central role in contextualized,
meaningful language” (ibid.). As the four abilities, vocabulary has an important role
within interactive classrooms because students need to know the meaning of the words
they use when they read, listen, write or speak.
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2.3The Use of Cognates in Teaching EFL
Viewed as ability, there are many different strategies that can be used to teach
vocabulary. One of them is the use of cognates. For Fromkin & Rodman (1998),
cognates are words from different languages that are spelled the same or almost the
same and share similar meanings. Yule (1998) states that “the process we have just
employed in establishing some possible family connection between different languages
involved looking at what are called cognates” (p. 215).
Latin-origin words for technical vocabulary are similar in English and
Portuguese. The following examples from computer science illustrate these similarities:
channel, character, compact disk, fragmentation, hexadecimal system, memory, object
language, primary colors, program, terminal, virtual, virus, etc. To Portuguese-speaking
students, the translation process for these cognates is transparent. Bravo, Hiebert
&Pearson (2005) state that once a word is known in any language, recognizing or
producing it in another language is easy. When students already know the meaning of
the word through its root, they are able to understand this word. Consequently, this fact
helps them to improve their vocabulary.
2.4Cognates and Teaching Vocabulary
Thornbury (2005) points out that knowing a word is the sum of semantic, syntactic,
phonological, orthographic, morphological, cognitive, cultural and autobiographical
connections. To the author, the most obvious difference between the development of L1
and L2 lexicon is that L2 learners already have a first language. In other words, “they
have the conceptual system that these words encode and the complex network of
associations that link these words one with another” (p. 18). When L2 learners are faced
with learning a new (transparent) word, they “simply map the word directly onto the
20
mother tongue equivalent” (ibid.). Most of times, the recognition of the word happens
because the students know the roots of the words that are similar in L1. In other case,
they know the word through the pronunciation. It is common when the word has in its
root the letters y, k or w. If the students only look to the structure of these words, they
think they are unknown words. But if they read the word, they can recognize it.
An empirical experiment by Bellomo (1999) demonstrated that etymology might
be a viable word strategy useful for a college level and he concludes that Latin-based
(LB) students (French, Spanish, Italian and other Romance languages) have an initial
advantage due to their vocabulary schema (cognates) in relation to non Latin-based
(NLB) students. According to the author, “a significant portion of the English language
makes use of Latin roots and affixes”(p. 01). For this reason, LB students can
understand vocabulary easier than NLB ones.
2.5False Cognates and Teaching Vocabulary
False cognates are a pair of a word in the same or different language that are
similar in form and root but has different meaning. That is, they appear to be or are
sometimes considered cognates when in fact they are not.
2.6A Brief Historical Overviewed of Cognate Words
It is common sense that there are thousands of words with Latin roots in English
language. Toussier (1996) establishes that there are more than 7000 words in English
language with Latin roots. We know that Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are
languages that came from Latin. However, English came from Germanic language.
Frequently, students ask their language teachers why those Latin words are into English.
21
They have also the curiosity about when and how those words came from Latin to
English language.
In order to visualize the historical development of those words into English
language, we must explore the three major periods of the English language history: the
Old English period that is considered the time of the earliest written records, from the
seventh century to the end of the eleventh century; the Middle English period, from
1100 to 1500; and Modern English from 1500 to the present.
2.6.1Old English period
According to Yule (1998), the vocabulary of Old English was almost purely Germanic,
spoken by a group of tribes from northern Europe who invaded the British Isles in the
fifth century A.D. A large part of this vocabulary has disappeared from the language.
One important fact can be seen is that a feature of Old English is the rarity of those
words derived from Latin and the absence of those from French which form so large
part of English present vocabulary.
It is common sense that the first Latin words to find their way into English
language owe their adoption to the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic
tribes on the continent. Several hundred Latin words found in the various Germanic
dialects at an early date, some in one dialect only, others in several, testify to the
extensive intercourse between the two peoples. Traders, Germanic as well as Roman,
came and went, while Germanic youth returning from within the empire must have
carried back glowing accounts of Roman cities and Roman life. Such exchange between
two peoples was certain to carry words from one language to the other.
22
When the Norman Conquest brought French into England as the language of the
higher classes, much of the English vocabulary appropriate to literature and learning
died out and was replaced later by words borrowed from French and Latin.
2.6.2Middle English period
According to Yule (1998), the Middle English period, (1150-1500), was marked by
momentous changes in the English language, changes more extensive and fundamental
than those that have taken place at any time before or since. Some of them were the
result of the Norman Conquest and the conditions that followed their victory at Hastings
under William Conqueror in 1066. Others were a continuation of tendencies that had
begun to manifest themselves in Old English. These would have gone on even without
the Conquest, but they took place more rapidly because the Norman invasion removed
from English those conservative influences that are always felt when a language is
extensively used in books and is spoken by influential educated class. The changes of
this period affected English in both its grammar and its vocabulary. They were so
extensive in each department that it is difficult to say which group is more significant.
Those in the grammar reduced English from a highly inflected language to an extremely
analytical one. Those in the vocabulary involved the loss of a large part of the Old
English word-stock and the addition of thousands of words from French and Latin. At
the beginning of the period English is a language that must be learned like a foreign
tongue; at the end it is the modern English.
2.6.3Modern English period
Jackson & Amvela (2000) establish that Modern English had its beginning with the
advent of the Renaissance (from the middle of the fifteenth century until around 1650),
23
which is characterized by a renewed interest in the classical languages, and literatures,
and by developments in the sciences and arts, important scientific discoveries, the
Protestant Reformation, the exploration of Africa, Asia and the Americas, as well as
law, administration, medicine, fashion, and everyday life. “All these factors had a major
impact on the English language, especially on its vocabulary” (p. 27). In order to
express these new concepts, inventions and techniques, writers began to borrow words
from other languages.
