Title: Vocabulary Support for Students Using University Library Catalogs from Remote Locations. (On-Going Topics)
Abstract: Abstract Efficient and effective use of a university's online catalog requires an understanding of the many library terms used for the menu selections and for terms that appear on subsequent pages. This is a problem for many students, particularly for international students, those with limited library experience and students who are away from the assistance of a librarian. The importance of vocabulary knowledge, particularly of technical terms, in comprehending subject area text is discussed and strategies for support for library terminology in Web based catalogs are suggested. ********** Teachers are always looking for ways to motivate students. I have found that a sure way of getting the attention of both the graduates and undergraduates that participate in my library instruction courses is to start by saying, Most of what we are going to do today, you can do from your dorm or home. The ability to access library resources without a trip to the bricks and mortar is very appealing to the busy student. But, as more and more students have online capabilities and select to do their research and assignments away from the assistance of a librarian, it becomes more and more vital that they have an understanding of the language used in a library. Every discipline has its own vocabulary of specialized words, words that have meanings particular to that subject area. A library user should understand the specialized meanings of the terms that appear on the main menu of an online catalog as these guide input and thus are necessary for the efficient and productive use of the catalog. Without the give and take of the traditional reference interview, the online catalog user at a remote site who has little library experience may never be clear as to what is meant by keyword or subject. I see many students in our International Program, struggling with conversational English and the technical language in their textbooks, avoid using the online catalog for research or study. They tell me that they have problems finding the words that appear on the screen in the electronic bilingual dictionaries they use or that their self-devised system of information retrieval does not bring up pertinent selections. An important library resource is thereby neglected; here is an opportunity for librarians to promote information literacy by facilitating the learning of technical terms through onscreen strategies. Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension Undergraduates vary in the quality and quantity of their library experiences as well as in their understanding of the terms that designate and differentiate the information tools, services, and organizational schemes such experiences supply. Studies of the importance of word knowledge in comprehending text--and the remote searcher is a reader dependent upon text--have been confirmed by researchers since the 1920's and more recently by Barrett and Graves in 1981, Hayes and Tierney, 1982, and Nagy and Hermann in 1987 (as cited in Pittleman, Heimlich, Berglund, and French, 1991). Unfamiliar vocabulary, especially technical, subject-specific terms, is an impediment to text comprehension and interferes with the communication between the writer and his audience. A reader who has a background of experience in the text topic and who is familiar with the content area vocabulary has a much better chance of understanding the writer's message than does the novice in that field. This prior knowledge and stored memory (schema) are foundations for new learning in that discipline. Undergraduates are exposed to and expected to acquire the many technical terms that are vital to the understanding of the concepts that are the foundations of the different disciplines they study. This expectation poses a problem with which many students struggle; most of the learning is independently achieved as little classroom time is spent on teaching subject matter vocabulary (Mealy et al., 1992). …
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-09-22
Language: en
Type: article
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