Unit 3

ACADEMIC ENGLISH
Pre-reading
Task 1Read the paragraph below.

Academic discourse refers to the ways of thinking and using language which exist in
the academy. Its significance, in large part, lies in the fact that complex social
activities like educating students, demonstrating learning, disseminating ideas and
constructing knowledge, rely on language to accomplish. Textbooks, essays,
conference presentations, dissertations, lectures and research articles are central to the
academic enterprise and are the very stuff of education and knowledge creation.
(Academic Discourse, p. 1)

Task 2 In small groups, discuss the possible study requirements that you might use English
for. Which study skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) do you think you will use most
often during your studies?

Reading
Task 1Skim the text Academic Discourse answer the following questions:

1) What are the aims of various discipline discourses?

2) What do humanities employ in order to create specialized knowledge?

Task 2 Read the text below and do the reading comprehension.

Academic Discourses

Academic discourses are not those of the home, the school and the workplace. The particular
kinds of literacy practices which hold sway in the university have emerged to represent
events, ideas and observations in ways which facilitate efficient, even shorthand,
communication among insiders. As a result they often confuse newcomers and force them into
roles, identities and ways of writing which run counter to their experiences and intuitions
about how language is used and so undermine their confidence (Lea and Stierer, 2000; Lillis,
2001). Many students, and particularly those who are returning to study later in life, who
speak English as a second language, or who have not had a smooth uninterrupted path through
the education system, often find these discourses to be alien, specialized and privileged ways
of writing.
One reason for this is that these discourses force us to represent ourselves in certain
ways, causing us to change our normal ways of speaking in order to fit in. Ivanic (1998), for
instance, found that many of her ‘mature’ female students felt insecure about their educational
identity as the discourse they were expected to use seemed pretentious and false: they did not
let them ‘be themselves’. Second language students often experience even greater problems as

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they encounter writing conventions which can differ considerably from those in their first
language. These frequently demand that students are more explicit about the structure and
purposes of their texts, more cautious in making claims, clearer in signposting connections,
and generally that they take more responsibility for coherence and clarity in their writing
(Clyne, 1987). Students’ previous experiences with texts therefore count for little when they
arrive at university and their familiar ways of writing are no longer regarded as legitimate for
making meaning.
Perhaps most challenging, however, is the ways that academic discourse represents
disciplinary realities. Essentially, the process of writing involves creating a text that we
assume the reader will recognize and expect and the process of reading involves drawing on
assumptions about what the writer is trying to do. But while this anticipation provides for
writer–reader coordination, allowing the co-construction of coherence from a text, academic
writing disrupts our everyday perceptions of the world and sets up different expectations.
In everyday uses of language we tend to represent things in a certain way, so that events
unfold in a linear time sequence and agents accomplish actions. This example is
unremarkable:
1. If you drink too much and drive, then you are likely to have an accident.
This is what Halliday (1998) has called a ‘natural’ or congruent representation in that we tend
to translate our perceptions of the physical world in the grammatical system of language: we
call it as we see it. Academic writing, however, turns our way of expressing meanings on its
head though an incongruent use of language, so we are far more likely to find a sentence like
this:
2. Excessive consumption of alcohol is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents.
Academic discourse thus treats events as existing in cause and effect networks, disguises the
source of modality of statements, foregrounds events rather than actors, and engages with
meanings defined by the text rather than in the physical context.
The discourses of the disciplines, in fact, work to interpret the world in particular
ways, each drawing on different lexical, grammatical and rhetorical resources to create
specialized knowledge. Wignell et al. (1993), for instance, characterize the sciences as
reworking experience technically by establishing a range of technical terms which are ordered
to explain how things happen or exist. This extract suggests something of this technicality:
3. Osmotic tolerance – the ability of an organism to in media with widely varying
osmolarities – is accomplished in bacteria with an adjustment of the internal
osmolarity so that it always exceeds that of the medium. Intracellular accumulation of
potassium ions (K+) seems to play a major role in this adjustment.
This technicality is then used to create further technicality through defining, classifying and
explaining.
The humanities, like history and philosophy, on the other hand, employ abstraction rather
than technicality, moving from instances to generalizations by gradually shifting away from
particular contexts. In this example we see how the philosopher begins with a narrative rather
than an exposition, providing a fictional scenario that leads logically to a question that he
himself has posed, introducing the abstract from the concrete:
4. Doris has just driven her car into a tree. She’s unconscious, slumped over the steering
wheel. Perry comes upon the scene. He looks around to see if anyone can help, but

