Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.

(TESOL)

A Course in Basic Scientific English by J. R. Ewer; G. Latorre

Review by: Billie Ann Becker
TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun., 1973), pp. 183-184
Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
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 REVIEWS 183

A COURSE IN BASIC SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH. J. R. Ewer and G.

Latorre. (Longman Group Limited, 1971. xiv + 199 pp.).
Science students learning English are most interested in the type of
English they will need to pursue their studies. Feeling this need was not
met by most ESL textbooks, J. R. Ewer and G. Latorre, of the University
of Chile, surveyed the literature of scientific English, utilizing a frequency-
analysis of scientific writing in textbooks, scientific journals, professional
papers and monographs, and transcripts of broadcast talks. They iden-
tified the sentence structures and the function words most often used in
scientific English. Their sample contained more than three million words.
Based on their research, they wrote a course in scientific English to
give students "a systematic basic knowledge of the main structures, struc-
tural words and vocabulary common to all branches of science." Their
book more than adequately does this.
The book is divided into four sections: 12 study units, 18 reading supple-
ments, 4 appendixes, and a two-part basic dictionary.
Each of the study units begins with a reading passage on a scientific topic
incorporating sentence patterns and structural words most often used in
scientific English. The word-study covers vocabulary, structural words,
and word-building devices, examples of which appear in the reading pas-
sage. The structure-study explains the structures presented in the reading
passage and includes exercises and substitution tables. The discussion and
criticism lists questions and statements over the reading passage which can
be used to test comprehension or elicit discussion.
The second section is entitled Supplement of Extracts from Current
Scientific Literature and covers topics from sociology and psychology to
agriculture and geology. These vary in length from 270 to 990 words.
The appendixes give 1) common prefixes and suffixes (with the mean-
ing or function and an example of each), 2) conjugations of thirty irregular
verbs frequently used in scientific English, 3) the meaning of seventy-one
common abbreviations and, 4) a weights and measures chart, labeled ex-
amples of mathematical shapes, a color chart, and labeled sketches of the
principal parts of a human body and a tree (those frequently used meta-
phorically in scientific English).
The dictionary of basic scientific English is divided into two sections.
Part I is an alphabetical list of non-structural items giving an explanation or
definition. Part II is a unique and excellent aid to students. Here structural
words and phrases common to scientific English are grouped together by
function and used in illustrative sentences with clarifying explanations
given when needed. Some of the function groups included are words and
phrases indicating position, movement, frequency, and introducing a result.
In this last grouping, for example, the word given is treated as follows.
given Given the fact that the measuring instruments were defective,
the experiment was bound to be a failure. (inevitable result of the
conditions obtaining)

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184 TESOL QUARTERLY

The book is written in British English, but in almost every instance where
this differs from American English (there are few) an explanatory note is
given.
The authors say the book is for students who have been studying English
for about two years. I used it in a university English class for foreign stu-
dents and except for the substitution tables and some of the exercises, the
book seemed well suited to their abilities. I did notice that the text seemed
to appeal to the students in physics, geology, etc., more than those in eco-
nomics and psychology.
Professors Ewer and Latorre have made an admirable contribution to
science students who are studying English.
I have two suggestions. The Teacher's Notes, published separately,
could be more detailed for those ESL teachers who do not have a scien-
tific background. My second suggestion is that recordings of scientific
lectures, including various styles and dialects of English, be made available
for use in a language laboratory.
BILLIE ANN BECKER
State University of New York/Albany

ADVANCED READING AND WRITING: EXERCISES IN ENGLISH

AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. Dennis Baumwoll and Robert L. Saitz
(Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1965, 208 pp.) and SELECTED READINGS
IN ENGLISH FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LAN-
GUAGE. Robert L. Saitz and Donna Carr (Winthrop Publishers, Inc., 1972,
136 pp.)
Advanced is of course a relative term in language learning as in every-
thing else. At one end of the advanced spectrum are learners who are "not
beginners" and at the other end are those of near-native proficiency. Ordi-
narily the latter need no more formal language training, for they can com-
municate in everyday situations, and have a good theoretical grasp of the
language. However, in a university situation much of the communication
is not "everyday." It is the specialized communication of lectures and
discussions, and of reading and writing, involving the recognition and use
of much more sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structures than usually
occur outside the university classroom. For this reason, even the most ad-
vanced learner doing course work at an English-speaking university must
work hard on vocabulary and sentence structure, putting his theoretical
knowledge of the language into practice.
Advanced reading and writing is a good book for such students-
students who can easily choose correct words to go in slots and can form
given transformations-who can do the usual exercises found in ESL
texts. The exercises in this text, though, are different. They are designed
to take students from the exercise-doing stage to the meaningful-communi-

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