Week 1: Distinguishing Academic English from General English

 The emergence of English as a world language has been raising the demand for the
mastery of its use in order to function well in a global society. In fact, English language
proficiency is a requirement in academics, business and professional jobs around the
world. Perhaps, its status as the global Lingua Franca has resulted to two types of
English: the General English and Academic English.
 A language learner who is proficient with general English may not necessarily proficient
in academic English. As a student, it is important to make distinction between general
English and academic English.
 Academic English is the language necessary for success in school. It is related to
standards-based curriculum, including the content areas of a math science, social, social
studies, and English language arts.
 To be proficient in academic English should be the goal why students come to school,
and not only to learn how to communicate the language socially. Using everyday English
does not mean that they are good in academic English. TO the contrary, they are not yet
proficient enough to handle the standards-based curriculum. They lack in academic
vocabulary needed to develop the content knowledge in English that they will need to
succeed in higher learning. By recognizing these two types of proficiencies, you can help
expedite your academic English.

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

a) Define academic language,
b) Revise an informal English passage to a passage that reflect academic English;
c) Use stress to identify the meaning of a word;
d) Differentiate Academic English from General English;
e) Classify words associated with a specific category.

Definition
 English for Academic Purposes focus on the language skills where the ‘rules’ and strategies of
academic skills are different from the general language skills. It is a kind of English teaching that relates
to the learner’s immediate purposes. To note:

English for Academic Purposes is an approach to language education based on a close identification of
the specific language features, discourse practices, and communicative skills to target academic groups,
and whish recognizes the particular subject-matter needs and expertise of learners (Hyland, 2006).

Features of Academic English

A- General English vs. Academic English

Task 1: How much do you know?

Check your knowledge about the differences between General English and Academic
English. Identify which one shows the feature of General English and Academic English.
Write General English text or Academic English text.

A) _______________

B) ______________
Task 2: Examine the two text examples above. Describe the features of English in each sample.
Write your answers in a separate paper following the table below:

Two Types of Texts:

1. Narrative Text – a written text that tells a story and usually follows a familiar
structure. It can be in the form of reporting of factual events, or the retelling of a
tale from oral tradition. It is often written in informal, everyday English.

Sample A is type of a narrative text.

2. Expository Text – provides an explanation of facts and concepts. Its main

purpose is to inform, persuade, or explain. It is usually written in academic
English.

Sample B is a type of an expository text.

B – Defining Academic Language
Academic Language is:

 Language used in academic settings and for academic purposes to help students acquire and use
knowledge (Anstrom, et al., 2010)
 Words and syntactic structures that students are likely to encounter in textbooks and tests, but
in everyday spoken English (Strategic Education Research Partnership, 2010)
 “The language used in the learning of academic subject matter in a formal schooling context;
aspects of language strongly associated with literacy and academic achievement, including
specific academic terms or technical language and speech registers related to each field of
study.” (TESOL, 2003)
 The language of academic disciplines of texts and literature, and of extended, reasoned
discourse
 Language that students must comprehend to access the concepts associated with a particular
discipline (e.g., mathematics, science their understanding of those concepts (Anstrom, et al.,
2010)
 Academic Language

 Features vary as function of the discipline (e.g., social science vs. mathematics), topic,
and mode of communication (e.g., written vs. oral)

Common Features include:

 Conciseness
 High density of information-bearing words
 Complex grammatical and syntactic structures
-(Snow 2010)

Different Types of Knowledge Needed to Foster Academic Language

 Academic language extends beyond the use of specific academic vocabulary to require
knowledge in the following areas:

 Understanding of the phonological features of English

 Lexical knowledge (e.g., vocabulary, word formation rule)
 Grammatical competence
 Discourse
 Cognition

- (Scarcella 2003)
 1. Phonological

Academic language requires knowledge of:

a. Sound-symbol relationship

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has a set of symbols by which of which the
important sounds in English can be represented. There is a symbol for every sound
and no more that one symbol for any given sound.

b. Stress, intonation and sound patterns

One of the most important features of the English language is stress. Another word
for stress is accent. When a syllable is stressed or accented, we pronounced it with
more force than other syllables with the word. The stresses syllable of a word is said
with more emphasis, with a louder voice, with a higher pitch, and with a longer
pause or duration.

Stress also indicates the difference of usage. The examples below show the word
accented on the first syllable is used as a noun Accent falls on the second syllable is a
verb.

Example: REcord / record

1) Many Pacquiao has the record of an eight division championship in the world
boxing titles.
(Stress falls on the first syllable. (Record is used as a noun.)
2) The secretary recorded the minutes of meeting.

Intonation is the rise and fall in the pitch of the voice when speaking. It gives a
sentence several different meanings depending on the emphasis placed by the
speaker.

c. Patterns from words borrowed from other languages

 Antebellum facile foci appendices lingua franca

 2. Lexical Features

Academic language requires knowledge of:

a. Forms and meaning of words that are used across academic disciplines

 Describe, explain, analyze

b. How academic words are formed with prefixes, roots, and suffixes\

 Investigate, hypothesize

c. Parts of speech of academic words

d. Grammar usage

Building Vocabulary through Word Category

Expanding vocabulary by learning word categories is very important to understand words that
are related in order to use varied vocabulary about a particular field.

Word Category – is the grouping of words related to the content-area, theme, unit or selection.

Examples:

Words Associated with Environmental Protection

Words Associated with Gender – Free terms

Words Associated with animals’ defense mechanism

Word Category in a horizontal and vertical pattern.

 Academic language includes a variety of formal-language skills – such as
vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, syntax, discipline-specific terminology, or rhetorical conventions –
that allow students to acquire knowledge and academic skills while also successfully navigating school
policies, assignment, expectations, and cultural norms. It is contrasted with “conversational” or “social”
language or informal language.