English for AP

8/11/2019 English for AP

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to some etent4 comple, formal, o$3ectie, eplicit, hedged, and responsi$le It uses language

precisely and accurately

.ry thiseercise

Complexity

/ritten language is relatiely more comple than spoken language /ritten language has longer

words, it is leically more dense and it has a more aried oca$ulary It uses more noun5$ased

phrases than er$5$ased phrases /ritten tets are shorter and the language has more

grammatical compleity, including more su$ordinate clauses and more passies

6lick for more information and eamples on 6ompleity

Formality

1cademic writing is relatiely formal In general this means that in an essay you should aoidcollo7uial words and epressions

6lick for more information and eamples on 8ormality

Precision

In academic writing, facts and figures are gien precisely

6lick for more information and eamples on "recision

%bjectiity

/ritten language is in general o$3ectie rather than personal It therefore has fewer words that

refer to the writer or the reader .his means that the main emphasis should $e on the information

that you want to gie and the arguments you want to make, rather than you 8or that

reason academic writing tends to use nouns (and ad3ecties), rather than er$s (and ader$s)

6lick for more information and eamples on -$3ectiity

Explicitness

1cademic writing is eplicit a$out the relationships int he tet 8urthermore, it is theresponsi$ility of the writer in 2nglish to make it clear to the reader how the arious parts of the

tet are related .hese connections can $e made eplicit $y the use of different signalling words

6lick for more information and eamples on 2plicitness
http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/intro/intro.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/intro/intro.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/complex_intro.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/formal.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/precise.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/objectiv.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/explicit.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/complex_intro.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/formal.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/precise.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/objectiv.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/explicit.htmhttp://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/intro/intro.htm


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Accuracy

1cademic writing uses oca$ulary accurately Most su$3ects hae words with narrow specific

meanings 9inguistics distinguishes clearly $etween :phonetics: and :phonemics:; general

2nglish does not

6lick for more information and eamples on 1ccuracy

&ed$in$

In any kind of academic writing you do, it is necessary to make decisions a$out your stance on a

particular su$3ect, or the strength of the claims you are making Different su$3ects prefer to do

this in different ways

1 techni7ue common in certain kinds of academic writing is known $y linguists as a


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eg dielectrics, @6 machines, fission+ Au$technical oca$ulary, i e words and phrases common to academic writing ingeneraleg analyse, compute, compare, differB /ords of 9atin and Creek origin

eg focus, phenomenon* @o words!phrases common in informal 2nglisheg you know, you see, a little $it, a lot of, like I said 8ull forms of words instead of contracted formseg is not instead of isn?t, has not instead of hasn?tE 9imited use of phrasal er$s, use of formal and prepositional er$seg constitute instead of make up, compensate instead of make up for;differ from, result inF 9ess usual prepositionseg in addition to, unlike, despite& "assie constructions instead of I, you

eg the data were analysedinstead of4 I analysed the dataa rise in consumption can $e epectedinstead of4 you can epect a rise in consumption@otes45 /e is sometimes used for ariety or emphasi0ing that it was theauthor(s) who 41lthough the method generally used for this purpose is the method,we used the method deeloped in our la$oratory5 1n actie construction is used where the passie construction israther clumsy4.his paper shows why and under what conditions computer supportfor workshop schedules is necessaryinstead of4 In this paper it is shown %G Infinitie constructions, Hing and Hed forms replacing long phrases and clauses.he eperiment was repeated fie times to o$tain conincing resultsinstead of4 so that conincing results might $e o$tained6omparing the two epressions we can find that instead of4 /hen we compare .he results o$tained do not agree with instead of4 the results which were o$tained!the results we o$tained %% 6onstructions epressing cause!reason, result!effect, purpose, contrast, similarity, etc2ample of the cause H result relationship41 causes!is the cause of!gies rise to!produces results from!is the result of!is due to %' edging , ie use of modal er$s (may, might, could, would ) and some other wordsand phrases to aoid a definite statement2ample of definite statement4Industriali0ation is iewed as a superior way of life2ample of hedged statement4


