Constructing a corpus of fundamental engineering English for nonnative speakers

The paper describes the research methodologies and results of a project designed to identify the most fundamental English of engineering for university students and working professionals who do not speak English natively and require special training in the English of engineering discourse. Jointly funded by a major Japanese publisher and a nonprofit organization (NPO) for language testing, this project employed a wide range of high- and low-tech data gathering and analysis techniques to identify crucial engineering English vocabulary and present it in a format most suitable for study by nonnative speakers. Initial research results have been incorporated into a new English language test of fundamental engineering English for the Japanese market and are also scheduled for publication in a textbook. Continuing research is underway on larger projects with other researchers for international markets.