THE ROLE OF DICTIONARIES IN ESP, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO STUDENT NURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF JORDAN. (VOLUMES I-III) (JORDAN).
Contributors: University Of Exeter (United Kingdom)
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 606
Subjects: Language, Linguistics.; Library Science.
Description: Available from UMI in association with The British Library.

This is an empirical investigation into aspects of dictionary use among 405 student nurses at the University of Jordan. The ESP learner as a dictionary user has hardly been studied, particularly in the Arab World; this thesis is a contribution to remedy the malaise. In the first chapter, I discuss the concept of ESP and outline the motivations for the study and its specific objectives. The second chapter is a review of the literature. The approach is chronological and only studies of empirical orientation have been included. Pioneering contributions to the user-perspective tradition since the middle of the century have been highlighted. Chapter Three is an account of the design and methodology of the study. I outline the reasons behind my decisions to choose the general approach, and the specific context, subjects and techniques.

Dictionary use at the pre-ESP level is explored in Chapter Four. The notion of reference skills is discussed and the dictionary input in the school curricula is examined. The bulk of the thesis is in Chapter Five when I deal with a detailed profile of communicative needs in relation to contexts of dictionary use. The general and the specific contexts of the study and the place of the dictionary in them are examined together with attitudes and strategies related to dictionaries. The results on purposes of dictionary use in relation to lexical needs are presented in Chapter Six. Attitudes concerning the image of the dictionary are in Chapter Seven but the focus in this chapter is on assessing the dictionaries in use in the light of the students' needs. The conclusions and recommendations as to lexicography and ESP are discussed in the last chapter. There is an argument for an ESP approach to lexicography and the main features of an ESP dictionary are outlined. Practical proposals are also made to integrate dictionaries in the University of Jordan's EFL/ESP programmes.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-10, Section: A, page: 3215.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (UNITED KINGDOM), 1989.

School code: 5016.