Let us find out in this activity if you were able to get a clear grasp of what academic

writing is. Read and evaluate these four texts and answer the following questions
after reading them.

1. In your opinion, which of the texts is an academic text?

2. Why did you say so? What makes your chosen text an academic text?

TEXT A

(1) English teachers in the Philippines often find themselves in a very frustrating situation--
no matter how hard they try to teach the rules of written English to their students, the
students still commit errors in word order, word choice, subject-verb agreement, tenses,
prepositions, articles, punctuations, and the like. Teachers get frustrated when they hear or
read sentences such as "They decided to got married," "What did the students watched?" or
"Ana go to the canteen." It is also alarming because the rules that apply to these sentences
are supposedly simple rules that the students should have learned in grade school. Yet, here
they are in college, still committing those same errors.
(2) Teachers and linguists alike have sought and (probably) are still seeking for ways and
strategies to teach English effectively, especially in the light of teaching English as a second
language or as a foreign language. Different research studies have been conducted and
different theories have been used to address the situation. One of the topics that the
researchers have explored is the recurring errors in phonology, morphology, syntax,
semantics, and discourse of second language learners. They believe that studying these
recurring errors is necessary to address the supposed grammar problems of the Filipino
college students.
(3) In a paper titled, "Why Does They Say That Our Sentences Is Wrong When We Knows
English? An Analysis of the 'Common Errors' of Freshmen Compositions," Sagueton (2008)
identified some of the common errors found in the essays of first year college students. She
provided explanations, using error analysis, language acquisition theories, and Fairclough's
paradigm on the appropriacy of "appropriateness," as to what caused the "errors." This is in
the hope of helping English teachers develop teaching materials and devise teaching
strategies that are appropriate for Filipino first year college students of different linguistic
backgrounds.
(4) Saqueton found out that among the students' essays, errors in the use of verbs are the
most common, followed by errors in the use of prepositions, problems in word choice, and
problems in subject-verb agreement. There are also errors in the use of articles,
conjunctions, pronouns; spelling problems are also evident.
(5) These "errors" are considered errors because of certain standards that language teachers
want their students to follow. These standards are the ones prescribed by grammarians.
Educators want their students to master Standard English as second language learners of
English. The problem here lies in the definition of "Standard" English. Is there really a
common standard? If there is, who uses it? Whose standard should be followed?
(6) Answering the question would entail a lot of problems. First, there should be a clear
definition of what standard is. What kind of English is Standard English? Dr. Andrew Moody,
when asked during the 2008 International Conference on World Englishes and Second
Language Teaching on how to maintain correctness and consistency when teaching English
in the Philippines, said that it would be dishonest to teach Standard English as if it exists.
(7) That answer alone could raise a lot of issues. It only shows that the concept of standard is
problematic. According to Fairclough (1995), there is a need for a particular standard in
order to rationalize policies on the teaching of Standard English. He further stated that
appropriateness figures within dominant conceptions of language variations (234).
(8) Is there an implied claim then that students of English as a second language or as a
foreign language speak a substandard kind of English because they do not follow the
standards of General American variety? What if they (Filipinos, for example) have accepted
English and appropriated it to fit their needs and the context of situation in their own
places? (9) Andrew Gonzalez (1985), in his paper, "When Does an Error Become a Feature of
Philippine English?" pointed out that until Philippine English is really creolized, English is still
a second language in the Philippines. He believed that in teaching any second language, one
must accept a standard. However, he also stressed that no matter how hard the English
teacher tries, a local variety will continue to develop (168).
(9) There will always be different perspectives on this matter, especially that language issues
seem to be a highly emotional one. Should language education then go for mutual
intelligibility rather than subscribe to a certain standard? Educators and language policy
planners could go back to Fairclough's model of language learning. They have to decide how
relevant English is to their students, and from there, they have to decide what to teach and
how to teach it.

TEXT B
I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal
opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others.
(2) I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am
fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power
of language the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple
truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with.
(3) Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk
to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups.
The nature of the talk was about my writing, my life, and my book, The Joy Luck Club. The
talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the
whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she
had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her. I
was saying things like, "The intersection of memory upon imagination" and 'There is an
aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and-thus"-a speech filled with carefully wrought
grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past
perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I had learned in
school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother.
(4) Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself
conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the
price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way."
My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I
realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that
same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our
language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I
grew up with.
(5) Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like
others, I have described it to people as "broken" or "fractured" English. But I wince when I
say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than
"broken," as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness
and soundness. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem
just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English
speaker.
(6) I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother's "limited" English
limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English
reflected the quality of what she had to say, that is, because she expressed them imperfectly
her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact
that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did
not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not
hear her.
(7) My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen,
she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. In this guise, I was
forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to
her. One time it was a call to her stockbroker in New York. She had cashed out her small
portfolio and it just so happened we were going to New York the next week, our very first
trip outside California. I had to get on the phone and say in an adolescent voice that was not
very convincing, "This is Mrs. Tan."
(8) And my mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, "Why he don't send
me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money."
(9) And then I said in perfect English, "Yes, I'm getting rather concerned. You had
agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived."
(10) Then she began to talk more loudly. "What he want, I come to New York tell him
front of his boss, you cheating me?" And I was trying to calm her down, make her be
quiet, while telling the stockbroker, "I can't tolerate any more excuses. If I don't
receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when
I'm in New York next week." And sure enough, the following week there we were in
front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and
my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken
English.

TEXT C

Dear Prof. Lanuza:

Congratulations for being chosen as one of the recipients of the ASEAN Educational
Program Award. You are invited to the 5th Annual ASEAN English Teachers'
Conference. Our sponsors value the important work done by English language
teachers and they are willing to support your professional endeavors by giving
financial aid in the conference. The conference organizers and sponsors want to
know more about your work and how the ASEAN English Teachers' Conference will
be able to help you. May we ask you to complete the attached questionnaire to
help us provide that information? Also, we would appreciate the opportunity for
members of our Sponsorship Profile team to talk with you about your work and the
challenges and opportunities that you have identified in your study. If you have
questions, just send me an email or check this link to the conference website.
Thank you and we look forward to meeting you.

Best regards,

Prof. Hannah Lee

TEXT D

Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Judicial Region
Branch City
EX-PARTE MOTION FOR EXTENSION
TO SUBMIT COMPROMISE AGREEMENT
Defendants, by the undersigned counsel and unto the Honorable Court, respectfully
state that:
(1) On 5 January 2015, the Honorable Court, in open court, directed the Parties to
submit their Compromise Agreement within ten (10) days therefrom, or on 15
January 2015. Said day being a Sunday, the Parties have until the next working day,
16 January 2015, to submit said Compromise Agreement.
(2) Defendant Hannah Dy is presently abroad and needs to execute a Special Power
of Attorney authorizing her brother and Co-Defendant Roland Dy to sign the
Compromise Agreement on her behalf.
(3) Thus, the Defendants respectfully pray that the Parties be given additional fifteen
(15) days from today, or until 30 January 2015, within which to submit their
Compromise Agreement.
(4) This Motion is not intended to delay the instant proceedings but filed solely by
reason of the foregoing. Moreover, the filing of the same will not result in any
injustice or prejudice to any of the parties herein.