According to the authors, the process of borrowing occurs when speakers imitate
a word from a foreign language and, at least, partly, adapt its sound or grammar to their
native language. It is common sense that most languages are borrowers. Some
languages, like English are heavier borrowers than others.
According to Yule (1998), living languages are the product of change and
continue to change as long as they are spoken, albeit for the most part these changes
escape our attention as they occur. Over a span of centuries, however, their cumulative
effect is appreciable. Fromkin and Rodman (1998) points out that the addition of new
words with changes in the lexicon and in the meaning of words, and sometimes the loss
of words, also occur.
2.7Computer Science words
Most of computer science vocabulary from English is similar around the world because
of the development of this science in the United States. In Brazil, for the geographic
proximity and the ample relationship with that country, the penetration of the computer
science language was fast and easily assimilated.
Portuguese language, like other languages, has become ‘borrowers’ in relation to
computer science vocabulary. “When speakers imitate a word from a foreign language
24
and, at least partly, adapt it in sound or grammar to their native language, the process is
called ‘borrowing’ and the word thus borrowed is called a ‘loanword’ or ‘borrowing”
(Jackson & Amvela, 2000, p. 32).
Portuguese language has borrowed several computer science English words. See
the following examples:
Table 01 – English/Portuguese words
English
Portuguese
delete1
deletar
attach
atachar
initialize
inicializar
scan
escanear
reset
resetar
link
lincar
click
clicar
Most of them are already incorporated into Portuguese dictionaries2.
Furthermore, due to their common ancestral bond to Latin, Portuguese and English
language share many cognates. These cognates play an important role in learning ESP,
especially in relation to computing.
1
Some of these words are Latin words borrowed from Latin to English and now borrowed from English
to Portuguese language.
2
See http://200.225.157.123/dicaureliopos/home.asp
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CHAPTER 3 - METHOD
3.1Material Selection
According to Thornbury (2002),
…knowing a word means knowing:
•
the word’s form – both spoken and written
•
the word’s meaning (or meanings)
•
any connotations the word might have
•
whether the word is specific to a certain register or style
•
the word’s grammatical characteristics – e. g. part of speech
•
the word’s common collocations
•
the word’s derivations
•
the word’s relative frequency (p. 130)
The author recommends that these aspects of word knowledge must be realized
productively, in writing and speaking, or receptively, in reading and listening
To be successful, teachers need design some strategies to teach specific
vocabulary. Generally, what they have is a curricular plan with a table of content
highlighting grammar points or a specific textbook they must use during the English
classes. Therefore, experienced teachers know that these contents are insufficient to
develop student’s vocabulary on Computer Science. They have goals and objectives in
their head but it seems strange to write goals and objectives if they have a specific
curricular content to teach.
According to Graves (2000),
…if you begin with formulating goals and objectives, you will need to think about the content
you are teaching. If you begin with designing an assessment plan, you will need to think about
the objectives you are trying to reach and assess. If you begin with developing materials, you
will need to think about what you are trying to teach and for what purpose (p. 04).
26
Consequently, teachers need to define how to teach specific vocabulary in order
to improve the reading of these learners. Furthermore, they must think about which
textbook could help them in that task. The ideal textbook should be one that provides
teachers with the specific material they need to teach their students. Savignon (1983)
argues that “teachers dream of finding the ideal materials: materials that are at once
accurate and imaginative, that offer both sequence and flexibility, and that provide
variety yet respond to well-defined instructional goals” (p. 137). Unfortunately, it is
difficult to find an ideal textbook, which meets the needs of individual teachers and
learners. Teachers more often than not have to adopt, develop or adapt the appropriate
material. To Brown (1995),
adopting materials involves deciding on the types of materials that are needed, locating as many
different sets of these types as possible, evaluating the materials, put them to use, and reviewing
them on an ongoing basis. Developing materials will be discussed in terms of three phases:
developing, teaching (field testing), and evaluating the materials. Adapting materials includes all
of the steps necessary in adopting them, but must additionally incorporate phases that allows for
analyzing what is worth keeping in the materials, classifying that remaining material, filling gaps
from other sources, and reorganizing all of this to fit the program in question. (pp.139-140)
Following Harmer (1998), when the teacher decides the textbook is not
appropriate, he or she might simply decide to omit, replace, add or adapt some lessons.
However, if they omit, replace, add or adapt too much, the students may begin to
wonder why they are not using the book in the first place, especially if they bought it
themselves. Some teachers decide to teach without a textbook, when they have the
experience and time to provide a consistent working programme and they have the
agreement of the students. In this case, teachers must bring their own personality and
creativity to the teaching task for the benefit of the students.
Since we started teaching English to computer science students, we have looked
for a specific textbook. The results of our research through the bookstores were both
27
textbooks we present next section.
3.2Comparing textbooks
In order to reach the purpose and objectives of this study, a comparison between two
specific textbooks is carried out. This is done with a view to verifying if the structure of
these two textbooks is sufficient to teach specific vocabulary in a Computer Science
Course exploring the use of cognate words as a tool to facilitate the acquisition of that
vocabulary. The books are: Infotech, English for computer users by Santiago Remacha
Esteras, Third Edition, 2002, (Figure 1), and ‘Inglês.com.textos para Informática’, by
Décio Torres Cruz, Alba Valéria Silva and Marta Rosas, 2003, (Figure 2).
