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1. CELEB
(completed in January 2009) |
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This project is
intended to provide a blended learning
platform for future and practising
language teachers and to supplement my
‘Introduction to English Language
Teaching and Learning’. |
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2. Writing in
English: A Guide for Advanced Learners
(completed in October 2008) |
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(Working Title; in cooperation with
Lachlan Mackenzie, Mike Hannay and John
D. Gallagher) |
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This project is
intended to create a textbook of English
writing that takes account of
cross-linguistic research into
interlingual divergences between English
and Germanic languages as well as of
typical learner difficulties and errors.
The book is divided into four modules:
text organisation, sentence building,
lexico-grammar and style. It has been
published with Narr (Tübingen) in the
well-known UTB (Uni-Taschenbücher)
series. |
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3. The Bilexicon
Project (completion projected for 2012) |
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Project 6, which has
been almost completed, lays the
theoretical groundwork for this project,
whose aim is to produce an unabridged
English-German learner’s dictionary.
Work on the implementation of the
dictionary is now well advanced. A first
version comprising around 1000 pages
will be published online or in book form
in the not too distant future.
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| 4. Dictionary of Academia and
University Management (Wörterbuch für
Wissenschaft und Hochschulmanagement) (completion
projected for late 2011) |
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| This is a specialist dictionary
which will provide comprehensive
coverage of the terminology of
university administration. |
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5. Multi-word
discourse markers (open-ended project) |
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I have published a
number of articles and a book-length
study on multi-word discourse markers
(Discourse Markers across Languages,
Routledge 2005). My interest in these
vital linking devices continues. |
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Click
here to read an
executive summary of the original
full-length thesis I submitted to Wuppertal University in 2003. |
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Click
here for an overview of the coverage
of marker words in current dictionaries
(this is the appendix of the original
full-length thesis). |
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6. Monograph on
learner lexicography (almost completed;
publication at a later date) |
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The chief aim of this
project is to provide a sound
theoretical basis for the production of
unabridged electronic bilingual
onomasiological learners’ dictionaries
for German, English, French and,
possibly, Spanish. The project draws on
two main strands of empirical research:
firstly, theoretical and corpus-based
investigations designed to identify the
most common collocations in the
languages under survey. These
investigations go beyond earlier
research into vocabulary control, which
focussed on individual words (West,
Palmer, Thorndike). The second strand of
research, which involves experiments
with sixth-form and university students,
is concerned with creating an optimal
learning environment; it will try to
answer questions such as the following: |
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What kind of content should the
dictionary have to meet the needs of
various types of users?
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How can this content be categorized
by topic or semantic field?
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For maximum retention, should
collocations be presented as two- or
three-word combinations (deny [s.th.]
strenuously), in sentence
fragments (that is something he
would strenuously deny) or in
complete sentences?
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Should a bilingual onomasiological
dictionary contain both definitions
and translations? If so, what form
should the definitions take to
maximize learning?
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To
what extent can the dictionary be
linked with texts from corpora or
the Internet to support
content-oriented language learning?
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How can video, audio and
illustrations be incorporated into
the dictionary?
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| 7. German learners' and teachers'
lexical and listening comprehension
skills (in cooperation with Christoph
Bürgel) |
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A pilot study which
has been inspired by the DESI study, and
which is designed to ascertain the real
linguistic competence of French teachers
at German grammar schools and tenth
grade learners of French. The pilot
study will initially be restricted to
receptive lexical competence and
listening comprehension competence, but
the main study will also take account of
productive lexical competence as well as
writing and speaking skills. We have
provisionally restricted the scope of
our study because listening
comprehension competence, which is
closely linked to receptive lexical
competence, is an essential prerequisite
for self-learners who wish to gain
access to the target language culture.
The vocabulary test
is based on Hausmann’s
chrestolexicographical studies and on
test-theoretical considerations inspired
by these publications (Hausmann 2002,
2005; Siepmann/Holterhof 2007). The
problem is that there are only a few
core curricula which still provide
precise information about the minimum
number of lexical units that have to be
learned. According to the core
curriculum for Lower Saxony, grade
ten learners are supposed to have
mastered a vocabulary which is
sufficiently sophisticated to enable
them to communicate effectively in
general and individual situations. In
accordance with the Bavarian curriculum
we assume that students will have
acquired a receptive vocabulary of 2,400
words by the time they have completed
the tenth grade (i.e. after learning the
target language for five or six years),
but we have our doubts about the
sophistication of the vocabulary items
mastered by the learners. When various
kinds of authentic texts are presented
in auditory form, students are supposed
to be able to understand them as a whole
or in detail.
According to the master’s examination
regulations of various German
universities, graduate language teachers
are generally expected to have attained
level C1 or C2 of the CEFR. Since
learners who have attained Level B2 are
supposed to know over 15,000 individual
words and expressions (Beacco et al.
2004), and since those who have attained
level C1 are supposedly capable of
understanding the details of oral texts
dealing with abstract or complex
subjects outside their area of
specialization, we have no misgivings
about equating the C1 level vocabulary
with the 20,000 items included in
Hausmann’s extended vocabulary. It is
this vocabulary which constitutes the
basis for the test we have devised for
French teachers. |
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| 8. The lexis of emotion in five
European languages (Le lexique des
émotions dans cinq langues européennes)
(DFG-ANR project, 2010-2012) |
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The aim of the
project is threefold:
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The first aim is
to deepen and conjoin the
“representationist” and
“contextualist” approaches to
meaning (i.e. “meaning≈concept”
versus “meaning≈usage”).
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The second aim is
to harness the relevant theories to
practical implementation. In order
to achieve this it will be necessary
to carry out a contrastive analysis
of the semantic values, combinatory
(lexematic and syntactic) behaviour
and discourse roles of lexemes
relating to emotions. It will also
be necessary to examine synonymic
relationships between the words that
are studied, and special attention
will have to be given to syntagmata
which can be substituted for terms
that designate emotions with direct
precision. The languages dealt with
will be German, French, English,
Russian and Spanish. The research
findings will provide a better
overview of the lexical field of
emotions, thereby making it possible
to move beyond existing
lexicological and lexicographical
studies.
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Finally, the new facts brought to
light during the project will be
exploited with a view to improving
foreign language teaching and the
training of professional
translators.
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