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Industriali0ation tends to!may $e iewed as %+ 1ppropriate punctuation, ie use of commas, colons, semicolons, inerted commasInappropriate use of punctuation may change the meaning or make the tet difficult toreadMy friend who has 3ust returned from his study stay a$road wants to 3oin

our pro3ect(implies that you hae more friends and one of them has 3ust returned)My friend, who has 3ust returned from his study stay a$road, (implies that you hae one friend)/hen all the students left the la$ was locked for the eening(you hae to read the sentence twice to understand that Jthe la$Kis not the o$3ect of JleftK $ut the su$3ect of the clause Jwas locked K)1ppropriate punctuation4/hen all the students left, the la$ was locked

.hese types reflect theo$3ecties H orfunctionsH you are trying to achiee at different stages of yourwork, and they include definition, description, classification, causeeffect, comparisonand contrast, and argumentation

Atudents hae a tendency to applycasual spoken language to formalwritten work (inkel 'GG', 'GG+; Ahaw L 9iu,%&&F)

JMost of the grammar of academic 2nglish is sharedwith that of 2nglish as a whole, and there are nospecial structures which are uni7ue to academic

2nglish and neer found elsewhereK (6arter L Mc6arthy,'GG, p 'E)

J9inguists hae come to recogni0e that languagecharacteristics differ dramatically from one register tothe netK (i$er, 'GG, p )

J8ocus on items and structures which are commonin academic language and which characteri0e itK(6arter L Mc6arthy, 'GG, p 'E)

Aalient 8eatures of 1cademic "rose@ouns and noun

phrases Definite noun phrase

used in cataphoricepression

@ominali0ation "repositionwhich

relatii0er 6omparatie ad3s


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"assie oiceModified noun phrases #elatie clauses Degree modifiers Aingle ader$ials

Though 2istential there 6oordination tags 6lassifiers That/those + ofHphrase 9inking ader$ials@on5finite, er$less

clauses Au$ordination

#eferences i$er, D (%&&*)Dimensions of register variation

6am$ridge4 6am$ridge Nniersity "ress i$er, D ('GG) University language: A corpusbased

study of spoen and written registers1msterdam4 Oohn en3amins "u$lishing

i$er, D, Oohansson, A, 9eech, C, 6onrad, A,8inegan, 2 (%&&&)!ongman grammar of spoenand written "nglish @ew >ork4 "earson 2ducation

6arter, # L Mc6arthy, M ('GG) #ambridgegrammar of "nglish: A comprehensive guide to

spoen and written "nglish grammar and usage6am$ridge4 6am$ridge Nniersity "ress

Daies, Mark ('GGF5) .he 6orpus of 6ontemporary1merican 2nglish (6-61)4 BGG million words, %&&G5present 1aila$le online athttp4!!wwwamericancorpusorg

inkel, 2 ('GG') $econd language writers% te&tMawah, @O4 9awrence 2rl$aum 1ssociates

inkel, 2 ('GG+) Aimplicity without elegance48eatures of sentences in 9' and 9% academic tetsT"$'! (uarterly, )*', 'E*5+G%

inkel, 2 ('GGB) Teaching academic "$! writing-

Mawah, @O4 9awrence 2rl$aum 1ssociates yland, P ('GG') Teaching and researching writing-

arlow, 2sse4 9ongman yland, P L Milton, O (%&&E) Qualification and

certainty in 9% and 9' students writing.ournal of$econd !anguage riting, 0('), %F+5'G*

9eech, C, L Aartik, O ('GG')A communicativegrammar of "nglish, (+rd ed) @ew >ork4 9ongman
http://www.americancorpus.org/http://www.americancorpus.org/


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1ichigan #orpus of Upper2level $tudent 3apers('GG&) 1nn 1r$or, MI4 .he #egents of the Nniersityof Michigan

@ealainen, ., .yrkkR, O L "alander56ollin, M('G%%) #orpus 4esource Database )#o4D-

