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Developing your academic language
- 1. Developing your AcademicLanguage as a Postgraduate You will be able to… Describe and explain what academic language is Apply techniques for writing with academic language Rhian Wyn-Williams Skills@ljmu.ac.uk “Gong hei fat choy” “Gong xi fa cai”
- 2. Original Better Evenbetter People generally think that naughty children should be punished. Is punishment always a great idea (Smith, 2015)? I think it’s terrible to only punish them! It is generally thought that poor behaviour in the classroom should be punished. However, it is possible that punishment is not always a suitable approach to classroom and behaviour management (Smith, 2015). Educationalists have stated that non-specialists generally think that poor behaviour in the classroom should be punished (Beko, 2005; Ali, 2013). However, Smith (2015) persuasively argues that punishment is not always a suitable approach to classroom and behaviour management. What is Academic Writing? In pairs, discuss why and how the extract is improving. How do these examples help you to describe and explain what good academic language is.
- 3. So, academic languageis… Formal Neutral Cautious Clear Precise Specialist
- 4. Avoid informality anda conversational tone Avoid: Incorrect Correct Slang, colloquialisms This theory is dead hard This theory is difficult to understand Sensational & emotional language There has been blatant abuse of equipment It would appear that the equipment has been misused Contractions wouldn’t would not The use of “I” (unless it is a reflection) In my essay I will discuss… This essay will discuss... Metaphors It was a different ball game It was a different situation Cliché If you read between the lines…. It can be inferred that…
- 5. Developing a moreformal style In pairs, talk through how you would re-write each of the phrases on your worksheet, using alternative words that would be better suited for a academic essay.
- 6. Hedging: caution inacademic writing In the academic world nothing is a 100% certain. Use language to show that you understand that. Rather than rushing in with ‘the’ answer, stop and add some caution. • use impersonal subjects (It is believed that ..., it can be argued that ...) • use verbs such as would, could, may, might, which ‘soften’ what you’re saying. • use qualifying adverbs such as some, several, a minority of, a few, many to avoid making overgeneralisations. • Globalisation is a positive development for nations. • Globalisation is perhaps beneficial for a number of countries in several areas (Smith, 2006; Chen, 2008).
- 7. Function and strength NEUTRAL:verbs used to say what the writer describes in factual terms, demonstrates, refers to, and discusses, and verbs used to explain his/her methodology. Example verbs describe, show, reveal, study, demonstrate, note, point out, indicate, report, observe, assume, take into consideration, examine, go on to say that, state, believe (unless this is a strong belief), mention, etc. Function and strength TENTATIVE: verbs used to say what the writer suggests or speculates on (without being absolutely certain). Example verbs suggest, speculate, intimate, hypothesise, moot, imply, propose, recommend, posit the view that, question the view that, postulate, etc. Function and strength STRONG: verbs used to say what the writer makes strong arguments and claims for. Example verbs argue, claim, emphasise, contend, maintain, assert, theorize, support the view that, deny, negate, refute, reject, challenge, strongly believe that, counter the view/argument that, etc. Don’t forget the power of the reporting verb. In the table below, the main reporting verbs are classified in terms of their function and their strength. Using these help you to show critical reading of other work and can usefully help you synthesise your research with that.
- 8. but, however, onthe other hand, yet CONTRAST for example, that is ILLUSTRATION similarly, moreover, furthermore, in addition EXTENSION therefore, consequently, as a result, thus CONCLUSION then, after that, ultimately THE NEXT STEP Signposting and transition phrases help clarity As discussed above,… It is also important to consider… Before proceeding to examine X, it will be necessary to … When considering all the points outlined above … A contrasting approach is …. On your worksheets, you have a paragraph about age and decision making but there are some gaps. In pairs, can you fill in the gaps with appropriate signposting and transition words and phrases?
- 9. Although Thunholm (2009)found no difference between age and decision-making style, the focus of his study was to determine if there were relationships between team leaders and non team leaders in the military, so his age demographic was fairly limited. In contrast, several researchers did find relationships between age and decision-making style. Loo (2000) found older respondents displaying a more rational decision-making style when compared to younger respondents. Similarly, Baiocco, Laghi & D’Allesio (2009) found difference in age in that adults were more rational, and less intuitive. Sadler-Smith (2004) found difference in that intuitive decision-making style was negatively correlated with the number of year’s management experience. Therefore, it is expected that there are significant correlations to be found between age and decision-making style. Next, it is important to discuss possible cultural differences between the research on the correlation between age and decision-making styles. Possibly…..
- 10. Generalisations: Many writers agreethat… Omit rhetorical questions: How can this problem be addressed without the appropriate support? Remove redundant words and phrases: Looking at the evidence, It seems that further protection of woodlands is not needed. Past history Writing with academic language is about precise and accurate word-usage. So watch out for these …. Avoid overly complicated and meaningless language: A multipronged tool was utilized to process a starch resource. = A fork was used to eat a potato.
