ENGLISH FOR
ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL
PURPOSES
ACADEMIC
LANGUAGE USED
FROM VARIOUS
DISCIPLINES
LESSON 1.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
AT THE END OF THE LESSONS, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. DIFFERENTIATE LANGUAGE USED IN ACADEMIC TEXTS
FROM VARIOUS DISCIPLINES.
2. DETERMINE THE STRUCTURE OF A SPECIFIC ACADEMIC
TEXT.
3. EXPLAIN THE SPECIFIC IDEAS CONTAINED IN VARIOUS
ACADEMIC TEXTS.
4. USE KNOWLEDGE OF TEXT STRUCTURE TO GLEAN THE
INFORMATION HE/SHE NEEDS.
5. USE VARIOUS TECHNIQUES IN SUMMARIZING A VARIETY
• Language Is Crucial For Communication. It
Is Being Used As Part Of Our Everyday Lives.
You Have To Use It At Home, In School And
In The Future, Your Workplace. For Each Of
These, The Language That We Use Varies.
This Means The Way We Communicate At
Home And At School Requires Us To Choose
Words That Are Appropriate.
WHAT IS ACADEMIC
TEXT?
• An Academic Text Is A Written
Language That Provides Information,
Which Contain Ideas And Concepts That
Are Related To The Particular Discipline.
Essay, Research Paper, Report, Project,
Article, Thesis, And Dissertation Are
Considered As Academic Texts.
NATURE AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF
AN ACADEMIC TEXT
• STRUCTURE
The Basic Structure That Is Used By An
Academic Text Is Consist Of Three (3)
Parts Introduction, Body, And Conclusion
Which Is Formal And Logical. This Kind Of
Structure Enables The Reader To Follow
The Argument And Navigate The Text.
•TONE
This Refers To The Attitude
Conveyed In A Piece Of Writing.
The Arguments Of Others Are
Fairly Presented And With An
Appropriate Narrative Tone.
• LANGUAGE
IT IS IMPORTANT TO USE UNAMBIGUOUS
LANGUAGE. CLEAR TOPIC SENTENCES
ENABLE A READER TO FOLLOW YOUR LINE
OF THINKING WITHOUT DIFFICULTY.
FORMAL LANGUAGE AND THE THIRD
PERSON POINT OF-VIEW SHOULD BE USED.
•CITATION
Citing Sources In The Body Of The
Paper And Providing A List Of
References As Either Footnotes Or
Endnotes Is A Very Important
Aspect Of An Academic Text.
•COMPLEXITY
An Academic Text Addresses
Complex Issues That Require
Higher-order Thinking Skills To
Comprehend.
• EVIDENCE-BASED ARGUMENTS
What Is Valued In An Academic Text Is
That Opinions Are Based On A Sound
Understanding Of The Pertinent Body
Of Knowledge And Academic Debates
That Exist Within, And Often External To
A Specific Discipline.
• THESIS-DRIVEN
The Starting Point Of An Academic Text
Is A Particular Perspective, Idea Or
Position Applied To The Chosen
Research Problem, Such As Establishing,
Proving, Or Disproving Solutions To The
Questions Posed For The Topic.
FEATURES OF
ACADEMIC TEXTS:
• 1. COMPLEX
- Written Language Has No Longer Words,
It Is Lexically More Varied Vocabulary.
- Written Texts Are Shorter And The
Language Has More Grammatical
Complexity, Including More Subordinate
Clauses And More Passives.
• 2. FORMAL
- Should Avoid Colloquial Words And
Expressions.
3. PRECISE
- Facts Are Given Accurately And
Precisely.
• 4. OBJECTIVE
- Has Fewer Words That Emphasize On
The Information You Want To Give And
The Arguments You Want To Make
- Mostly Use Nouns (Adjectives), Rather
Than Verbs (Adverbs)
•5. EXPLICIT
- It Is The Responsibility Of The
Writer In English To Make It Clear
To The Reader How The Various
Parts Of The Text Are Related.
• 6. ACCURATE
- Uses Vocabulary Accurately
- Most Subjects Have Words With Narrow
Specific Meanings.
7. HEDGING
- It Is Necessary To Make Decisions About Your
Stance On A Particular Subject, Or The
Strength Of The Claims You Are Making.
• 8. RESPONSIBLE
- You Must Be Responsible For And Must Be Able
To Provide Evidence And Justification For Any
Claims You Make.
• 9. ORGANIZE
- Well-organized.
- - It Flows Easily From One Section To The Next
In A Logical Fashion.
•10. PLAN
- Well-planned.
- It Usually Takes Place After
Research And Evaluation,
According To Specific Purpose And
Plan.
• PURPOSES IN READING AN ACADEMIC TEXT
1. To Locate A Main Idea;
2. To Scan For Information;
3. To Identify Gaps In Existing Studies;
4. To Connect New Ideas To Existing Ones;
5. To Gain More Pieces Of Information;
6. To Support A Particular Writing Assignment; And,
7. To Deeply Understand An Existing Idea.
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
• ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
Is The Language Needed By Students To Do The
Work In Schools. It Includes,
For Example, Discipline-specific Vocabulary,
Grammar And Punctuation, And Applications Of
Rhetorical Conventions And Devices That Are Typical
For A Content Area (E.G., Essays, Lab Reports,
Discussions Of A Controversial Issue.) Students Who
Master Academic Language Are More Likely To Be
Successful In Academic And Professional Settings.
•SOCIAL LANGUAGE
Is The Set Of Vocabulary That
Allows Us To Communicate
With Others In The Context Of
Regular Daily Conversations.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF ACADEMIC
LANGUAGE
• A. FORMAL
- It Should Not Sound Conversational Or
Casual. Colloquial, Idiomatic, Slang Or
Journalistic Expressions Should
Particularly Be Avoided.
•B. OBJECTIVE
- This Means It Is Unbiased. It
Should Be Based On Facts And
Evidence And Are Not Influenced
By Personal Feelings.
• C. IMPERSONAL
- This Involves Avoiding The Personal
Pronouns ‘I’ And ‘We’.
- For Example, Instead Of Writing ‘I
Will Show’, You Might Write ‘This
Report Will Show’. The Second
Person, ‘You’, Is Also To Be Avoided.
WHAT IS ACADEMIC
WRITING?
• Saqueton & Uychoco (2016)
• Defined Academic Writing As “A Process That Starts
With Posing A Question, Problematizing A Concept,
Evaluating And Opinion, And Ends In Answering The
Questions Or Question Posed Clarifying The
Problem, And/Or Arguing For A Stand”.
WHAT ARE EXAMPLES
OF ACADEMIC
WRITING?
• Examples Of Academic Texts Include
Essay, Concept Paper, Reaction
Paper, Reaction Paper, Position Paper,
Education Reports And Research
Paper. What Are The Factors To
Consider When Doing Academic
Writing?