4etrieved fromhttp://www-helsini-fi/varieng/#o4D/inde&-html

5orth American 6reshman riting #orpus (@18/i6)('GG&) 6ompiled $y Cena ennett at the Departmentof 2nglish, Nniersity of irmingham, NP

#eppen, #, Ide, @, L Auderman, P ('GG*)American 5ational #orpus )A5# $econd 4elease-

"hiladelphia, "14 9inguistic Data 6onsortium Ahaw, " L 9iu, 2 (%&&F) /hat deelops in the

deelopment of second language writingSApplied!ingusitics, 78('), ''*5'*B

There are eight main features of academic writing that

are often discussed. Academic writing is to some extent:

complex, formal, objective, explicit, hedged, and

responsible. It uses language precisely and accurately.

2nglish for Apecific "urposes, Tol %+, @o +, pp '+&5'*, %&&B6opyright G %&&B .he 1merican Nniersity2lseier Acience 9td "rinted in the NA1GFF&5B&G%&B UGG --

))*+,*-(*,".,+x

Hedging in Academic Writing and

EAP TextbooksKennyland

1cademic writing is rich in hedged propositions y allowing writersto epress their uncertainty concerning the factuakty of their statements or toindicate deference to their readers, epistemic deices are a significant characteristic

of academic writingMany tet$ooks and style guides adance the idea that academicdiscourse is simply o$3ectie and informational, written in an impersonal stylewith a minimum of oert references to the actions, choices, and 3udgments ofthe authors .his means that interactional features such as markers of epistemicmodality are fre7uently presented as conentions of an academic culture in2A" and 21" courses 1cademic genres, like other forms of

writing, re7uire writers to consider the epected audience and anticipate their$ackground knowledge, processing pro$lems, and reactions to the tet (/iddowson%&FB4 ''G) academic discourse is $oth socially situated andstructured to accomplish rhetorical o$3ecties (eg, Cil$ert L Mulkay %&FB;9atour L /oolgar %&E&) /riting is a social act performed in a specific contetfor a particular audience (ruffee %&F), and thus the impersonal style whichappears to minimise the inolement of social actors also marks the interpretieiewpoint of the writer #ather than $eing factual and impersonal, effectie academic writing actuallydepends on interactional elements which supplement propositional informationin the tet and alert readers to the writers opinion Aignificant among this


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interactie element are hedges

Hedging in Academic Discourse

1cademics are crucially concerned with arieties of cognition, and cognitionis ineita$ly JhedgedK edging refers to words or phrases Jwhose 3o$ it is tomake things fu00ierK (9akoff %&E'4 %&*%, implying that the writer is less thanfully committed to the certainty of the referential information gien In otherwords, academic writing inoles epistemic modality 9yons definition of thisconcept is well known41ny utterance in which the speaker eplicitly 7ualifies his commitment to thetruth of the proposition epressed $y the sentence he utters is an epistemicallymodal or modalised sentence (9yons %&EE4 E&E)

.he epistemic system is therefore concerned with the display of confidence, ormore usually lack of confidence, in the truth of propositional information .ypically,hedging is epressed through use of modal auiliary er$s such as may,might and could, ad3ectial, ader$ial and nominal modal epressions (possible,perhaps, probability), modal leical er$s (believe, assume), I85clauses, 7uestionforms, passiisation, impersonal phrases, and time reference (eg, "erkins%&F+) .hese forms imply that statements contain personal $eliefs $ased on

plausi$le reasoning, for without them the implication is that the writer has

knowledge, deduced from logical reasoning or empirical data, that the propositionconeyed is true Auch tentatieness aoids personal accounta$ility forstatements, reducing the authors Jdegree of lia$ilityK (ue$ler %&F+4 %F) In persuasie writing, hedges are an importantmeans of $oth supporting the writers position and $uilding writer5readerrelationships In sum, the use of hedging deices is important for two reasons4 it allowsclaims to $e made with due caution, modesty, and humility, and the status ofsuch claims to $e diplomatically negotiated when referring to the work ofcolleagues and competitors .heir appropriate use is, moreoer, central to deeloping an academic communicatiecompetence as it assists writers in esta$lishing Ja relationship withthe reader and . . . with the authorities in the fieldK (#ichards L Akelton %&&%4+B)

