Expérimentation sur les usages d’un outil lexical numérique pour aider à la rédaction scientifique

In order to assist learners in scientific writing, encompassing genres such as dissertations, theses, and research articles, we developed a digital lexical tool based on a resource of the transdisciplinary scientific lexicon (TSL). This lexicon-genre-specific in scientific discourse-transcends disciplines and serves key discursive functions. The lexical tool, designed for autonomous use, provides semantic, syntactic, phraseological and discursive information about the LST, aiding in its decoding and encoding. An experiment with Chinese-speaking learners assessed the tool’s practicality in written production. The experiment involved scientific writing training, where learners used the tool for writing tasks. The objectives were to test the tool’s usability and to help learners acquire methodological and lexical scientific knowledge. Screen video capture technology recorded tool manipulations to objectively observe interactions between the tasks, learners, and the tool. A questionnaire gathered learners’ assessments of the tool. The analysis of the video captures and questionnaires provides insights into the tool’s integration in the English classroom. This is our result: the effective use of the tool not only depends on the design of a user-friendly interface, but also on the development of learners' lexical knowledge.