ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Instructional Material

MELC 1: Differentiates language used in academic texts from various disciplines

Input 1: Academic Text

 Academic text is a reading material which contains idea or concept written in a formal language intended for
specific discipline. It is also organized in a specific way and is presented in a clear and logical manner.
 Academic texts include notes, report, essay, dissertation / thesis and research articles.

Input 2: Language Used in Academic Text

 Essential Features of Academic Text

a. Formal Vocabulary
 Do not use idiomatic or colloquial vocabulary: kids, boss. Instead use standard English: children,
manager.
 Use vocabulary accurately. There is a difference between rule and law, or weather and climate,
which you are expected to know if you study these subjects.
 Be as precise as possible when dealing with facts or figures. Avoid phrases such as about a
hundred or hundreds of years ago. If it is necessary to estimate numbers use approximately
rather than about.
 Conclusions should use tentative language. Avoid absolute statements such as unemployment
causes crime. Instead use cautious phrases: unemployment may cause crime or tends to cause
crime.
 Avoid adverbs that show your personal attitude: luckily, remarkably, surprisingly.
 Do not contract verb forms: don’t, can’t. Use the full form: Do not, cannot.
 Although academic English tends to use the passive more than standard English, it should not be
over-used. Both are needed. Compare:
Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter.
The moons of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo.
In the first case, the focus is on Galileo, in the second (passive) on the moons.
 Avoid the following:
• like for introducing examples. Use such as or for instance.
• thing and combinations nothing or something. Use factor, issue or topic.
• lots of. Use a significant / considerable number.
• little / big. Use small / large.
• ‘get’ phrases such as get better / worse. Use improve and deteriorate.
• good / bad are simplistic. Use positive / negative, e.g. the changes had several positive
aspects
 Do not use question forms such as Why did war break out in 1914?
Instead use statements: There were three reasons for the outbreak of war . . .
 Avoid numbering sections of your text, except in reports and long essays. Use conjunctions and
signposting expressions to introduce new sections (Turning to the question of detecting
cancer . . .).
 When writing lists, avoid using etc or and so on. Insert and before the last item: For example,
The main products were pharmaceuticals, electronic goods and confectionery.
 Avoid using two-word verbs such as go on or bring up if there is a suitable synonym. Use
continue or raise.
 Avoid repetition. Repetition means repeating a word instead of using a synonym to provide
variety, which makes the text more interesting
 Avoid redundancy. Redundancy, i.e. repeating an idea or including an irrelevant point, suggests
that the writer is not fully in control of the material. It gives the impression that either he does not
properly understand the language or is trying to ‘pad’ the essay by repeating the same point.

b. Use of References
 Referencing allows you to acknowledge the contribution of other writers and researchers in your
work. Any university assignments that draw on the ideas, words or research of other writers must
contain citations. Referencing is also a way to give credit to the writers from whom you have
borrowed words and ideas.

c. Impersonal Style
 Impersonal writing focuses more on a 'thing' to be the subject rather than a person. For example
instead of 'I undertook the training…' it could be written 'The training was undertaken…'

By avoiding the personal pronouns 'I' and 'you', and phrases such as 'in my opinion', these
expressions allow writers to achieve an impersonal style and present their arguments and ideas
objectively rather than subjectively.
 d. Long complex sentence
 Effective writing normally uses a mixture of long and short sentences, often using a short
sentence to introduce the topic:

Car scrappage schemes have been introduced in many countries. They offer a subsidy to
buyers of new cars, who must scrap an old vehicle. The schemes are designed to
stimulate the economy and also increase fuel efficiency.

 Academic Disciplines
a. Business
 Accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing
b. Humanities
 Art, history, languages, literature, music, philosophy, religion, theater
c. Natural and Applied Sciences
 Biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, medicine
d. Social Sciences
 Anthropology, education, geography, law, political science, psychology, sociology

TASKS:

A. Study the paragraph and list down at least five examples of poor style. You may list down words, phrases, or
sentences.

How to make people work harder is a topic that lots of people have written about in the last few years.
There are lots of different theories etc and I think some of them are ok. When we think about this we should
remember the old Chinese proverb, that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. So how do we
increase production? It’s quite a complex subject but I’ll just talk about a couple of ideas.

The paragraph could be re-written as follows:

Motivation has been the subject of numerous studies during recent decades, but this essay will focus on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (1943) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory (1966). Their contemporary
relevance to the need to motivate employees effectively will be examined critically, given that this can be
considered crucial to a firm’s survival in the current economic climate.

Written Work 1: TRUE OR FALSE

Write True if the statement expresses correct ideas if not write False.

1. Academic text is written for specific discipline.

2. Academic text contains ideas written in a formal language.
3. Academic text includes research articles and essay.
4. Academic text offers rich source of materials for research in varied disciplines.
5. Academic text is written by a learner as a requisite for a subject or course of study.

Performance Task 1: IDENTIFYING FEATURES

Read the text carefully then identify the essential features of academic texts listed in the table below and provide
examples for each feature.

Equally, from a political perspective, the nature of state involvement in and policies for tourism is dependent on
both the political-economic structures and the prevailing political ideology in the destination state, with comparisons
typically made between market-led and centrally planned economies. For example, the Thatcher–Reagan inspired neo-
liberalism of the 1980s, and the subsequent focus on privatization and the markets in many Western nations contrasted
starkly with the then centrally planned tourism sectors in the former Eastern Europe (Buckley and Witt, 1990; Hall, 1991).
At the same time, of course, it has also long been recognized that the political-economic relationship of one nation with
another or with the wider international community (that is, the extent of political-economic dependency) may represent a
significant influence on tourism development (Telfer, 2002). Thus, in short, tourism planning and development in the
destination tends to reflect both the structures and political ideologies of the state and its international political economic
relations7.

Feature Example/s
1. Formal Vocabulary
2. Use of references
3. Impersonal style
4. Long complex sentence