DESIGNING A PHRASE BANK FOR ACADEMIC LEARNING AND TEACHING: A EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE CASE STUDY

Micaela AGUIAR; Sílvia ARAÚJO

doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2024.4.08

Authors

Micaela AGUIAR Centre for Humanistic Studies at the University of Minho, Portugal. Email: maguiar60@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5923-9257
Sílvia ARAÚJO Department of Romance Studies, University of Minho, Portugal. Email: saraujo@elach.uminho.pt. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4321-4511

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2024.4.08

Keywords:

academic writing, academic phrase bank, academic writing assistant, teaching strategies, improving classroom teaching

Abstract

Designing a Phrase Bank for Academic Learning and Teaching: A European Portuguese Case Study. This work focuses on the development and application of an academic phrase bank for European Portuguese. Our goal is to present an overview of this resource, discuss its potential replication in other languages, and explore its application in the classroom for teaching academic language. As the first of its kind resulting from corpora-based research, our phrase bank represents a contribution to the emerging field study of academic discourse in Portugal and a useful resource for students, teachers, and researchers. The paper begins by outlining the process of constructing the phrase bank, providing insights into the selection and categorization of formulaic academic phrases. We explore its accessibility options, including a web version and integration with a search engine powered by a Large Language Model. The paper then focuses on the findings and presents practical implementations of the phrase bank in educational settings. Outlined are two classroom activities incorporating the phrase bank, undertaken by master’s students. The first activity entailed the revision of a group portfolio’s introduction, employing the phrase bank to heighten awareness of communicative functions and expressions within introductions. The second activity involved peer assessment, where students evaluated their peers’ literature reviews. This involved identifying communicative functions, analyzing, and rephrasing expressions related to authors and studies using the phrase bank. To facilitate the assessment, students utilized a choice board to offer constructive and considerate feedback to their classmates.

REZUMAT. Proiectarea unei bănci de fraze pentru învățarea și predarea academică: un studiu de caz portughez european. Acest articol prezintă o înțelegere cuprinzătoare a dezvoltării și aplicării unei bănci de expresii academice concepută special pentru limba portugheză europeană. Scopul nostru este să oferim o prezentare generală a acestei resurse, să discutăm posibilitatea replicării sale în alte limbi și să explorăm aplicarea sa în sala de clasă pentru predarea limbajului academic. Ca primul de acest fel, rezultat al unei cercetări extinse, banca noastră de expresii reprezintă o contribuție la domeniul emergent al studiului discursului academic din Portugalia și o resursă utilă pentru studenți, profesori și cercetători. Articolul începe prin conturarea procesului de construire a băncii de expresii, oferind perspective asupra selecției și categorizării expresiilor academice standardizate. Explorăm opțiunile sale de accesibilitate, inclusiv o versiune web și integrarea cu un motor de căutare alimentat de un Model de Limbaj Extins. Apoi, articolul își îndreaptă atenția către implementarea practică a băncii de expresii în mediile educaționale. Sunt descrise două activități de clasă care integrează banca de expresii, realizate de studenți de master. Prima activitate a implicat revizuirea introducerii unui portofoliu de grup, utilizând banca de expresii pentru a accentua conștientizarea funcțiilor de comunicare și a expresiilor din introduceri. A doua activitate a implicat evaluarea colegilor prin intermediul unui proces de evaluare reciprocă, în care studenții au analizat revizuirile literare ale colegilor. Acest proces a inclus identificarea funcțiilor de comunicare, analizarea și reformularea expresiilor legate de autori și studii cu ajutorul băncii de expresii. Pentru a facilita evaluarea, studenții au folosit o placă de opțiuni pentru a oferi feedback constructiv și considerat colegilor lor.

Cuvinte-cheie: scriere academică, banca de fraze academice, asistent de scriere academică, strategii de predare, îmbunătățirea predării la clasă

Article history: Received 30 January 2024; Revised 4 July 2024; Accepted 15 October 2024; Available online 10 December 2024; Available print 30 December 2024.

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