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ESP and Free Online Dictionaries

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Integrating Information and Communication Technologies in English for Specific Purposes

Part of the book series: English Language Education ((ELED,volume 10))

Abstract

This chapter situates the concept of ESP within the Spanish university context, which is characterised by diversity. This means that ESP instructors must re-adapt the absolute and variable characteristics of ESP to the Spanish teaching and learning environment. A possible way to do this is to instruct learners in the use of free online dictionaries, which are information tools that are accessible through the Internet with or without paying a fee. These tools are especially adequate for gaining knowledge, such as the concepts and conceptual framework scaffolding a domain. Within this framework, this chapter illustrates a way to use using free online dictionaries for gaining knowledge. This consists of two stages: first, the use of a template that includes 10 characteristics for deciding on the adequacy of the dictionaries to be used and, second, the recommendation of two specific types of dictionaries for gaining knowledge. The implementation of both stages allowed me to propose the use of collaborative dictionaries, such as Wikipedia and/or specialised dictionaries, to assist ESP learners to gain knowledge of specific domains.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Junta de Castilla y León for financial support (Grants FF12011-22885 and FFI2014-52462-P and VA 067A12-1, respectively) and also to Dr. Lidia Taillefer for inviting me to write this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Lexicography, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, España

    Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera

  2. Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera

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  1. Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera
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Correspondence to Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, French and German, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

    Rosa Muñoz-Luna

  2. Department of English, French and German, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

    Lidia Taillefer

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Fuertes-Olivera, P.A. (2018). ESP and Free Online Dictionaries. In: Muñoz-Luna, R., Taillefer, L. (eds) Integrating Information and Communication Technologies in English for Specific Purposes. English Language Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68926-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68926-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68925-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68926-5

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