Subject specificity in ESP: How much does the teacher need to know of the subject?

The question of subject specificity remains a controversial issue in English for Academic purposes (Johns & Dudley-Evans 1991). Should EAP concentrate on general ‘study skills’ appropriate for students of any discipline or should it attempt to prepare students for the specific demands made on them in their subject departments? Are students motivated by more specific work or do they prefer to have a more general course? Can English teachers cope with materials that require some greater knowled..

Academic text: The importance of the use and comprehension of hedges

Les auteurs d’articles scientifiques recourent fréquemment à la « précaution oratoire » (hedging), grâce à laquelle ils se distancient des affirmations qu’ils avancent. La raison d’être de cette pratique est la prudence inhérente à tout écrit scientifique. Il existe d’autres explications sociologiquement intéressantes. Plusieurs types d’exercices sont passés en revue, qui permettent à des étudiants d’anglais de spécialité de maîtriser les différents aspects linguistiques, psychologiques et sociologiques de la précaution oratoire.Writers of scientific articles often resort to hedging: the process by which they distance themselves from the knowledge claim that they wish to make. The reason for this may be the caution that is natural in academic writing. But there are a number of sociologically interesting alternative explanations. A number of exercises used to teach ESP students how to recognise and use the linguistic, psychological and sociological aspects of hedging are demonstrated

Language for Specific Purposes and Corpus-based Pedagogy

This chapter describes how corpus-based pedagogies are used for teaching and learning language for specific purposes (LSP). Corpus linguistics (CL) refers to the study of large quantities of authentic language using computer-assisted methods, which form the basis for computer-assisted language learning (CALL) that uses corpora for reference, exploration, and interactive learning. The use of corpora as reference resources to create LSP materials is described. Direct student uses of corpora are illustrated by three approaches to data-driven learning (DDL) where students engage in hands-on explorations of texts. A combination of indirect and direct corpus applications is shown in an illustration of interactive CALL technologies, including an example of an inclusive corpus-based tool for genre-based writing pedagogy. The chapter concludes with potential prospects for future developments in LSP

Metatalk in American academic talk: The cases of "point" and "thing"

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88138/1/swales-metatalk_american_academic.pd

Non-Standard Errors

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Developments in English for Specific Purposes ; A Multi-disciplinary approach

xv, 301 p. ; 23 cm

The Role of the Language Teacher in the Socialisation of Overseas Students into the Academic Community

This paper discusses the role of the language teacher in helping apprentice writers with their Masters or PhD thesis in one-to-one tutorials. It suggests that, in addition to correction of grammatical errors and weaknesses in coherence, the language teacher has a role to play in socialising students into the academic community and helping them learn the conventions of the particular discourse community that they are seeking to be part of. The paper presents evidence from a detailed study of two supervisors' comments on early drafts of a PhD thesis written by a native speaker of English and suggests that native and non-native speakers may have very similar problems in adjusting to the conventions of a particular discourse community.Étude du rôle joué par le professeur de langue pour aider, par un suivi individuel, les jeunes auteurs de mémoires de maîtrise ou de thèses. L'article suggère que le rôle du professeur de langue consiste, outre la correction des erreurs grammaticales et des incohérences, à intégrer les étudiants à la communauté universitaire et les aider à acquérir les conventions de la communauté linguistique particulière qu'ils cherchent à rejoindre. Il s'appuie sur l'étude détaillée des annotations portées par deux directeurs de recherche sur un brouillon primitif d'une thèse de PhD rédigé par un auteur dont la langue maternelle est l'anglais. L'article suggère que l'adaptation aux conventions d'une communauté linguistique particulière soulève des problèmes très similaires, que l'auteur écrive ou non dans sa langue maternelle.Dudley-Evans Tony. The Role of the Language Teacher in the Socialisation of Overseas Students into the Academic Community. In: Cahiers de l'APLIUT, volume 9, numéro 1-2, 1989. pp. 10-16

English for Specific Purposes : a European perspective

The large number of Western European students now coming to British universities under Erasmus exchange schemes are changing the nature of ESP teaching in those universities. The courses need to become less skills focused and concentrate more on key lexis and structures involved in academic genres. It is suggested that ESP needs to be more broadly defined and that aspects of rhetorical and cultural differences between European nations need to be investigated as part of an ESP approach.Le grand nombre d’étudiants d’Europe de l’ouest qui suivent des cours dans des universités britanniques, dans le cadre d’échanges Erasmus, modifie la nature de l’enseignement de l’anglais de spécialité dans ces universités. Il est moins nécessaire de centrer les cours sur les compétences ; il faut s’attacher davantage au lexique et aux structures clés que demandent les genres universitaires. L’article suggère qu’il faut définir plus largement l’anglais de spécialité et que, dans ce cadre disciplinaire, il faut étudier les différences de discours et de cultures des nations européennes.Dudley-Evans Tony. English for Specific Purposes : a European perspective. In: Cahiers de l'APLIUT, volume 13, numéro 4, 1994. Les Langues de spécialité dans l’enseignement supérieur technologique des pays de la Communauté européenne (II) pp. 51-60