Analyzing Semantically Distinctive English Word Usages in Computer Science for English-as-a-Second-Language Learners

Abstract

Computer science is full of terms that are used in unique ways - for example, the word "string'' for a sequence of characters in programming or the word "thread'' for a unit of parallel processing within a process. Simultaneously, computer science is an academic field studied by a large number of non-native English speakers (i.e., English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners). Are these rare and distinctive computer science terminologies preventing ESL learners from studying computer science, or are there expressions that should be changed to make it easier for ESL learners to understand computer science? Few studies have addressed these critical issues. In this study, we evaluate how challenging it is for ESL learners to understand the distinctive terms used in computer science. We used state-of-the-art natural language processing techniques based on deep transfer learning, which determines if ESL learners can read the text considering semantics. We also used a standard dataset in which professional English teachers manually evaluated the complexity of English expressions for ESL learners. The experimental results showed that, while some expressions are distinctive to computer science, the number of expressions that are particularly confusing to ESL learners is limited. Our experimental results suggest that providing ESL learners with a list of such particularly confusing terms ahead of time may help them learn computer science.