Figure 01 Infotech
Figure 02 Inglês.com.textos
28
3.3Analytical Procedures
The first book analyzed is Infotech, English for computer users that is an intermediatelevel English course for students of computer science and technical English in
secondary schools and technical colleges. According to the author, the book aims to
help these students to develop a great variety of language skills and to acquire
knowledge in English. Infotech is suitable for institutions where English has become a
requirement for working with computers. This book, says the author, “is intended to
help staff using computers to understand a wide range of texts about information
technology” (p. 01).
The second textbook is ‘Inglês.com.textos para Informática’, by Décio Torres
Cruz, Alba Valéria Silva and Marta Rosas, 2003. This book highlights reading strategies
in English language for college students in the computer science field.
Within the premises that give the basis for the book, the authors point out three
of these premises: the first is that efficient and critical reading is essential to the
academic and professional life; the second premise is that a good reading is an
interactive process that involves learner information and background; and the third one
is based on the efficient use of any reading strategy which depends on the objective
definition of reading and comprehension. The analysis of both textbooks involves the
following categories:
a- Parts of the books
The parts of the books are analyzed to observe the number of specific texts and if
there is some vocabulary, cognates list, glossary, acronym list and so on.
b- Units
In this category the structure of the lessons are analyzed to investigate what kind of
activities there are and how many specific texts make up each unit.
29
c- Skills
Skills are analyzed in order to investigate if there are the four abilities to improve
vocabulary acquisition:
-
Listening – prepares the students for effective functioning outside the
classroom.
-
Speaking – activities with clear goals are a good basis for classroom talk
in the foreign language.
-
Reading – texts must be authentic or adapted from original sources and
related to the learner’s own experience.
-
Writing – learners must be encouraged to write coherent texts, describe
diagrams and objects, write letters and so on.
d- Frequency of activities
In this item are observed which activities are the most explored within the
textbooks and if there are vocabulary activities involving cognates.
e- Cognate words
In this category, parts of the books are analyzed to investigate if there are references
or activities in relation to cognates and if within the specifics texts there are
transparent words.
f- General analysis
Following Harmer’s table (see Appendix 01), comments about some of the nine
areas the author presents are made to introduce a general view about the price,
availability, methodology, syllabus, topic, stereotyping and teacher’s guide of both
books.
Next chapter, there are explanations about the analysis of both textbooks
using the categories cited above.
30
CHAPTER 4 - ANALYSIS
By analyzing the books, it is possible to verify that both Infotech and Inglês.com.textos
have well-organized programs3 that intend to help students to develop language skills
and improve their knowledge of English language in the computing area.
4.1Infotech, English for computer users
Infotech has 160 pages and all units have computer science texts written in English
language. The subjects of the texts are: computers today, input/output devices, storage
devices, basic software, programming and computers tomorrow. This book had its first
edition in 1993, the second in 1999 and the third in 2002. It was printed in Italy, by
Cambridge University Press and published by the Press Syndicate of the University of
Cambridge, United Kingdom.
4.1.1Parts of the book
The student’s book contains:
•
30 units4 organized into seven sections - each unit provides an average of two
hours of work
•
a detailed map of the book
•
a glossary of technical terms
•
a list of acronyms an abbreviations5
The material is organized into ‘thematic’ sections that cover a wide variety of topics and
3
See appendix 02
See appendix 03
5
See appendix 04
4
31
styles of presentation, and it is based on skills development and communicative tasks.
Each section consists of various units based on the same theme. The first page of each
section sets the theme and provides the learning objectives.
4.1.2Units
Most of the units follow a similar pattern:
•
A ‘pre-task’, that is the brainstorm to make the text more accessible and prepare
the students for the main task.
•
A main task that focuses on a particular skill, reading or listening or both.
•
Language work and some vocabulary exercises.
•
A follow-up task whose aim is to provide students with more opportunities for
speaking or writing.
4.1.3Skills
According to the author, Infotech lays particular emphasis on developing the skills –
reading and listening – although speaking and writing activities are also explored in this
book, as can be seen below.
4.1.3.1 Reading
The reading texts, which are at the beginning of each unit, are mostly authentic or
adapted from original sources – specialist magazines, computer programs and reference
manuals – so they are related to the learner’s own experience. The tasks are designed to
develop a great variety of reading strategies, such as scanning, skimming, matching
texts to pictures, etc. Texts analysis is also a relevant feature of this book: students have
32
to look for information, find reference signals, identify cohesion devices or distinguish
facts and opinions.
4.1.3.2Listening
There is an audio CD with texts that complement some activities. The listening passages
include conversation, advertisements, interviews descriptions of software and hardware
and lectures. There are thirty-three passages on the CD. The transcripts of the texts are
in teacher book and the activities about each one are in students book. All texts are
about computers and natives of English language speak them.
4.1.3.3Speaking
The speaking tasks appear on:
-
page 27 – with a work in pairs, student A must turn to page 143 and read
the notes about two input devices. After they must describe them to their
partner. Student B must turn to page 147 and read different notes and
describe two different input devices to student A.
-
page 56 – there are questions about some products available for
computers in relation to five descriptions that there are in the exercise
which proposes a discussion about these products.
-
page 92 – Student A must look at the graph, describe it to his/her partner
and answer his/her questions. Student B must turn to page 147, look at
the graph and listen to his/her partner’s description. After he/she must
complete the graph according to the answers of the questions.
-
page 112 – Student A must turn to page 145 and student B must turn to
page 149 to ask for the information about programming.
