This presentation shows some of the practical aspects of computational lexicography involved in the process of implementing a bilingual online glossary at the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) based on a subject-specific glossary-assisted model (SSGA) with the aim of assisting Chinese learners undertaking English-medium courses in linguistics. The glossary was created using the standard online lexicon editing form designed by Greaves, Director of the
Virtual Language Centre (VCL) project. Having logged on to a special server with their usernames and passwords, lexicographers are able to add and edit lexical entries online. The online glossary we have developed is bilingual and contains the following items for each term: The term itself (e.g. Pragmatics), Chinese equivalent, Definition (in English), Comments (e.g.noun), Examples, and Synonyms (if any). The project team also used a CGI web program developed by Greaves to link every word in the study units to VLC online lexicon, thus allowing students to access the lexical entry by simply placing the cursor over a word and double-click. It is well recognized that the speed at which students can absorb the unfamiliar vocabulary will affect the quality of their study and their mastering of the course content. Since the online bilingual glossary facilitates instant access to the meaning and pronunciation of unfamiliar words, much time and effort otherwise student spend in the traditional paper-based lexical search has been reduced. And as the SSGA based online bilingual glossary also integrates vocabulary, lexicon, concordancing and multimedia, our students can benefit from a comprehensive range of resources. The potential for SSGA lies in the application of the methodology tested so far to other courses, especially those from other disciplines such as science, to support students from a Chinese background, and indeed this has been planned for the second phase of the project.