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 there’s no one else there. Visions of wrecked cars catching fire and exploding into
boiling balls of flame fill his mind, and he feels that he must rescue the driver now or
else she’ll surely die. So, with considerable trepidation, Perry rushes in and quickly
drags Doris free from the wreck, thinking that at any moment both he and she might
get caught in the explosion. As it happens, the car does not explode. Soon after, some
emergency vehicles screech to a halt. Paramedics jump out. The paramedics take a
look at Doris, and they arrive at a chilling conclusion: Perry has paralysed Doris. Is
Perry morally responsible for what he has done? (Henceforth, by ‘morally
responsible’ I shall mean ‘morally culpable’, for other types of moral responsibility
will not be at issue). That depends. One thing it depends on is whether Perry acted
freely in paralysing Doris. Freedom is what may be called a root requirement of
responsibility.
Wignell (1998) believes that writing in the social sciences contains features of both science
and the humanities, turning an initial abstract construal of experience into something more
technical.
(Academic Discourse, pp. 6 - 8)

Reading Comprehension
Task 1 Based on the information provided in two text, circle the best answer. Underline parts
of the text which provide evidence for your claims.
1) Students often find that academic discourses are
a) smooth and easy ways of writing
b) alien and specialized ways of writing
c) smooth and privileged ways of writing
2) Many second language students feel that the writing conventions of academic English
are
a) very different from the writing conventions of their first language.
b) quite similar to the writing conventions of their first language.
c) same as the writing conventions of their first language.
3) In everyday communication,
a) events are presented in a linear time sequence and agents are mentioned
b) events are presented in a linear time sequence and agents are not mentioned
c) events are not presented in a linear time sequence and agents are mentioned
4) Sciences rework the experience
a) psychologically
b) technically
c) spiritually
5) Writing in social science draws on the writing conventions of
a) either science or the humanities
b) neither science or the humanities
c) both science and the humanities

Vocabulary in Context

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Task 1 Translate the following sentences paying special attention to the underline words or
expressions.
1) The particular kinds of literacy practices which hold sway in the university have
emerged to represent events, ideas and observations in ways which facilitate efficient,
even shorthand, communication among insiders.
2) These frequently demand that students are more explicit about the structure and
purposes of their texts, more cautious in making claims, clearer in signposting
connections, and generally that they take more responsibility for coherence and clarity
in their writing (Clyne, 1987).
3) But while this anticipation provides for writer–reader coordination, allowing the co-
construction of coherence from a text, academic writing disrupts our everyday
perceptions of the world and sets up different expectations.
4) Academic discourse thus treats events as existing in cause and effect networks,
disguises the source of modality of statements, foregrounds events rather than actors,
and engages with meanings defined by the text rather than in the physical context.
5) The humanities, like history and philosophy, on the other hand, employ abstraction
rather than technicality, moving from instances to generalizations by gradually
shifting away from particular contexts.

Task 2 Fill in the following words into the gaps below:

emerge v., signpost v., disrupt v., foreground v., instance, n.

1) His success has ___________________________ the way for others.

2) We have seen too many ________________________ in which poor families have
had to leave their homes.
3) The facts ________________________ after a lengthy investigation.
4) Protesters ________________________ the conference.
5) Public discussion has _________________________ the issue of health care.
(http://www.learnersdictionary.com)

V Vocabulary development
Task 1 In pairs, study the table summarizing the distribution of selected linguistic features in
newspapers, academic prose and conversation (Biber & Conrad, 2009, pp. 116 - 117).
Compare the similarities and differences among them.