33
4.1.3.4Writing
The approach to writing, which only begins on page 67, is based on two assumptions:
Writing is an interactive process where the writer tries to communicate something to a
real or imaginary reader. The organization of ideas is as important as grammatical
accuracy. Consequently, the students are encouraged to write complete, coherent texts.
The writing tasks include describing diagrams and objects, writing letters, making
advertisements, and summarizing texts.
4.1.4Frequency of activities
After observing the structure of the book, the frequency of vocabulary activities,
references about cognate words, word building, and language work were analyzed. See
Table 02.
Table 02 - Infotech
Infotech
Vocabulary activities
Use of Cognate words
Word building
Language work
times
04
00
06
18
4.1.5Cognate words
According to Esteras (2005), “Infotech is an intermediate English course for students of
computer science and technical English in secondary schools and technical colleges”
(p. 01).
Within the book there are no references in any of the activities exploring cognate
words. This might have happened because the book is addressed to ‘secondary and
34
technical colleges’ around the world and not only for people from Latin based language.
There are no a specific book to teach English language to Portuguese language students.
4.2Inglês.com.textos para Informática’
‘Inglês.com.textos para Informática’ has 148 pages and only the texts of each unit are
written in English language. Most of the activities and explanations are in Portuguese
language. The edition of this book was in 2001 by “Disal Editora”, in São Paulo, Brazil.
4.2.1Parts of the book
This student’s book contains:
•
24 units6
•
a detailed map of the book
4.2.2Units
Most of the units follow a similar pattern:
•
A ‘pre-task’ with a brainstorming activity that makes the text more accessible
and prepares the students for the main task;
•
The main task with the reading;
•
Language work and some vocabulary activities;
•
The follow-up task provides students with little opportunities for speaking or
writing.
At the beginning of Unit 1, we have a test with 10 questions about “Who are you and
what about your English?” (p. 10).
6
See appendix 05
35
In Unit 2, the authors present three different kinds of Portuguese texts in order to
point out the differences about the meaning of the words. At the end, they suggest a
reflexion about the strategies they present in the unit. They comment about the meaning
of the new words and expressions we usually find in the texts. They suggest clues to
learning these new words through:
•
The sound of these words;
•
The morphology: through the affixes we can deduce the grammatical class of the
word;
•
The knowledge of the graphic aspects of the different texts.
This way, the authors suggest that a teacher starts with something he/she has already
known, this process facilitates the learning process.
4.2.3Skills
The only skill the book presents is reading. There are no activities exploring listening,
speaking or writing. Texts activities are based on comprehension, grammar, vocabulary
and some translation. Some activities ask students to write vocabulary, acronyms or
verb structures.
4.2.4Frequency of activities
Table 03 shows the frequency of vocabulary activities, references to cognate words,
word building, and language work.
36
Table 03 – Inglês.com.textos
Inglês.com.textos
Vocabulary activities
Cognate words
Word building
Language work
Times
06
02
06
14
4.2.5Cognates
In this book, there are references to cognate words: on page 30, there is a definition, in
Portuguese language, about these transparent words and at the end of the lesson, on
page 35, there is a question: What did you learn about the cognates use in the text?
There are no specific activities exploring vocabulary using cognates.
On page 61, there is an explanation about false cognates and some examples that
the students must match the columns. There is a list of words and afterwards there is a
list of synonyms and an explanation about false cognates. At the end of the unit, on
page 67, there is an activity about false cognates. In this activity, students must to
scramble the words writing false cognates and their translations.
4.3General analysis
Following Harmer’s table7 it is possible to point out some comments about the nine
areas he presented, introducing a general view about both textbooks:
7
Harmer (1998:119) See appendix 01
37
•
Price: Looking for the price of the books through the booksellers on line as
Amazon.com8, Brown Books9, Guerreiro Livros Técnicos10, Barners & Noble11,
and Submarino.com12, it is possible to find out their prices. The average price is:
Student’s book: R$ 75,00
Infotech
Workbook: R$: 56,00
Audio CD: R$: 22,50
Teacher’s book: R$: 96,00
Inglês.com.textos Student’s book: R$: 38,50
•
Availability: Both textbooks are available because there is a lack of textbooks
on computer science and technical English. The first book, Infotech, have all its
components in the shops: student’s book, teacher’s book, workbook and audio
CD. The second book, Inglês.com.textos, has only the student’s book.
•
Layout and design: Both books are attractive and according to the authors,
teachers feel comfortable using them.
•
Methodology: Both books present similar methodology starting with a ‘pretask’, a brainstorming to prepare students for the main task, a main task (text
about computer science), language work and some vocabulary exercises and a
follow-up task.
•
Skills: Analyzing Infotech author’s words13 above, the book develops the four
skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing). As we can see, reading is the
8
See www.amazon.com.
See www.brownstationers.com.
10
See www.guerreiro.com.
11
See www.bn.com.
12
See www.submarino.com.br.
13
See skills on chapter 3
9
38
most explored ability. In Inglês.com.textos, reading is the only ability explored.
•
Syllabus: it is appropriate for computer science students in both books. They
cover important language points. One book sometimes complements the other.
For example, teachers can use similar texts in both situations: if their students
are English Language beginners and teachers prefer activities in Portuguese
language, they can use the book ‘Inglês.com.textos’. If their students are
advanced, they can use English activities from ‘Infotech’.14
•
Topic: Both books contain a variety of topics needed to develop computer
science classes. They are culturally appropriate and texts and activities are not
too difficult or too easy for computer science students.
•
Stereotyping: Both books represent people situations in equal way with no
conscious or unconscious racism or sexism.
•
Teacher’s guide: Only Infotech has teacher’s guide with all the answers
teachers might need. Inglês.com.textos does not have teacher’s guide, or
workbook, or audio CD available. Therefore, teachers do not have the answers
they might need or alternatives to lesson procedures.
