Bridging the Lexical Gap in Quantity Surveying: A Systematic Review and the Proposal for a Digital Jargon-Translation Framework

The field of Quantity Surveying (QS) is foundational to the construction industry, yet its reliance on specialized jargon creates significant communication barriers for students, clients and non-specialist stakeholders. This lexical divide can impede educational outcomes and lead to costly misunderstandings in professional practice. To investigate the scope of this problem and identify gaps in current solutions, this paper presents a systematic literature review. The review analyzes scholarly articles published between 2010 and 2025 from databases such as Scopus and Web of Science, focusing on communication challenges, pedagogical hurdles and technological aids in the QS domain. Our thematic analysis of the selected literature reveals three critical themes: (1) jargon as a significant barrier to student comprehension and foundational learning; (2) miscommunication between QS professionals and clients leading to project disputes; and (3) a lack of targeted, accessible digital tools to demystify QS terminology. Based on these findings, we propose a conceptual framework for a digital solution named QS Jargon Apps. This framework outlines an interactive, context-aware application designed with features such as a real-time glossary, visual aids and gamified learning modules to directly address the challenges identified in the literature. The paper contributes a structured analysis of a persistent industry problem and presents a theoretically-grounded digital intervention, laying the groundwork for future empirical validation and development.

Quantity Surveying, Jargon

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