Task 2 Match the features of academic writing with the brief explanations below.

Features of Academic Writing

 complexity ______________
 formality ______________
 precision ______________
 accuracy _____________

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  structure _____________
 objectivity _____________
 hedging _____________
 responsibility _____________

1) Words and phrases are more formal.

2) Facts are precise.
3) Academic writing is more complex, and has longer words.
4) Academic writing requires precise clear structure.
5) Writing has to be accurate.
6) Be careful not to make strong claims
7) You also have to take responsibility for what you say, and provide evidence for any
claims you make.
8) You have to be objective
(adapted from https://www.york.ac.uk/media/study/schoolsandcolleges/sixth-form-
resources/features-of-academic-writing.pdf)

Task 3 Differentiating registers (spoken, written; colloquial, neutral, formal, etc) is important
in all situational contexts. Look at some important nouns, verbs and adjectives from different
registers – colloquial/neutral and academic. Match the neutral words from list A with their
academic synonyms from list B.

A (neutral or colloquial) B (academic)

although make reference to.
give examine
large, big rest on
explain albeit
try demonstrate
carry out, do challenge, v.
show exchange
give attempt
only address, v. (topic/issue)
question, v. provide
refer to conduct
be based on substantial
speak/talk about solely
swap, v. account for
take/have a look at deliver (speech/talk/lecture)
(adapted from Academic Vocabulary in Use, pp. 116-119)

Task 4 Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate words from list B. Use the correct forms of
the words.

a) The article ______________________ his earlier works.

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 b) __________________ number of participants support the reforms.
c) He finally agreed, _______________ reluctantly, to help us.
d) She is due to ______________ a lecture on genetic engineering.
e) It is necessary to ______________ how the proposals can be carried out.
f) A team of 10 language experts ________________ a research on word-
formations patterns in Indo-European languages.
g) The results _________________ convincingly that our campaign is efficient.
h) Our institution has a commitment to ______________ the best possible
service.
i) Our staff ______________ to answer all your questions.
j) Different theories were developed _______________ the failure of the
mission.
(source:

VI Self-study
The website of Nottingham University (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/) may
also help in building up your academic vocabulary. On this website you will find the
Academic Word List (AWL) which contains the selection of core academic vocabulary. The
list is divided into ten sublists, where sublist 1 contains the most frequent academic words and
sublist 10 the least frequent vocabulary.

The following headings may be of particular interest to you:

a) highlighting the academic vocabulary
b) gap making and revising
c) wordlists
d) concordances (dictionaries of collocations)
e) links

Look at the example of a paragraph from the pre-reading section with the highlighted words
included in AWL (at level 5 out of 10):

Academic discourse refers to the ways of thinking and using language which exist in
the academy. Its significance, in large part, lies in the fact that complex social
activities like educating students, demonstrating learning, disseminating ideas and
constructing knowledge, rely on language to accomplish. Textbooks, essays,
conference presentations, dissertations, lectures and research articles are central to
the academic enterprise and are the very stuff of education and knowledge creation.

Task 1. Visit the above stated website. Do the highlighting exercise for several paragraphs
from the reading section of this unit. Make a list of highlighted academic vocabulary.

Task 2. Use the AWL Gapmaker to create the exercises for the same paragraphs. This
program will replace words from the AWL with a gap. Try to fill the gaps, and then check

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your work by using the highlighted text. In this way, you can expand your core academic
vocabulary.

VII Critical thinking

Knowledge is spread and received through education primarily and therefore education has an
enormous impact on human society. Due to modern challenges and professional demands,
lifelong learning has become a necessity in a contemporary community. Good commands of,
at least, one foreign language and basic skills in Information Technology count no more as
extra but as expected qualities.
Task 1 In small groups, discuss the following:

1) What are, in your opinion, the most important benefits of professional

development/lifelong education? Give as many reasons as you can.

2) How do you imagine job market in your profession in the near future? What are the
qualities of the Croatian education system? Which areas require changes or
improvements?

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