14
See appendix 07 and 08
39
CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION
Nowadays, changes in the way languages are taught revolve around language use rather
than teaching structures as it was done previously. The objective of teaching languages
is then to prepare the student for real life situations, creating opportunities to have the
chance of using what was learned within the academic, scientific and technological
world. Form is considered one of the important elements in the communication process
and not the most important element. Therefore they cannot or they should not be
ignored in agreement with the own objectives of the talkative approach.
In that
approach, the structure of the language is seen as a way, as one of the processes of
language learning, as one of the several resources that the student disposes of for trying
to communicate.
As we have mentioned at the beginning of this study, nowadays, vocabulary is
pointed out as an important element in teaching languages. Thornbury (2005) notes that
“languages emerge first as words”. For him, “the coining of new words never stops. Nor
does the acquisition of words” (p. 01). During Computer Science classes, the students
must learn specific vocabulary. One strategy we recommend in this study to teach
English as L2 is through the knowledge of cognate words.
In classes where learners all share the same L1 (in this case, Portuguese
language) it is easier to explore vocabulary through these cognates. The problem
teachers find is the lack of material about cognates. Thus, sometimes, teachers must
have “to adopt, develop or adapt”15 adequate material.
15
Brown (1995)
40
5.1Summary of the Findings
In this study we analyzed both cited books to investigate how they deal with cognates to
help teachers develop the vocabulary of their students exploring cognate words.
Table 02 and Table 03 show that both books points out grammar activities. The
second strategy is word building with some activities about affixes and word formation.
The third one is vocabulary activities, and the last one is the cognates that appear only
on ‘Inglês.com.textos’ and for only twice. During our experience in teaching English to
computer science students, we use both books, Infotech and Inglês.com.textos. We use
Xerox copies and first we work with texts in English language and questions and
grammar points in Portuguese language, from the second book, because most of the
times there are beginners in the class. Afterwards, we use texts from Infotech, with
questions in English. At the end of the course, all questions, answers and grammar study
are in English language. We explore cognate words as a tool to teach specific computer
science vocabulary.
5.1.1Infotech, English for computer users
In Infotec, language tasks revise the language points necessary for the level of students
of computer science and technical English in secondary schools and technical colleges.
There are help boxes in the units that are designed as a resource, which can be used as
part of classroom. The language work concentrates on those grammatical constructions,
and is typical of technical English (imperatives, passive forms, discourse markers,
comparatives and superlatives, etc). Sometimes students have to work out the grammar
for themselves because grammar exercises are contextualized and arise from the
linguistic forms that appear in the texts.
41
5.1.1.1Vocabulary acquisition
In relation of vocabulary acquisition, which is the focus of this study, there are only four
specific activities: the first is a quiz with ten questions about computer science
acronyms, which students must answer in groups of three and “the winners are the
group that answer the most questions correctly in four minutes” (p.15). On page 24,
there is a ‘vocabulary tree’ in which students must put each word or expression in an
appropriate place on the branches of the tree. There are eighteen computer science terms
to use.
The next vocabulary activity deals with eight specific terms students must match
with the explanations (p. 75). And in the last activity, students must match each of the
seven words on the left with its partners on the right to make a common technical term
(p. 116). There are no references about cognate words. Maybe because the book is
addressed to students from ‘secondary schools and technical colleges’ around the world
and not only to students from Latin based language.
The author recommends a few tips about how to deal with vocabulary
acquisition. First, teachers must explain the difference between ‘active’ and ‘passive’
vocabulary16 in order to avoid students became anxious about their lack of active
vocabulary. Esteras, (2005), states that active vocabulary “refers to those lexical items
that the student is able to use appropriately in oral and written communication” and
passive vocabulary “refers to those items that can be recognized and understood during
the process of listening and reading”(p.02). The author argues that passive vocabulary is
much easier to acquire than active vocabulary at any stage in the learning process. To
Thornbury (2005), “knowing a word involves knowing its form, and its meaning”
(p.15). If teachers explain to their students of English as L2 that words with Latin roots
16
Schmitt (2001) and Thornbury (2005) refer to ‘productive’ and ‘receptive’ knowledge. Peet (2006)
refers to ‘productive’ and ‘passive’ language.
42
generally have similar form and meaning of the Portuguese words, it is easier to
improve target vocabulary in technical English.
Second, teachers must tell the students that they do not need to understand every
word, and encourage them to guess the meaning from context17. Word building
exercises and study of word formation processes of affixation, compound and
conversion will help the learners to develop and extend their vocabulary. In spite of that
students must pay attention to the glossary for help with acronyms and technical terms.
Most of them have transparent words.
Third, teachers must train students to use their dictionaries properly. They
should be able to understand the pronunciation guidance, the layout of entries,
abbreviations, etc. “Occasionally it may be useful to work with a dictionary of computer
terms”, points out the author (p. 02). Students might use a dictionary of computer terms
all the time because during the explanations about the synonyms generally there are
transparent words to help students understand better.
Fourth, teachers must encourage students to create personal archives of
vocabulary on the computer and store them on disk or on their notebooks. According to
Ledbury (2006), teachers must encourage students “to store new vocabulary in a
vocabulary notebook in a variety of ways: under topics, under collocations with (or
without) translations, with sample sentences”(p. 01). In his article, the author
recommends eleven principles for learning vocabulary and strategies for memorization.
The fourth principle refers to word pairs or native word similar to English word.
