Libon Community College

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

Libon, Albay

English for
Academic and
Professional
Purposes
MODULE 1
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Module 1

I. MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCY

a. Differentiate language used in academic texts from various disciplines
II. OBJECTIVE

a. Differentiate language used in academic texts from various disciplines

b. Examine the specific ideas contained in various academic texts
c. Analyze statements that observes the feature of academic text.
III. LESSON PROPER
A. Motivation
Activity 1. Examine the three texts below and fill out the table that fol-
lows. You can have it in words or phrases. I think I have several apps here that can
help you in taking notes in our here that can help you in taking notes in our I think I
have several apps here that can help you in taking notes in our here that can help
you in taking notes in our chemistry class.
Excerpt 1
Recent Research on learner-centered education and qualitative inquiry into stu-
dent cognition have indicated the importance of student’s processing of concepts
to metaphor analysis can be attributed the growth of applied linguistic research
happening today. The present investigation is anchored on metaphorical analysis
espoused by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). Attempts to draw images associated with
different mathematical operations of grade pupils in the Philippines. For systematic
sampling, the data used in the analysis were drawn from the journal entries of 35
students written over three months. The investigation reveals the different meta-
phorical images associated with for mathematical operations. Moreover, strategies
for independent learning and applied linguistic methods to improve cognition are
suggested. (Valdez & Villorente-Saulo,2014, p.138)

Excerpt 2
 Excerpt 3

Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 Excerpt 3

Purpose
Conversational or technical language
Audience
Role of the reader/role of writer
You discovered that writers are influenced by the topic, their own role, their
audience, and their purpose. Do you know that these four elements influence use of
language? On the other hand, academic writing requires sophisticated use of language and
there is an expected quality in your use of language and structuring of your texts. Do you
find it interesting? Are you now ready to learn how to improve a conversational language to
an academic one? Well, that would be exciting, just continue the next parts of the module
to lead you in your path of learnings.

WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by

means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture,
express themselves.
Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet, an English
phonetician and language scholar, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by means of
speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination
answering to that of ideas into thoughts.” The American linguists Bernard Bloch and George
L. Trager formulated the following definition: “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal
symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.” Any succinct definition of language
makes a number of presuppositions and begs a number of questions. The first, for example,
puts excessive weight on “thought,” and the second uses “arbitrary” in a specialized,
though legitimate, way.
Study this figure :
Consider the following circle of professors. They are all asking their stu-
dents to conduct research in a variety of ways using a variety of sources.

Different disciplines tend to recommend collecting different types of evidence from

research sources. For example, biologists are typically required to do laboratory
research; art historians often use details from a mix of primary and secondary sources
(works of art and art criticism, respectively); social scientists are likely to gather data
from a variety of research study reports and direct ethnographic observation, interviews,
and fieldwork; and a political scientist uses demographic data from government surveys
and opinion polls along with direct quotations from political candidates and party
platforms.

DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES THAT USES LANGUAGE

1. Business
2. Science
3. Technology
4. By professions
WHAT IS ACADEMIC TEXT?
Academic text is defined as critical, objective, specialized texts written by experts or
professionals in a given field using formal language. Academic texts are objective. This
means that they are based on facts with solid basis. The emotions of the authors cannot
be felt from texts or materials.
WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE USED IN ACADEMIC TEXT?
 According to Baraseros et.al. (2009), the control of the language of academic text
depends greatly on social conventions, discipline-specific rules, and genre of types of
writing.
 The language used depends on the following:
A. Discipline or course that determine the extent of frequency of the use of technical
terms, abstractions and passive structures in the text.
• Who wrote the text?
• What field or expertise does he belong to?
B. The quantity of evidence that should be given to support an argument or opinion.
C. The genre or types of writing
• Academic research
• Entertainment narrative
• Technical report
• Literary writing
Features of ACADEMIC LANGUAGE / TEXT

