5/20/2021 Explore and Explain - PRELIM - 2020_English for Academic and Professional Purposes - Father Saturnino Urios University

2020_English for Academic and Professional Purposes - Period ANDREW KIM MT 1:00-3:00 PM
PRELIM

Explore and Explain

Lesson 1: Differentiating Language Used in Academic Texts from Various Disciplines
What is academic language?

Academic language represents the language demands of school (academics). Academic language includes language used in textbooks, in
classrooms, on tests, and in each discipline. It is different in vocabulary and structure from the everyday spoken English of social interactions. Each type of
communication (both academic and social) has its purpose, and neither is superior to the other.

Academic structure also includes the established ways of organizing writing (which can affect how one reads) in a discipline. Different genres,
paragraph/sentence structure, level of text difficulty, purpose, intended audience, overall organization, and knowledge of outside resources for the text all
affect how one writes and reads in that discipline.

Why is academic language important?

Students who master academic language are more likely to:

be successful in academic and professional settings

-In our society, reading is so important for a full and effective life because it is a frequent encounter in our day-to-day living. Academic
vocabulary and subject learning grow together. Knowing vocabulary and ideas helps students and even professionals to read effectively
and functionally. According to Beechick (1999), “the hallmark of learning is vocabulary.” It means that learning and the ability to define
and specify a term or a word in an appropriate discipline are inseparable skills.

Students who do not learn academic language may:

struggle academically

-Imagine a student who directly reads a book in Organic Chemistry without even knowing what the word “organic” in the subject Organic
Chemistry really means. That student may find the book confusing or boring. More likely, a student who does not have a good
understanding of the contextual or operational meaning of a word in a specific subject may find that subject difficult.

be at higher risk of dropping out of school

-Although dropping out of school is a multi-factorial action, one of the reasons could be the inability to catch up with the words or
vocabulary in the textbooks being used in school.

What makes academic writing unique from other forms of writing?

Students are asked to write many different kinds of texts. Depending on your subject, these could be essays, laboratory reports, case-studies, book reviews,
reflective diaries, posters, research proposals, and so on and are normally referred to as genres. These different genres, though, can be constructed from a
small range of different text types. On looking more closely at examples of academic writing across disciplines, it becomes quite clear that each discipline
has its own special norms and customs when it comes to text and information structure. To some extent, this is true also for grammatical and lexical aspects.
No doubt, the aforementioned norms stem from a long, historical process in which disciplines follow ontological and epistemological traditions and ideals.

Academic Disciplines and Disciplinary Domains

Hyland (2009: 62-63) argues that the dividing line in the history of science and scholarship has run between natural sciences and technology on the one
side, and humanities and social sciences on the other.

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Hyland's schematic distinction between the more comprehensive disciplinary domains, as he calls them, offers a general, and perhaps predominantly
general view, but a view which at the same time is problematic. To say that some disciplines belong to a more hard or soft domain obscures the fact that a
subject within a discipline can have one foot in each camp. Hyland emphasizes the fact that the distinction should be seen as a continuum rather than a
unidimensional scale. If nothing else, the continuum serves as a background to understanding the existing variation and heterogeneity in an academic
community.

Variation in preferred genres and text types

Various disciplines and their subjects are more or less strongly linked to the different knowledge criteria presented in the table above. This also has
repercussions on the writing in these disciplines. If there is variation in the way knowledge is constructed, we can also expect to see a variation in how this
knowledge is reported in writing. One clear example of this variation can be seen in the preference for different text types that disciplines and subjects
exercise. Indeed, students of mechanical engineering, for example, will differ from students of comparative literature, political science and biochemistry, in
the types of academic texts they are normally required to write.

The following example comes from Coffin et al. (2003), showing what genres and text types are favored in different disciplines, covering both
undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Similarly, Nesi and Gardner (2006) investigated what text types and genres were used as university assignments. The survey shows that a large variety of
text types were used across disciplines, for example essay, report, laboratory report, book review, case study, and marketing proposal.