17
Esteras (2002), Nation (2003)
43
5.1.2Inglês.com.textos para Informática
In the second textbook, Inglês.com.textos, there are six vocabulary activities. In the first
one, there are some modifiers (articles, pronouns, adverbs) and the learners must name
the groups of words presented (p. 29). The second one asks the students to complete the
gaps with the words according to the meaning of the fourteen sentences (p. 33). The
third one asks the learners to match the columns with the words of the text (p. 45). The
fourth deals with acronyms (p. 66). The fifth is about synonyms (p. 88). The last one is
a crossword (p. 130). In the book, all the explanation, the order of the activities and
information are written in Portuguese language. Only the texts are written in English
language.
Teachers must choose material written in L2 because classroom hours are
usually limited and are sometimes the only time of the day in which students are
exposed to English language. Furthermore, within grammatical vocabulary there are
transparent words. The knowledge of these words through their roots or affixes
stimulates students to learning vocabulary18.
In Inglês.com.textos, there are texts from Esteras’ book, second edition, 1997. In
Unit 3,the text ‘What is a computer?’ is rewritten, based on Esteras’ book, on page 7-8,
where there are a similar text with the same title. In both books there are similar
activities about the texts19. In Unit 4, the text ‘The computer system’ is also based on the
text ‘What is a computer’. In Unit 9, pages 62-63, the text ‘In the heart of computers’ is
based on ‘What is inside a microcomputer’, from Esteras, pages 11-12. In Unit 12, the
text named ‘People and their computers’, pages 78-80, is based on task 4, from Esteras,
page 23-24. Authors have actualized the data of the computers like name, processor,
18
E.g.: Translate the technical specification into your own language. Identify these symbols on the
keyboard.
19
See appendix 06, 07 and 08
44
main memory, hard drive, CD drive, monitor, operating system, price and other
features.
In Unit 13, text one is based on task B, Unit 14 from Esteras’ book. In Unit 14,
the text ‘Operating Systems’ is an actualized version of Esteras text, pages 67-68, with
the same name.
5.1.3The Role of Cognates
When the students understand that within any text written in English language there are
several words with Latin roots20 which are similar to Portuguese words and most of the
times they have same meaning, it will facilitate the vocabulary acquisition. Teachers
must motivate students to pay attention to these words (Latin ones) in English language.
Look at this paragraph as an example:
“Most of today’s computers have internal expansion slots that allow users to
install adapters include high-resolution graphics boards, memory expansion boards, and
internal modems” (Esteras, 2002, p. 12)
When teachers ask the students how many transparent words there are in this
paragraph, they can answer that there are twelve transparent words (half of them). Thus
teachers must tell the students why these transparent words came from Latin and French
to English, and when it occurred. Students generally become motivated when they know
about the ancient history of languages. To Crystal (2005), “People, in short, like to
know where words come from, whether they be personal names, place names, common
nouns, idioms, abbreviations, proverbs, or any other recognized lexical domain”(p 136).
According to Thornbury (2005), “Learning a second language involves both
learning a new concept system, and constructing a new vocabulary network – a second
20
Toussier (1996), Fromklin & Rodman (1998), Yule (1998), Thornbury (2005)
45
mental lexicon” (p 18). When the words have similar writing and meaning it becomes
easier.
5.2Research Questions Revisited
A logical outcome of determining the needs of a group of language students is the
specification of goals that satisfy their needs. When teachers define that the needs of
their students involve specific vocabulary, they try to find available approaches,
syllabuses, techniques, and exercises in order to adapt the material that may efficiently
help their students to learn language.
This study analyzed only two books among the available English textbooks that
contain specific computer science texts. As the mentioned previously, our goal was to
investigate if cognates are explored by the two textbooks, how they are explored and
what kind of activities makes use of cognates.
After the analysis, the conclusion is that there is a lack of material to develop
vocabulary through cognates. Only the second book analyzed, Inglês.com.textos para
Informática have only two activities exploring cognates. Furthermore, both are written
in Portuguese language.
We can conclude that both books have specific computer science texts, which
teachers can explore in their classes. Therefore, the point is that if teachers want to teach
vocabulary through the study of cognates, they must ‘adapt’ these texts to their own
teacher-made materials because none of both analyzed books deal with this specific
content.
According to Ur (2005), “Good teacher-made materials are arguably the best
there are: relevant and personalized, answering the needs of the learners in a way no
other materials can” (p. 192).
46
5.3Suggestions for Further Research
The vocabulary development assumes an important role in teaching languages with the
change of focus. Instead of concentrating on the forms as it was done by the previous
methods, the use of the vocabulary becomes emphasized. Vocabulary teaching has a
secondary paper, it stops being a simple support for the structure, becomes one of the
main components of the talkative nature of the language and, consequently, becomes
one of the most important aspects in teaching languages. The vocabulary development
becomes considered as an ability21, being equaled to the abilities of speaking, writing,
reading and listening, being essential for the development of these abilities and then the
language can be used in a natural way.
As consequence, the development of the vocabulary stops being only a problem of
memorizing and reminding words. It becomes a process that demands reasoning. The
student must think about the meaning of the words and discover his/her strategies to
develop his/her vocabulary.
The teaching of languages was influenced for several fields of knowledge and today
it seeks to give students the necessary resources that he need to use the language as
subject in real life situations. Several elements of the talkative nature of the language
are considered important: the formal aspect of the language, the development of the
vocabulary, the social and cultural aspect and the social context. The relationship
among these elements should be complemental and not restrictive.
Teacher and
student’s papers are also seen in a different way in this approach under the influence of
the theories of education. The teacher is seen more as a facilitator of the process of
21
Oliveira, 1999
47
learning. The student stops receiving all the information passively. Together, teacher
and student, using the reasoning and dividing experiences, they will build the learning.