1. . Formality.
Academic writing is relatively formal. In general, this means that you should
AVOID:
a. colloquial words and expressions: stuff, a lot, thing
b. abbreviated forms: can’t, doesn’t, shouldn’t
c. two-word verbs: put off, bring up
d. subheadings, numbering, and bullet points
e. asking questions
2. . Complexity.
Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language. Written texts
are lexically dense compared to spoken language - they have proportionately more
lexical words than grammatical words. Written texts are shorter and have longer, more
complex words and phrases. They have more noun-based phrases, more
nominalizations, and more lexical variation.
3. Precision
In academic writing, you need to be precise when you use information, dates, or
figures. Do not use “a lot of people” when you can say “50 million people.”
 4. Objectivity
Written language is, in general, objective rather than personal. It, therefore, has
fewer words that refer to the writer or the reader. This means that the main emphasis
should be on the information that you want to give and the arguments you want to
make. For that reason, academic writing tends to use nouns (and adjectives), rather than
verbs (and adverbs)
5. Explicitness
Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text. Furthermore, it is
the responsibility of the writer in English to make clear to the reader how the various
parts of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit by the use of differ-
ent signaling words.
6. Accuracy
Academic writing uses vocabulary accurately. Most subjects have words with
narrow specific meanings. In academic writing, you need to be accurate in your use of
vocabulary. • Do not confuse, for example, “phonetics” and “phonology” or “grammar”
with “syntax.” • Choose the correct word, for example, “meeting,” “assembly,”
“gathering,” or “conference.” • or from: “money,” “cash,” “currency,” “capital,” or
“funds”
7. Hedging
In any kind of academic writing you do, it is necessary to make decisions about
your stance on a particular subject or the strength of the claims you are making. Differ-
ent subjects prefer to do this in different ways. Linguists know a technique common in
certain kinds of academic writing as a “hedge”. It is often believed that academic writing,
particularly scientific writing, is factual, simply to convey facts and information. ▪ Howev-
er, it is now recognized that an important feature of academic writing is the concept of
cautious language, often called “hedging” or “vague language.”
8. Responsibility
In academic writing, you must be responsible for and must be able to provide evi-
dence and justification for any claims you make. You are also responsible for demon-
strating an understanding of any source texts you use. This 25 is done by paraphrasing,
summarizing what you have read, and acknowledging the source of these information or
ideas by a system of citations. (accessed: http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/
featfram.htm)
Activity 2 Direction: Write the letter of the correct answer.
1. What is 'academic writing'?
A. An old-fashioned way of writing B. How university professors write
C. The writing you find in textbooks D. A technique to write balanced, accurate
and professional assignments
2.Which is correct?
A. They were effected badly by the incident
C. The effects of the incident were bad.
B. The incident effected them badly.
D. They were affected badly by the incident.
3. Who are the target readers of an academic essay?
A. Parents, workers, teachers B. Teachers, students, academic community
C. Students, out-of-school youth, government officials D. None of the above
4. What are the purposes of doing an academic writing?
A. To settle, to negotiate and to inform
B. To defend, to challenge and to question
C. To inform, to persuade and to argue a specific point
D. To guess, to hypothesize and to make conclusions
5. Writing academic papers requires deliberate, thorough and careful thought. Therefore,
what should one do to achieve a well-crafted academic essay?
A. One must depend on his/her own opinions alone.
B. One must conduct a research on the topic at hand. ASSESSMENT
C. One must not consult the Internet for unsure sources.
D. One must depend highly on the Internet for easy information access.
6. The term, "VERY OFTEN" may be improved using a more appropriate academic word
which is:
A. Frequently C. seriously B. Rarely D. stubbornly
7. The main difference between academic writing and normal writing is that academic
writing:
A. uses longer words B. tries to be precise and unbiased
C. is harder to understand D. no difference
8. When a student cheats, he reveals two things about himself. In getting help from an-
other student, he proclaims that someone else is more competent than himself;
_____________, the cheater shows his perfectionist tendency by suggesting that he is
being measured against unrealistic standards.
A. in addition C. as a result B. on the contrary D. in short
9. Most animals sleep in the same fashion as humans do; they relax their muscles and lie
down. ______________, birds and horses sleep in an upright position.
A. However B. Likewise C. For example D. Therefore
10. A good study space is well-lighted and well supplied with paper, pens, and study aids.
____________, it is quiet and free from distractions such as television or stereo.
A. in addition C. as a result B. on the contrary D. in short
11.The following are examples of academic texts EXCEPT:
A. Research paper C. Novels B. Thesis D. Book reviews
12.The following are the structure of academic texts EXCEPT:
A. Have a clearly structured introduction, body and conclusion
B. Does not include a list of references used in developing the academic paper
C. Include concepts and theories that are related to the specific discipline they
explore.
D. Exhibit all the properties of a well-written text such as organization, unity and the
likes.
13-15. Improve the text below by rewriting it into a more objective, impersonal version.
Write your version on the lines provided. I believe that incidence of drug overdose has in-
deed become prevalent nowadays. When people are faced with difficult problems, I think
that they can no longer bear the problem and that is why they get into drugs. That's why If
you are a psychologist, you should treat your patients in a way that helps them understand
their problems and ways to deal with them. Yeah, I know it can be very difficult but hey,
that's what you specialized in, right?

ACTIVITY 3.: SENTENCE ANALYSIS

Direction: Mark check (√) on the statements that observe the feature of academic writing.

______1. This is a very interesting study.

______ 2. Government officials are corrupt.
______ 3. We wanna use it but we messed it up.
______ 4. The investigators did not expect the results.
______ 5. The results appear to be different for Mayer’s findings.
______ 6.You can easily forget how different life was 50 years ago.
______ 7.The company is believed to have stolen over a million pounds.
______ 8.The rapid increase in crime was causing concern among the police.
______ 9.Writing can’t be done effectively, if you don’t burn the midnight oil.
______10. Crime was increasing rapidly and the police were becoming concerned.

REFERENCES:
1. pdfcoffee.com_eapppdf-pdf-free.pdf
2. https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-is-the-meaning-of-academic-text/