EU E NGLISH LANGUAGE ISSUES

Diagram 5 The importance of the linguistic contents

The student interviews also showed that vocabulary enlargement is one of the students’

main expectations of the course. In the next excerpt, Liza gives a characteristic example of her pre-course expectations:

I was very glad that after the first lesson it turned out that most people in the class were at MA level and their English was good. I chose this course because I thought this would mean higher level language learning and I hoped I would be able to enlarge my vocabulary. (Liza, S/6)

Another student commented on the same issue when asked about her likes and dislikes of the course. Alexa’s response is illustrated by the next excerpt:

I really like those tasks that aim to improve our vocabulary. They relate to a lot of different topics as well so that we can learn a whole range of different new words. I would like to enlarge my vocabulary on the EU, I think more vocabulary-related tasks in the book would facilitate this. (Alexa, S/7)

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4.6 4.4

3.4 3.6

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2.7

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3.9

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Natali also drew attention to the importance of learning new vocabulary in her EU class. She elaborates on her view as follows:

In my view, what motivates them [students] is to pick up a different type of vocabulary, or to learn the same thing about the EU that they may have learnt before but that is now a whole new vocabulary, whereas we, for instance, talk about legislation, or the institutions. They can learn the names of the institutions and then they can compare them to the Hungarian counterparts. The same is true about topics such as education, environment, or employment. (Natali, T/2)

According to the results of the perceived importance of the linguistic components of the course, teaching grammar in EU English classes at UTE should not be the focus of the course.

Student respondents of this study seem to recommend that enlarging their specialist vocabulary is very important and it needs to be stressed in the coursebook. This, first of all, suggests that the students recognise that the language attributes of EU English are different from those of general English. In addition, they expect to expand their vocabulary to a large extent. This expectation cannot be ignored from the point of view of the successful outcome of the course.

In a school context, it also means that the assessment of the students should pay attention to evaluating the students’ specialist vocabulary improvement.

As previously mentioned in the literature review, studies on terminology spotlight the role specialist vocabulary plays in EU translators’ work. The significance of teaching terminology in translators’ training based on the literature is straightforward. However, there is no clear-cut answer to the question of what exactly EU terminology is, and as a consequence, it is not evident how one can make general recommendations on the elements of the EU specialist vocabulary to be taught at tertiary level. The Hungarian literature on EU terminology (Fischer, 2010a; Gulyás, 2005; Rádai-Kovács, 2009; Várnai; 2004) attempts to provide the definition of EU terminology by classifying the constituents of terminology in the EU context according to the various EU subject fields in which it can be identified. There are different interpretations of EU terms, as well as the meaning of Eurojargon. From a pedagogical

perspective, it can be said that based on the findings of this study, for learners who are unfamiliar with the EU-specific background knowledge and the language of the EU, there are areas of difficulties in acquiring new EU English vocabulary. These difficulties stem from general vocabulary which can be identified when examining different EU genres. Another area of difficulty arises from the specialist vocabulary of the specialist fields the EU is involved in (Klaudy, 2007). In the background of these areas, EU institutions can be found which produce the EU terms via their various legal, administrative and other professional activities.

4.7.2 The teacher-researchers’ views on terminology

The teacher-researchers confirmed the usefulness of teaching the specialist vocabulary in the EU context, however, the extent to which it should be included in the coursebook for university students was not clarified by them. As mentioned earlier, the nature of the work in the EU, as well as the areas in which EU English is used is highly diversified. In the teacher-researcher interviews, it is mentioned several times that it is of great importance to teach EU terminology and it is crucial to direct the students’ attention to the use of EU terms because they generally denote different meanings in the EU context than in the General English context.

However, due to the high specificity of the policies and subject areas the EU deals with, the teacher-researchers’ repeated statement that ‘it depends on the professional background, the specialist areas and the future professional plans of the students what kind of terminology is to be taught to them’ reoccurs.

4.7.3 The EU professionals’ views on terminology

When talking about the same question with EU professionals, the role specificity plays in the EU English learning situation was confirmed. Mira whose specialist area was terminology made the following comment on the contents of the terminology to be taught:

It depends on target audience, the target students. It is worth teaching the basic specialist terminology, the specialist terminology closely connected to the EU institutions. It is crucial then to teach the specialist terminology of legal acts, following this, the students will need to learn the jargon of their profession because they will need to use it to be able to work in the relevant field. (Mira, EUPR/1)

Szonja accentuated the role of teaching general Eurojargon by which she meant her own difficulties she had to face with regard to unknown EU terms when she started to work as an interpreter for the EU. In the next quotation, Szonja elaborates on this idea:

Well, one of the most important characteristics of this language is definitely its specialist vocabulary. EU interpreters having passed the accreditation exam think that they have an extensive knowledge of EU vocabulary. Then they first hear the expression scrutiny reservation, they get really intimidated because they have never heard of it before.

(Szonja, EUPR/3)

The respondents gave examples of EU terminology drawn both from the Eurojargon of the institutions and from legal terminology. These responses suggest that one of the objectives of the EU English class is the teaching of new vocabulary since the students identify it as a linguistic need and both the teachers-researchers and the EU professionals agree on the importance of it for EU English pedagogy. However, the teacher needs to have well-defined objectives and needs to be aware of the specialist knowledge which is sufficient to teach EU terminology. Secondly, the learners’ goals must be considered and must be used as a guideline to follow when making decisions about what to include or exclude concerning EU terms.