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Description
This presentation outlines the development process of DICIENS, a bilingual school science dictionary (English-Spanish/Spanish-English) designed for primary education students in Spain. DICIENS marks a pioneering initiative, filling a significant gap in educational resources and pedagogical lexicography. Rooted in the theoretical framework of Frame-based Terminology (Faber 2009, 2012), this endeavor integrates robust theoretical foundations with practical application. Initially, we conducted a comparative analysis of terminological entries in monolingual school science dictionaries (in English and Spanish) aimed at primary education students (Buendía-Castro, 2024). All dictionaries analysed agreed on the inclusion of a definition, usage examples, and pictures. Of Ptasznik’s (2021) four definition types, full-sentence definitions (for nouns) and single-clause when-definitions (for verbs) were most commonly found. This foundational work aimed to craft an ‘ideal’ terminological entry tailored to the comprehension levels of young learners engaging with science instruction in bilingual school environments in Spain. In the subsequent phase, we compiled a comparable corpus comprising English and Spanish texts from prominent textbook publishers in Spain. Leveraging a terminology extractor, we meticulously selected candidate terms. Subsequently, in collaboration with the educational team that belongs to the project, we refined a selection of 200 headwords to form the core lexicon of DICIENS. Each candidate term underwent rigorous scrutiny, with Sketch Engine employed to extract definitional, contextual, and phraseological insights tailored to the intended user profile. Complemented by an accompanying image bank, ten beta entries underwent evaluation by the educational team. This iterative process facilitated the redefinition of the ‘ideal’ DICIENS terminology entry model and the integration of corpus-derived information into the lexicon. As shown in Figure 1, each headword, apart from including the definition, usage contexts and pictures, also includes the main verb collocations, as collocations contribute significantly to the naturalness and idiomaticity of the language. Considering that errors involving collocations are among the most common mistakes made 41by learners during the process of acquiring a second language, we consider that internalizing phraseological information from an early age is essential. Following the approach of Buendía-Castro, Montero & Faber (2014), who developed a semantic classification for verb collocations in the specialized resource EcoLexicon (ecolexicon.ugr.es), it is our assertion that it is very useful to provide verb collocations categorized by meaning in DICIENS. In subsequent phases, we will establish the infrastructure for data storage and retrieval, alongside designing and implementing an online interface for user-friendly access to dictionary entries. DICIENS represents a significant advancement in educational settings, bridging the lexicographic gap in science education. By catering to the unique needs of bilingual learners, it promises to enhance pedagogical effectiveness, empower educators, engage parents, and enrich student learning experiences. The methodological framework established in the development of DICIENS holds promise for the creation of similar bilingual school science dictionaries across diverse linguistic contexts.