- 11. Review: Using whatyou know about academic writing, highlight and correct the errors in academic style and expectations. How else could this PG student improve their use of academic language? Patients at end of life often think that ANH is the provision of food and water rather than a medical intervention. Attitudes of physicians can influence the less informed patient about the potential benefit versus burden of interventions and their impact on survival and quality of life. Bito and Asai (2007) did a survey on health care professionals (HCPs) to find out their approaches and attitudes toward end of life care interventions - HCPs themselves faced uncertainty with decisions regarding ANH which I agree with because these situations are heart-breaking. Although the professionals who sought clinical ethics consultations could communicate much better and were more likely to consider withdrawal of tube feeding. Some writers have said that HCPs opinion or choice of treatments could be altered in conflict avoidance with families wishing to ditch a patient’s advance directive. Broeckaert et al (2009) said a HCP can influence decisions with their own opinions on interventions, including religiosity and life experiences of withholding and withdrawal of ANH. Although HCPs trained in Palliative Care, with more clinical experience in dying and alleviation of palliative symptoms, would be significantly more likely to support dehydration and starvation in the terminal phases of life, as opposed to acute care physicians and the families of patients in the end stage of disease (Van der Riet et al 2008).
- 12. Reflection….. • On yourworksheets, identify one area of your academic writing you feel confident about and one that you would like to improve. • How will you make those improvements?
- 13. Next steps Tuesday 28thJanuary: Academic Writing: critical analysis (Use language to show your critical analysis) Wednesday 29th January: Dissertations: writing your literature review (Use the language of hedging, evaluation, comparison and synthesis in your literature review) The following week: Writing your aims and proposal Using your reading in PG assignments Writing reports
Editor's Notes
- #3 Up to 10 minutes as it’s the foundation of the class – their self-identification of academic language with the rest of the session validating and developing their responses. Q and A for feedback on how and why it is improving – keep pushing for explanation as well as identification of points. If any very quiet, ask them to repeat something they said in their group discussion that you overheard to build up some confidence. How can we use this to describe and explain what good academic language is? Get as precise a definition as possible from them.
- #4 This is to summarise the key points from the first task and discussion and relate it to the structure of the class.
- #5 Could get them to exemplify with examples from their own subjects. Introduce this with the reminder that their language needs to be academic but that that doesn't have to mean they need to start writing as a professional academic, but following some basic conventions will help them to achieve an academic style and tone. Could add something about why that is important as often students say that they don't see why they have to write like this or that their lecturers just want them to ‘sound fancy’.
- #6 5 minutes for last slide and this – quickly ask for at least one alternative for each. Make sure each student has given at least one alternative to assess their progress to this point. If any still appear very reticent and it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask them directly for an alternative, could ask them whether they agree with the appropriateness of one of the other student’s.
- #7 5 minutes: Link back to the opening activity and once the idea is established get them to relate this to an aspect of their own subject to open up a brief discussion and to help them relate it to their own work (e.g. Some of the scientists could say ‘the unexpected results of the experiment may have been due to…’, Humanities could use ‘The source suggests that a minority of women in the nineteenth century…’)
- #8 5 minutes. Again, relate back to the best of the three original versions here (persuasively suggests). Briefly explain what they are and how to use them to add variety to their style but also to demonstrate understanding and criticality (E.g. ‘Jones (2012) asserts that…’ to show you do not deem Jones’s evidence sufficient, or to show that they know the difference between, eg., a hypothesis, an argument and a conclusion).
- #9 10 minutes inc activity and feedback. To help them see the point of these, remind them that any academic piece of writing consists of more than one paragraph that don’t stand in isolation, so they need to be linked. Also, shows the development of a point within a paragraph. These help them to show the clear nature of academic language (refer back to earlier key components), as well as a flowing style, by demonstrating clarity of thought and argument– don’t expect the reader to make the connection between your ideas but make those connections explicit. Could refer them to Manchester Phrasebank too. Activity could be done individually if they seem to prefer, in pairs or even larger groups if they appear to be a pretty lively and discursive lot.
- #10 To exemplify after their feedback – NB, not the only words that could be used, so validate their appropriate alternatives.
- #11 If time, it is worth spending a few minutes explain the reasoning behind these by returning to their initial descriptions of academic writing and the opening activity to exemplify how the poorer version used some of these, but the best version didn’t and kept a relatively straightforward but accurate and formal use of language (it didn’t use too many words or overly complicated language).
- #12 3 minutes individually doing - it’s their chance to check their own learning. 2 minutes - Go round and ask each person for one example of where this student could change their writing to make their language more academic (e.g. use of ‘ditch’, over-use of ‘said/did’ as reporting verbs, ‘some writers’), and how they could change it.
- #13 2-3 minutes Go around the class and ask each student for their areas (feel confident about [to acknowledge that there are good things about their own writing] and one to improve on) – push them on how they will action their improvement to assess their learning and make the plenary action-focused.