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English For Academic and Professional Purposes

This document provides an overview of academic and professional writing. It discusses the key characteristics of academic writing, including that it uses formal, objective, and technical language. Formal language avoids casual terms and contractions. Objective language is impartial and focuses on facts rather than opinions. Technical language employs terminology specific to the relevant field. The document also contrasts academic writing with everyday conversational English and emphasizes using authoritative sources to support arguments.

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Angelo
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1K views18 pages

English For Academic and Professional Purposes

This document provides an overview of academic and professional writing. It discusses the key characteristics of academic writing, including that it uses formal, objective, and technical language. Formal language avoids casual terms and contractions. Objective language is impartial and focuses on facts rather than opinions. Technical language employs terminology specific to the relevant field. The document also contrasts academic writing with everyday conversational English and emphasizes using authoritative sources to support arguments.

Uploaded by

Angelo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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English for Academic and

Professional Purposes

1
English for Academic and
Professional Purposes

WEEK 1
Lesson 1, Meeting 1

2
Academic Writing:
Language Used in
Academic Texts
01 ACADEMIC WRITING
04 OBJECTIVELANGUAGE

02 LANGUAGE USED IN ACADEMIC


WRITING 05 TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

03 FORMAL LANGUAGE

4
I. ACADEMIC WRITING

defined as critical, objective, specialized


texts written by experts or professionals
in a given field using formal language.
This means that academic texts are based
on facts with solid basis.

5
I. ACADEMIC WRITING

generally quite formal, objective (impersonal)


and technical. It is formal by avoiding casual or
conversational language, such as contractions or
informal vocabulary. It is impersonal and
objective by avoiding direct reference to people
or feelings, and instead emphasizing objects,
facts and ideas. It is technical by using
vocabulary specific to the discipline.

6
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

Academic language represents the


Each type of communication (both
language demands of school
academic and social) has its
(academics). Academic language
purpose, and neither is superior to
includes language used in
the other. Academic writing is
textbooks, in classrooms, on tests,
generally quite formal, objective
and in each discipline. It is
(impersonal) and technical
different in vocabulary and
structure from the everyday spoken
English of social interactions.

7
II. FORMAL LANGUAGE

avoid casual or conversational


such as contractions and
informal vocabulary

In formal language, grammar is more


complex and sentences are generally
longer. 

Sorry, but the delivery will be late


because of the weather.

We regret to inform you that the


delivery will be delayed due to
adverse weather conditions.
8
II. FORMAL LANGUAGE

#StrawberryFrappe #ViennaCoffee
Choose formal instead of informal Avoid emotional language. For
vocabulary. For example, example, instead of strong words
‘somewhat’ is more formal than ‘a such as ‘wonderful’ or ‘terrible’,
bit’, ‘insufficient’ is more formal use more moderate words such as
than ‘not enough’. ‘helpful’ or ‘problematic’.

#CaramelFrappucino #Machiatto
Avoid contractions. For Instead of using absolute positives
example, use ‘did not’ and negatives, such as ‘proof’ or
rather than ‘didn’t’. ‘wrong’, use more cautious
evaluations, such as ‘strong
evidence’ or ‘less convincing’.

9
FIND THE DIFFERENCE

I had eggs, toast and orange juice.

I had eggs, toast, and orange juice.

10
OXFORD COMMA

a comma used after the penultimate item in a


list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’.

Use of the comma before the coordinating


conjunction in the list is called the “oxford
comma.”

11
II. OBJECTIVE LANGUAGE

Objective language is a way of talking about


things in a way that does not express opinion,
feelings, personal biases etc.
Being objective means talking in a way that is
measurable, quantifiable and is based on data
and scientific fact. It also means not
exaggerating or distorting the data.

That person has too many cats.


That person has seven cats.

12
II. OBJECTIVE LANGUAGE

Move information around in the sentence to


emphasize things and ideas, instead of people Avoid evaluative words that are based
and feelings. For example, instead of writing on non-technical judgments and
‘I believe the model is valid, based on these feelings. For example, use ‘valid’ or
findings’, write ‘These findings indicate that ‘did not demonstrate’ instead of
the model is valid’. ‘amazing’ or ‘disappointment’.

13
II. OBJECTIVE LANGUAGE

Avoid intense or emotional


evaluative language. For example,
instead of writing ‘Parents who
smoke are obviously abusing their
children’, write ‘Secondhand smoke Find authoritative sources, such
has some harmful effects on as authors, researchers and
children’s health’. theorists in books or articles,
Show caution about your views, or to who support your point of view,
allow room for others to disagree. For and refer to them in your
example, instead of writing ‘I think writing
secondhand smoke causes cancer’,
write ‘There is evidence to support the
possibility that secondhand smoke
increases the risk of cancer’.

14
III. TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

Technical language is much different from


everyday vernacular, and it is even different
from general academic language.

Jargon- special words or expressions that are


used by a particular profession or group and are
difficult for others to understand.

15
III. TECHNICAL LANGUAGE
to Be careful about the meaning of technical
ge ific ’re
r
a c terms. Often the same word has a different he Kno
a l spe you of meaning in another discipline. For lp w
op s n e d y in
v el ept tio not r an example, ‘discourse’ is a technical term m ou g t h
de nc iza ke ure gs. ak s t r e
to e co cial , ta lect din used in multiple disciplines with different e i uc s e
ed th pe is r ea meanings. t m tu di
ne for r s o th you ur r re st
u o d
Yo lary line To d by n yo an ore yo inct
al y t ec u r i o
a bu scip for. use as i tic hn wr ns
c i l al. ica itin wi
vo e d iting logy wel
h
t wr no as l a g ll
i
m or,
nd a n
ter tut
d

16
III. TECHNICAL LANGUAGE

Use the key categories and relationships in


your discipline, that is, the way information
and ideas are organized into groups.

For example, in the discipline of Law, law


is separated into two types: common law
and statute law.

17
ANY
QUESTIONS?

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