The Semantic Field of Technical Terms in Mathematics and Sciences for the 7th Grade English Program in Thailand
The aims of this study are 1) to
analyze the semantic field of technical
terms in Mathematics and Sciences in the
relation of hyponymy; 2) to create the
MS Word Net on the smartphone
application for Thai grade 7 English
program students; and 3) to evaluate the
MS Word Net on the smartphone
application. The research procedures
consist of analyzing the semantic
features of the technical terms by using
Componential Analysis and classifying
the technical terms based on the
Semantic Field Theory in the relation of
hyponymy.
The
results revealed that the semantic field
of mathematics technical terms was
divided into eight main groups:
Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry,
Statistics, binary operation, property
rule, Mathematical symbol, and variable.
The semantic field of Sciences technical
terms was divided into four main groups:
Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, and
Biology. Each group was further divided
into several subgroups. According to the
semantic feature analysis, the technical
terms that had common semantic features
were classified under the same concept
to form a semantic field (Ullmann,
1977). Furthermore, the technical
terms’ meanings in the same
sematic field were related and they had
at least one different semantic feature.
Consequently, the analysis of the
technical terms’ meanings by
Componential Analysis assisted to
classify them into the semantic
fields.
The
findings of the evaluation of the MS
Word Net on the smartphone application
usage revealed that the items with
highest average were the
“systematic data linking” on
the MS Word Net application and the
“benefits on the learners”
of the MS Word Net ( = 4.54, S.D. =
0.62), followed by the
“appropriate graphics” on
the MS Word Net application ( = 4.53,
S.D. = 0.74) and the “increases in
the learners’ memory of the
technical terms” using the MS Word
Net ( = 4.48, S.D. = 0.62).
Credit : Teeraporn Plailek // Achara Wongsothorn // Supha Sukamolson // Cholthicha Sudmuk
https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ssajournal/article/view/256511