161D2MI6 /#I.I@C IA

Formal (impersonal, no slang, formal sentence structure)

'easoned (critical thinking4 how and why)

Impartial (gies a $alanced point of iew, more than one point of iew)

Lo$ical (ideas flow logically from one to another4 signposts, topic sentences and linked

paragraphs)

Structured (keeps to the structure of an essay, report etc)

Supported (eidence and eamples, referencing)

Losing and nding coherence in academic writing !"#"$% !&'"()niversity of (ydney *apers in T"(&L, ++-, +/012.

3+445 I((': 2610672 *rint- 8 261015+ &nline-The abundance of genre theory today underlines the greatimportance of genres in the practical business of writing. They are,after all, 9resources for getting things done, and we all have arepertoire of resources we can call on for recurring situations, fromshopping lists to job applications ;yland, +446:7-. In writingcourses at "nglish0spea


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in=uential, where 9genre is understood to be a text type incorporatingspecic features that users recognise as serving a particularpurpose. 9"xemplars of a genre, says (wales 774:/2-, 9exhibitvarious patterns of similarity in terms of structure, style, content andintended audience. In the teaching of academic writing, the genrebasedapproach encourages the study of text models, thus helping

the students to understand and write in the genres that are crucialfor success in academic and professional elds. This close attention,in class and homeworuire may be a reason why the genre0based approach remainsstrong. Indeed, researchers? and teachers? awareness of the characteristicsof genre has been refreshed by the corpus studies that haveappeared in recent years for instance ;yland, +444, and (wales et al,772-.

Insofar as the above is a theory of writing, it may be said to tinto the cognitivist view, rst propounded by ;ayes and @lower726-, where planning entails higher0order thin


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which will open up new elds of vision and new perspectives, and provide abasis for their own emancipatory and transformatory action. Ivanic, 772,pp. 665G662-&n a practical level, then, ta


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The student assumes the reader is willing to be persuaded. The student,therefore, oJers aclear line of reasoning in an eJort to persuade.

M') !ournal of (cience, @oreign Languages +/ +447- +05+

Academic "nglish at tertiary level: Khat, why andhow'guyen Thi ;ong 'gaNForeign Language Department, Qui Nhon University,170 An Duong Vuong, Qui Nhon, Binh Dinh, Vietnam#eceived / !anuary +447

There are six main features of academicwriting that students should


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"shou%n$t", 0 Two word verbs: "put of", "&ring up", 0 (ub0headings, numbering and bullet0pointsin formal writings 0 but use them in reports.0 Asuestions.Objectivity

Academic language is in general objectiverather than personal. It, therefore, has fewer wordsthat refer to the writer or the reader. This meansthat the main emphasis should be on theinformation that you want to give and thearguments you want to ma


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.#/rei 17723435608 has sho+n thatthough Du&iners 9n% the :ngish morea##epta&e than the Northern 'rish, Du&inerssti see; a soution to the Northern pro&em+ithin an a5'rean% state(onRt write:

Athough Du&iners 9n% the :ngish morea##epta&e than the Northern 'rish, Du&inerssti see; a soution to the Northern pro&em+ithin an a5'rean% state(HedgingIt is often believed that academic writing,particularly scientic writing, is factual, simplyto convey facts and information. ;owever, it isnow recognised that an important feature ofacademic writing is the concept of cautiouslanguage, often called QhedgingQ or QvaguelanguageQ. In other words, it is necessary to

ma


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Kashington, +445.O6P #. (carcella, Accelerating Academic "nglish: A@ocus on the "nglish Learner, #egents of the)niversity of alifornia, &a

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English for AP