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All progress takes place out of your comfort zone: Would you like to be an academic expert?

Inglés Nivel Avanzado C2

Enseñanzas de Idiomas de Régimen Especial

Contenidos

Unidad 1: All progress takes place out of your comfort zone.
Tema 2: Would you like to be an academic expert?

Goals!

What does "academic language" mean to you?

The term "academic language" entails a great variety of language used in several disciplines. It differs from the language used everyday in our current interaction and, consequently it conveys distinct purposes.


Look at the following images and try to come up with ideas, vocabulary, phrases which can support your explanation. Then try to give a definition for "academic language".

 

Mujer trabajando al ordenador

Image by JESHOOTS-com. Computadora portátil, Mujer y Educación. (Pixabay Simplified License) 

Mujer en la biblioteca

Image by Sasint. Biblioteca, Estudiar y Compañero de clase.(Pixabay Simplified License) 


Foto gorro de graduación

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images. Graduación, Sombrero y Universidad. (Pixabay Simplified License)

Foto de preguntas

Image by geralt. Preguntar, Oms y Qué. (Pixabay Simplified License) 

Think about it!

A few words to define "academic language"

How would you define academic English?

What does academic language involve?

What are the differences we find between academic and non-academic English?

Watch the video and see how the speaker answers these questions:

Video from Learning Enhancement Team. Academic Language.  (YouTube.) 

Top Tips

 
What are key elements of "academic language"?

Read the following text and notice what it says about grammar and vocabulary. Next, try to work with other students in groups and try to provide useful examples and tips. You can use Skype, Google Meet, Zoom ... etc.

Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge in oral and written language encompass specific skills that allow students to meet academic demands across the curriculum. Though commonly used to denote breadth of knowledge of word definitions (i.e., how many words a student knows), vocabulary knowledge also refers to depth of understanding of word parts (prefixes, suffixes, roots), multiple meanings, and figurative language that shape the subtleties of vocabulary use. Proficiency in word parts and relationships helps students acquire new vocabulary, reason about the meaning of unfamiliar words, and comprehend the sophisticated vocabulary that characterizes academic language, including:

 

Morphologically complex words (words with multiple parts, including prefixes and suffixes) e.g., comfortable; prediction; reconciliation

General-academic words that are high frequency and may be abstract or have multiple meanings, e.g., investigate; principle; asylum 

Discipline-specific words that typically contain Greek combining forms, e.g., ecosystem; longitude; etc.

 

Syntactic knowledge refers to the understanding of parts of speech and rules that govern how words and phrases combine into sentences, and how sentences combine into paragraphs. To comprehend connected text, students must master basic grammatical rules as well as sophisticated knowledge. Understanding Academic Language and its Connection to School Success words and phrases that are used to establish referents, organize ideas,denote relationships between concepts, and develop text cohesion, including:

 

Use of connective words requiring sentence-level inferencing, e.g., consequently; whereas; similarly

Resolution of pronoun reference, e.g., We examined the extent to which native plants in coastal regions adapted to climatic changes in their environment. (The reader needs to connect the pronoun their to the noun native plants)

Grammatical agreement between subjects, verbs, and tense, e.g., All of the candidates, as well as the current President, are attending the televised debate.

 Adapted from: https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/defining-academic-language-and-its-key-elements#:~:text=Vocabulary%20and%20syntactic%20knowledge%20in%20oral%20and%20written,students%20to%20meet%20academic%20demands%20across%20the%20curriculum.

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