English for Mathematics in the University Context: A Needs Analysis

Roč.14,č.2(2024)
CASALC Review

Abstrakt

The paper presents the results of the Needs Analysis project focusing on the process of acquiring and using specialized mathematical language. The project was motivated by the need to create a meaningful English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course and related testing for students of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University. In conducting the project, the methodology of triangulation combining quantitative and qualitative methods and including an anonymous online questionnaire distributed to students and semi-structured interviews with professional mathematicians was followed. The methodology was established by the original study performed at ENS Paris-Saclay in France.


Klíčová slova:
ESP; English for mathematics; Needs Analysis; University education; Specialised test
Biografie autora

Lucie Steidlová

Katedra jazykové přípravy, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta, Univerzita Karlova

Lucie Steidlová is a lecturer of English for Specific Purposes at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague, where she specialises in courses for mathematicians and is responsible for the administration of the international UNIcert® III exam. She has recently completed her PhD in the English language at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University and her research interests lie in the field of phraseology of mathematical texts.

Miluša Bubeníková

Katedra jazykové přípravy, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta, Univerzita Karlova

Miluša Bubeníková was graduated at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, where she specialized in English and Russian. She teaches general and academic English with a focus on English for mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists. Co-author of the textbook Angličtina (nejen) pro studenty MFF UK [English (not only) for students of Faculty of Mathematics and Physics] (Matfyzpress, 2013, 2015, 2019).

Milena Dundrová

Katedra jazykové přípravy, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta, Univerzita Karlova

Milena Dundrová graduated from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, majoring in French for interpreters and translators and in History. She completed her PhD thesis on Anglo-French relations during the French Wars of Religion in the second half of the 16th century at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in 2006. She is currently a lecturer in French at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, and the Faculty of Social Sciences, both at Charles University. She also works as a sworn translator for French and Czech.

Zuzana Hořká

Katedra jazykové přípravy, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta, Univerzita Karlova

Zuzana Hořká is a graduate of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, where she specialized in English and Czech. She currently works as the Head of the Department of Language Education at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University. She supervises English instruction for PhD students and teaches both general and specialized language courses to undergraduate students in their first and second years.

 

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