Informatics

[yousrati]

Hello everyone,

Last Thursday, I went to the department of Informatics in order to attend with Master students a lecture of English module. I have noticed two things:

- First, students do not use the word “Informatics” because they say it doesn’t exist.
- Second, they are not able to express themselves in English.

So, my question is as follow:

-Thought I checked from the existence of the word “Informatics”, do you usually use it?
-What kind of English does an Informatic’s student need to learn? Does this kind have a name?

I will be really thankful if you can help me.

[emsr2d2]

Hello everyone,

Last Thursday, I went to the department of Informatics in order to attend with Master students a lecture of English module. I have noticed two things:

- First, students do not use the word “Informatics” because they say it doesn’t exist.
- Second, they are not able to express themselves in English.

So, my question is as follow:

-Thought I checked from the existence of the word “Informatics”, do you usually use it?
-What kind of English does an Informatic’s student need to learn? Does this kind have a name?

I will be really thankful if you can help me.

"Informatics" exists - see the definition HERE - that's taken from the Edinburgh University website so it appears they use it. It does seem to be a rather wide-ranging topic as you can see. I have to say that although I have heard the word, I wouldn't say it's widely used outside its own specific field.

As far as what English they need to speak, I imagine that a lot of the vocabulary used is very technical. However, there is no point in them learning all the technical vocabulary if they can't speak any other English!

In what capacity were you there - were you just attending an English lecture which happened to be held at the Dept of Informatics?
Do these students need to speak English?
What word(s) do they use instead of Informatics?

[Rover_KE]

Yousrati, please give your threads more useful titles.

As this one is about Informatics, that should have been your title.

Rover

[yousrati]

First of all, I would like to thank you Sir for you help.

Second , concerning your first question:

In what capacity were you there - were you just attending an English lecture which happened to be held at the Dept of Informatics?

I would say that I am preparing my Bachelor Art of Degree this year, and my theme is ESP ( English for a specific purposes) more precisely, I am intended to talk about EST ( English for Science and technology), for this reason , as a case study I have chosen the informatics department ( since they are more related to the new technology and science) where they have English module. I needed to analyze the situation of teaching and learning English there. That is why I attended the lecture.

For the second question; Do these students need to speak English?

Actually, I ask them the same question because I was curious and they said yes. They justified saying that if ever someone wants to go abroad In order to finish his studies or even for work he will be obliged to speak in English, while at the lecture they are neither capable to speak nor able to ask even questions , at this causes for them problems.
Besides, they justify their need to the English language by that all the conferences are made in English as well as their Doctorate degree.

What word(s) do they use instead of Informatics?

Well, for this question, I remember that I asked the teacher himself and he said that we don’t use “Informatics “to refer to the Department but instead we say: Department of Science and computer rather “Department of Informatics”

That is why, I am looking for a way to resolve their problem of speaking and expressing themselves, may you aid me please!!

[Rover_KE]

First of all, I would like to thank you Sir for your help.

It's not a good idea, yousrati, to assume that all teachers of English are male.

Emsr2d2 is in fact a well-respected female teacher.

Rover

[yousrati]

Ops!!! I am really sorry; I thought I was a man

Sorry for the mistake Mrs.Emsr2d2 , and I do respect you and all the teachers in the forum or even in my actual life. So, excuse me again

[emsr2d2]

Ops!!! I am really sorry; I thought I was a man

Sorry for the mistake, and I do respect all the teachers in the forum or even in my actual life. So, excuse me again

No problem, don't worry! On here, you don't need to worry whether people are male or female at all!

[emsr2d2]

First of all, I would like to thank you Sir for you help.

Second, concerning your first question:

In what capacity were you there - were you just attending an English lecture which happened to be held at the Dept of Informatics?

I would say that I am preparing my Bachelor Art of Degree this year, and my theme is ESP (English for a Specific Purposes). More precisely, I am intended intend to talk about EST (English for Science and Technology). For this reason, as a case study I have chosen the Informatics department (since they are more related to the new technology and science) where they have an English module. I needed to analyze the situation of teaching and learning English there. That is why I attended the lecture.

For the second question; Do these students need to speak English?

Actually, I asked them the same question because I was curious and they said yes. They justified it by saying that if ever someone wants to go abroad in order to finish his studies or even for work he will be obliged to speak in English, while at the lecture they are can neither capable to speak nor able to ask even questions, as this causes for them problems for them.
Besides, they justify their need to for the English language by saying that all the conferences are made presented in English as well as their Doctorate degree.

What word(s) do they use instead of Informatics?

Well, for this question, I remember that I asked the teacher himself and he said that we don’t use “Informatics" to refer to the Department but instead we say: Department of Science and Computers rather than “Department of Informatics”

That is why (no comma) I am looking for a way to resolve their problem of speaking and expressing themselves. may Can you aid help me please!!

If your task is to analyse the speaking and learning of English in a particular department, then why do you need to work out how to help them to improve their English? I may be misunderstanding what it is you are trying to do. Are you just observing how English learning is going, or are you supposed to then help the department to improve its English teaching?

If they choose to call themselves the "Department of Science and Computers (or Computing?)" then that's really up to them. However, you can certainly tell them that "Informatics" is a perfectly acceptable word in English and that the University of Edinburgh has a Department of Informatics.

I can totally understand their need to learn English. I'm sure it's true that most conferences etc are held mostly in English these days.

Is it the university's responsibility to help them with their English in this regard though, or are they expected to be fairly proficient already, or even to be taking private classes?

[yousrati]

Yes, maybe I didn’t make myself explicit.

In my project, I am supposed to analyze the current teaching and learning English situation in their Department. As first, I have to give a simple description about: the department, the teacher, student and even the status of the English module. Then, I will have to figure out their problems and try to solve them.

Up to now, I have nearly done all these steps, but my problem is that:

I can’t find a way to help them in expressing themselves in English, even if I can’t do it with them, I have to mention at least a solution to this problem in my memoire.I believe that teaching the informatics students only technical words without being able to speak not sufficient
thank you for your help.