Several strategies can be used for quickly developing students’ vocabulary,
however if students become self-confident about vocabulary acquisition, if they learn
that within English language they can see transparent words they already know in L1, it
will become easier to understand vocabulary. Teachers must explore the high number of
computer science words used in Portuguese language.
Both analyzed textbooks in this study are the only specific computer science
textbooks available to teach computer science vocabulary. Furthermore, there is a lack
of vocabulary activities within these textbooks. Most of the times, teachers “adapt”
vocabulary activities.
In this study, the importance of cognate words is presumed in order to improve
students’ vocabulary. The limitations of this study are contemplated and we suggest that
these limitations will be used for further research.
Therefore, we suggest, as an example, a small-scale classroom research that may
be implemented by teachers and directed at improving learning outcomes that some
authors call “action research”22.
For Thonbury, 2005
“Research itself is part of a cycle of inquiry and experiment that characterizes
the working life of professional practitioners. Most teachers are in a constant state of
‘trying something out’, to see if it has any noticeable effect on learning outcomes. It
may be a new book, a new technique, or simply a new way of organizing the
classroom furniture (p. 139).
22
Thornbury (2005), Ur (2005)
48
Observing their students, teachers can know what kind of activities is better to
improve students’ vocabulary. Teachers must make notes during their classes in order to
register some actions that will contribute to further reflection and learning. Furthermore
teachers can join to a colleague to share their thoughts about new techniques or new
solutions to old problems.
Teachers should share their sense of excitement and fascination of words,
mainly cognate words, with their students to make them improve their vocabulary.
49
REFERENCES
Bellomo, Tom. 1999. Etymology and Vocabulary Development for the L2 College
Student. Daytona Beach Community College, Florida. [email protected]
Bravo, Marco A., Hiebert Elfrieda H., Pearson David. 2005. Tapping the Linguistic
Resources of Spanish/English Bilinguals: The Role of Cognates in Science. To appear
in R.K. Wagner, A Muse, & K. Tannenbaum (Eds.). Vocabulary development and its
implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford.
Brown, H. Douglas. 1994. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents.
Brown, James Dean. 1995. The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic
Approach to Program Development. USA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Cruz, Décio T., Silva, Alba V. and Rosas, Marta. 2003. Inglês.com.textos para
Informática. São Paulo:Disal Editora.
Crystal, David. 2005.The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd edn.
Italy: Rotolito Lombarda.
Esteras, Santiago R. 1997. Infotech, English for computers users, Stdents book,
Italy:Cambridge University Press.
Esteras, Santiago R. 2002. Infotech, English for computers users, Students book, 3rd
edn.
Italy:Cambridge University Press.
Esteras, Santiago R. 2005. Infotech, English for computers users, Teachers book, 3rd
edn. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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Evans, Tony D. and St. John, Maggie J.1998. Developments in English for Specific
Purpose. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Freire, Paulo.(1998). Teachers as cultural workers. Boulder, CO: Westview Press
Fromkin, Victoria & Rodman, Robert.1998. An Introduction to Language, 6th edn. USA:
Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Graves, Kathleen. 2000. Designing Language Courses. Canada: Heinle & Heinle
Publishers
Harmer, Jeremy. 1998. How to Teach English. Madrid:Longman.
Jackson, H. & Anvela,E.Z. 2000. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: an Introduction to
Modern English Lexicology. London and New York:Cassel.
Ledbury, Robert.Vocabulary Notebooks – Ways to make them work. Available in
Developing Teachers.com http://www.developingteachers.com/articles.htm
Nation, Paul. 2003. Como Estruturar o Aprendizado de Vocabulário. São Paulo:SBS
Editora.
Oliveira, Nádia A. (1999). Desenvolvimento da habilidade de leitura. (2nd edition). O
Lutador, Belo Horizonte-MG-Brasil
Peet, Kendall. 2006. Teaching Vocabulary to L2 Learners. In Developing
Teachers.com. http://www.developingteachers.com/articles
Savignon, Sandra J. 1983. Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom
Practice. United States:Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Schmitt, Norbert. 2001. Vocabulary in Language Teaching. England: Cambridge
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Thornbury, Scott. 2005. How to Teach Vocabulary. England: Longman.
Toussier, Ades B. (1996). Toussier’s cognate words.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5000/index1.html. Online. 20 April 2000
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Schütz, Ricardo. Communicative Approach – Abordagem Comunicativa. English Made
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Brazil http://www.sk.com.br/sk-comm.html. Online.26 July 2003
Ur, Penny. 2005. A Course in Language Teaching. 12th edition. Cambridge: Cambridge
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Yule, George.1998. The Study of Language. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
52
APPENDIXES
53
APPENDIX 01
Nine main areas that teachers will want to consider in the books, which they are looking
at: (Harmer, 1998)
5.3.1.1.1 Area
5.3.1.1.2 Questions to consider
How expensive is the textbook? Can the students afford
1 price
it? Will they have to buy an accompanying workbook?
Can they afford both? What about the teacher; can he or
she pay for the teacher’s book and tapes?
Is the course available? Are all its components
2 availability
(student’s book, teacher’s book, workbook, etc.) in the
shops now? What about the next level (for the next
term/semester)? Has it been published? Is it available?
What about tapes, videos, etc?
Is the book attractive? Does the teacher feel comfortable
3 layout and design
with it? Do the students like it? How user-friendly is the
design? Does it get in the way of what the book is trying
to do or does it enhance it?