TEXT TYPES
DISCIPLINES
(Academic Texts)

Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Computing, Economics, Engineering, English, Food

Essay Sciences, Health, History, Hospitality and Tourism, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy,
Psychology, Publishing, Theatre Studies

Report
Computing, Food Sciences, Hospitality and Tourism, Law, Psychology

Laboratory report Archaeology, Biology, Physics

Project report Biology, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics, Sociology

Research project Biology, Mathematics, Theatre Studies

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Dissertation Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Computing, Law, Medicine, Publishing, Sociology, Theatre
Studies

Group project Archaeology, Engineering, Health, Physics, Publishing

Poster Anthropology, Biology, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology

Book review History, Psychology

Website evaluation Medicine, Theatre Studies

Problem sheets Biosciences, Economics, Food Sciences, Hospitality and Tourism, Mathematics

Case studies Health, Publishing

Case notes, draft appeal to house of Lords, Advice

Notes to a client, Submissions in preparation for a case, Law
Moots, Problem Question (judgment)

Field study Sociology

Patient case report Medicine

Letter from publisher to author Publishing

Reflective writing/journal/blog Engineering, English, Hospitality and Tourism, Philosophy, Medicine, Theatre Studies

Critical evaluation (of own production or practical task)

Anthropology, English, Computing, Theatre Studies

Marketing proposal/plan Engineering, Publishing

Narrative fiction Sociology (several modules)

Press Release, Fact Sheet, Technical Abstract,

Physics (communicating science module)
Persuasive Writing

Commenting on the wide range of text types reported in Nesi and Gardner (2006), Etherington (2008) points to the fact that only learning the standard
essay format is not sufficient. She also emphasizes that the text type report can be differentiated widely, as seen in the use of report, laboratory report and
project report.

How do we categorize words?

Register Types

Writers or speakers have different ways in using the language or word in different circumstances. These ways of language use are called “registers”.
Registers are marked by a variety of specialized vocabulary and turns of phrases.

Register can be separated into four categories: FAMILIAR, INFORMAL, FORMAL and CEREMONIAL. The following will explain each category and provide a
corresponding example.

'Familiar'

This register is normally used between people who know each other well. Features of this register show a lack of grammar, spelling, punctuation
and usually contains slang and jargon.

For example:

Hey,

Will arrive evening. Did not catch bus.

Later

John

'Informal'

Generally, journalism and occasionally academic writing use this register. When using an informal register, there is usually a close relationship
between the writer, audience and topic with a degree of casualness. However, care must be taken in order not to mistake informal for familiar registers.
The features of this register are different from the familiar register as more care is taken with grammar etc. However, the tone is conversational, using
colloquial language, compared to the formal register.

For example:

While I was on my way to the Science Lab., a thought struck me that perhaps all that we think is possible, may not be. For example, a friend and I
were contemplating the prospect of dumping our classes and hanging out in our favourite café instead. We found that what we thought was possible,

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actually wasn't as our lecturer intervened on our way, ending up that we attended class anyway. Does this mean that what we originally thought was
possible, can't be, as something will always intervene? How does this affect prediction and planning?

'Formal'

A formal register is neither colloquial nor personal and is the register that is mostly used in academic writing. It is a register where strong
opinions can be expressed objectively, it does not break any of the rules of written grammar and often has a set of rules of what not to do when using
this register. The following extract is from Crystal's book: A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics (Crystal, 1997).

For example:

Several stages of development have been distinguished in the first year of a child's life when it develops the skills necessary to produce a successful
first word. According to Crystal (1997), primitive vocal sounds are displayed within the first two months with basic features of speech such as the ability
to control air flow and produce rhythmic utterance. Sounds such as cooing, quieter sounds with a lower pitch and more musical develop between six
and eight weeks of age. Cooing dies away around three and four months and then a period called vocal play develops; an experimental stage, where a
baby has more control and experiments with vocal practice.

'Ceremonial'

Modern academic writing rarely uses this register. Sometimes, it may be encountered when reading transcripts of speeches or historical
documents. Often, misunderstandings in recognizing the difference between ceremonial and formal registers occur when writers are experimenting
with new vocabulary. A dictionary will help you make the right choices and reading academic texts will help you become more familiar with the
appropriate choices.

For example:

I stand on this rostrum with a sense of deep humility and great pride - humility in the wake of those great architects of our history who have stood here
before me, pride in the reflection that this home of legislative debate represents human liberty in the purest form yet devised.

Here are centered the hopes and aspirations and faith of the entire human race.

(General MacArthur's Address to Congress April 19, 1951: Old soldiers never die they just fade away extracted from the American Experience homepage)

References:

Academic language. (n.d.). California State University, Northridge. https://www.csun.edu/science/ref/language/academic-language/academic-language-

ericson.html

American Experience (2009) .Retrieved from www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/filmmore/reference/primary/macspeech05.html

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The heterogeneity of academic writing. (n.d.). Academic Writing in English, Lund University. https://awelu.srv.lu.se/genres-and-text-types/the-nature-of-
academic-writing/the-heterogeneity-of-academic-writing/

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