Aspects of Professional

and
Academic Language

ACADEMIC SOCIAL LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE
longer and more complex informal and fragment
formal and technical ( very precise social interactions
in the choice of the word)
see in every book, essay, and shorter and incomplete
newspaper.
actions are translated into nouns to actions are narrated through verbs.
formulate concepts.
passive voice active voice
third person’s point of view
this is prone to biases which is a no.
objective

8 FEATURES OF ACADEMIC TEXT

1. Complexity (structure)
 structure of the text, relatively written language, and longer words.
 reflects the sophistication of an academic writer / sophisticated
writing.
 2 ways to achieve complexity is: nominalization ( verbs that are
made central as they denote action)
 and passivization.
 In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid redundancy
and at the same time, make sure that ideas are packed effectively.

The earthquake caused loss of life.

The earthquake caused massive property damage.
The earthquake changed the landscape of the village.

 The earthquake caused loss of life, cause massive property damage

and it changed the landscape of the village.
Nominalization – changes verb to noun, deduct/add words from the
original but still have the same meaning. Is a process, there is always a
hidden verb inside
1. The president announced a three-day holiday this September.
 The president’s announcement of a three-day holiday this
September was released.
2. The mall distributed several free items to consumers in the hope to boost
sales.
 Distribution of several free items to consumers was done.
3. The company created software to manage the transaction successfully.
 The creation of the software to manage transactions by the company
was a success.

evaporate = evaporation
create = creation
( from verb to noun)

2. Formality
 Reflects your dignified stance in your writing as the member of the
academic community.
 The language you use requires precision to make it a legitimate
piece of academic writing.
 4 ways to achieve formality are:
- choose expanded modals over contracted forms. (don’t = do not)
- choose one verb form over a two-words verb. (I gave up smoking
= I quit smoking.)
- choose expanded terms over abbreviated equivalents. (ass., dept.,
c/o)
- avoid colloquial/trite/ idiomatic expressions. (we have to use
Layham’s term.)

3. Precision
 precise facts and figures
 do not use “a lot of people” when you can say “50 million people.”
X – many/few years
 previous hundred years

 2 ways to achieve precision are :

 - uses of QUALIFIERS (quantity, frequency, probability.)
- accurate vocabulary.

4. Objectivity
 This means writing must be impersonal and maintain a certain level
of social distance.
 3 ways to achieve objectivity are :
- avoid using personal pronouns (you, I, me, my, mine)
- avoid rhetorical questions
- avoid emotive language

1. You need to conduct the experiment.

 The researchers need to conduct the experiment.
2. How these problems are solved?
 Certain measures must be dissolved to solve the problems.
3. The investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests.
 The investigators did not expect the results.

5. Explicitness
 It is responsibility of the writer in English to make readers
understand how each part of the text is connected to the other
through the use of transitional words. (and, again, and then, besides,
equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly,
what's more, moreover, in addition, first and second, etc.)
 Clarity of the writing structure.
 Explicit – very clear and complete, leaving no doubt about the
meaning.

6. Accuracy
 connect to precision.

7. Hedging/Caution
 use of linguistic devices to express hesitation/uncertainty as well as
demonstrate politeness and indirectness.
 And the use of modals, adverbs or verbs. (modal verbs – possibly,
perhaps).

8. Responsibility
 This is where the plagiarism occurs.
 Responsible for our writing.
 Giving credits to the rightful owner to avoid copyright.