What kind of teaching and learning does the book
4 methodology
promote? Can teachers and students build appropriate
ESA sequences from it? Is there a good balance between
Study and Activation?
Does the book cover the four skills (reading, writing,
listening and speaking) adequately? Is there a decent
balance between the skills? Are there opportunities for
5 skills
both Study and Activation in the skills work? Is the
language of the reading and listening texts appropriate?
Are the speaking and writing tasks likely to Engage the
student’s interest?
54
Is the syllabus of the book appropriate for your
6 syllabus
students? Does it cover the language points you would
expect? Are they in the right order? Do the reading and
listening texts increase in difficult as the book progress?
Does the book contain a variety of topics? Are they
likely to engage the students’ interest? Does the teacher
7 topic
respond to them well? Are they culturally appropriate
for the students? Are they too adult or too childish?
Does the book represent people and situations in a fair
8 stereotyping
and equal way? Are various categories of people treated
equally? Is there stereotyping of certain nationalities?
Does the book display conscious or unconscious racism
or sexism?
Is there a good teacher’s guide? Is it easy to use? Does it
9 teacher’s guide
have all the answers the teacher might need? Does it
offer alternatives to lesson procedures? Does it contain a
statement of intention which the teacher and students
feel happy with?
55
APPENDIX 02
CONTENTS
Map of the book ………………………………………………………………. iv
Thanks an Acknowledgements………………………………………………viii
Section 1 Computers today ……………………………………………………1
Unit 1 Computer applications …………………………………………………. 2
Unit 2 Computer essentials…………………………………………………….. 7
Unit 3 Inside the system ………………………………………………………..11
Unit 4 Bits and bytes …………………………………………………………..16
Unit 5 Buying a computer ……………………………………………………...20
Section 2 Input/output devices ………………………………………………25
Unit 6 Type, click and talk! …………………………………………...……… 26
Unit 7 Capture your favorite image …………………………………………… 31
Unit 8 Viewing the output ……………………………………………………. 35
Unit 9 Choosing a printer ………………………………………………………39
Unit 10 I/O devices for the disabled ……………………………………………44
Section 3 Storage devices ……………………………………………..……… 49
Unit 11 Magnetic drives ……………………………………………….. ………50
Unit 12 Optical breakthrough …………………………………………………. 54
Section 4 Basic software ……………………………………………………… 59
Unit 13 Operating systems ……………………………………………………. 60
Unit 14 The graphical user interface …………………………………………… 64
Unit 15 A walk through word processing………………………………………. 68
Unit 16 Spreadsheets …………………………………………………………… 74
Unit 17 Databases ………………………………………………………………. 77
Unit 18 Faces of the Internet ……………………………………………………82
Section 5 Creative software ……………………………………………………87
Unit 19 Graphics and design ……………………………………………………. 88
Unit 20 Desktop publishing …………………………………………………….. 93
Unit 21 Web design …………………………………………………………….. 97
Unit 22 Multimedia …………………………………………………………….101
Section 6 Programming……………………………………………………… 106
Unit 23 Program design……………………………………………………….. 107
Unit 24 Languages…………………………………………………………….. 111
Unit 25 The Java revolution…………………………………………………… 114
Unit 26 Jobs in computing ……………………………………………………. 118
56
Section 7 Computers tomorrow………………………………………………
Unit 27 Electronic communications……………………………………………
Unit 28 Internet issues………………………………………………………….
Unit 29 LAN and WANs ……………………………………………………...
Unit 30 New technologies …………………………………………………….
122
123
128
133
138
Notes for Student A …………………………………………………..……… 143
Notes for Student B…………………………………………………………… 147
Glossary ……………………………………………………………….……… 151
Acronyms and abbreviations ………………………………………………… 158
Trademarks …………………………………………………………………… 160
57
Sumário
Agradecimentos/Referências bibliográficas……………………………........………. 4
Apresentação................................................................................................................... 5
Mapa do livro ................................................................................................................. 6
Unidade 1 Quem é você e como está o seu inglês? ......................................................10
Unidade 2 Prevendo significados e construindo sentido em diferentes tipos de textos15
Unidade 3 Conhecendo o computador .........................................................................24
Unidade 4 O computador: um sistema .........................................................................30
Unidade 5 A pré-história dos computadores.................................................................36
Unidade 6 A era moderna dos computadores................................................................43
Unidade 7 Tecnologia: prevendo o futuro ....................................................................50
Unidade 8 Os computadores e a linguagem..................................................................56
Unidade 9 Por dentro do computador ..........................................................................61
Unidade 10 A invenção do futuro ................................................................................68
Unidade 11 Escolhendo um computador .....................................................................73
Unidade 12 Configuração ............................................................................................78
Unidade 13 Software ...................................................................................................84
Unidade 14 Sistemas operacionais .............................................................................89
Unidade 15 Mais características dos sistemas operacionais .......................................95
Unidade 16 Linguagens de programação ..................................................................100
Unidade 17 Etapas da programação ..........................................................................105
Unidade 18 Globalização ..........................................................................................110
Unidade 19 Inteligência artificial ............................................................................. 114
Unidade 20 O bug do milênio .................................................................................. 119
Unidade 21 Síndrome pós-bug ................................................................................. 124
Unidade 22 Vírus .................................................................................................... 130
Unidade 23 Tradução automática ........................................................................... 136
Unidade 24 Internet ................................................................................................ 142
Os autores .............................................................................................................. 148
58
APPENDIX 03
59
60
61
APPENDIX 04
63
64
APPENDIX 05
65
66
67
68
APPENDIX 06
69
APPENDIX 07
70
71
APPENDIX 08
72