Social bookmarking, folksonomies and document management in teaching specialized translation

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an original pedagogical process, implemented during a specialized translation course promoting a social constructivist approach to mediated learning through the use of an essentially linguistic cognitive tool such as a social bookmarking service. We will study how the discovery of vocabulary for specific purposes through authentic documents and the acquisition of both its linguistic and pragmatic aspects is involved in this process. In the first part, the definitions of social bookmarking and folksonomies and their impact on online learning will be considered. Then, the methodological, linguistic and pragmatic issues pertaining to the use of specific features of the tool used (Diigo) during the tasks will be examined in detail. Finally, the pedagogical approach will be shown to reflect social lagging's potential as a new tool for Personal Knowledge Management and new perspectives of co-construction, co-expertise and sharing knowledge, leading to a collective intelligence for professional purposes.