Semi-Academic Sources Inward Eap: An Interview Alongside A Novel Scientist Journalist (1)

Part one: Structure together with content

In the past times few years, I’ve come upward across several EAP teachers who are advocates of using what could hold out described equally ‘semi-academic’ texts inwards class. By this, I hateful articles from magazines such equally New Scientist, National Geographic or the Economist. These articles withdraw maintain academic topics together with oftentimes written report on academic research, but they’re arguably to a greater extent than accessible together with engaging than rather dry, ‘authentic’ academic texts (from textbooks or academic journals).  I’ve ever felt a chip uneasy close their usage though because my feel is that these magazines correspond a wholly dissimilar genre amongst a dissimilar fashion of linguistic communication together with dissimilar conventions which could genuinely hold out to a greater extent than misleading than helpful for EAP students.

To uncovering out to a greater extent than close the differences betwixt the genres, I interviewed a skillful friend of mine, Dr Alison George, an editor for New Scientist magazine. 

Dr Alison George

I asked her quite merely close the procedure of ‘translating’ an article from a scientific mag into something to hold out published inwards New Scientist. She came dorsum amongst lots of genuinely fascinating insights, thus I’ve broken downward the interview into 2 parts. In this post, I’ll await at how the construction together with content of articles differs. And inwards my side past times side post, I’ll await inwards particular at the actual linguistic communication used. 

Dr Alison George: “I tin solely verbalize for the agency that scientific discipline papers are written. It's possible that academic papers inwards archæology or economic science are written differently.  However, the original travel of all these papers is to pick out data to other specialists, thus the linguistic communication is oftentimes obscure together with the agency they are written is of secondary importance to the data they contain.  Little attempt is made to brand them accessible to non-specialists. 

So how create we, at New Scientist magazine, plough scientific papers into mag articles?”  

Structure & content

“For a start, solely the most thought-provoking, surprising or of import papers volition travel far into the magazine.  A journalist volition intend close why a particular newspaper is cool or exciting, together with and thus examine together with pick out that essence early on inwards the story.  A reader of a consumer mag such equally the Economist, New Scientist or National Geographic has a i M one thousand other things they could hold out reading - they withdraw maintain to hold out seduced into reading your article from myriad others on offer.  

The writing fashion used is dissimilar depending on whether the article is a tidings storey or a feature-length article. H5N1 tidings storey volition to a greater extent than oftentimes than non withdraw maintain an introductory sentence, together with thus volition apace movement onto: how, what, who, why, where, when (in other words, giving the reader all the cardinal details of the storey equally shortly equally possible).   A characteristic storey volition to a greater extent than oftentimes than non withdraw maintain an opening paragraph that grabs the reader's attending together with piques their interest.  The minute or tertiary paragraph is ordinarily what is called a "nutgraph" (aka "in a nutshell paragraph") which tells the reader what the storey is about.  

This is a completely dissimilar fashion of writing to a scientific paper, where the most interesting materials is oftentimes given inwards the terminal paragraph of the Discussion section, together with the emphasis is placed on conveying right data rather than grabbing a reader's attention.”

So what implications does this withdraw maintain for EAP students?

If we’re trying to assistance students better their reading skills together with enable them to bargain amongst the majority of reading they’ll demand to acquire by amongst through their studies, together with thus reading mag articles that are structured to plough over the cardinal data upward front, won’t necessarily laid upward them for dealing amongst to a greater extent than formal academic texts, specially postgrads who volition withdraw maintain to read original mag articles. 

Academic readers acquire to usage abstracts rather similar the opening paragraph of a mag article, to uncovering out what the balance of the article is close together with whether it’s worth reading on. These abstracts though are incredibly densely packed together with require a sure enough score of science to decode. Readers together with thus typically boundary to the give-and-take department to uncovering out the interesting ‘meat’ of the article. Isn’t this a method of reading that EAP students demand to acquire to grips with? Learning where to await together with what to skim over or discount volition assistance them maximize their reading fourth dimension together with travel much to a greater extent than efficient academic readers. Is spoon-feeding students amongst texts that acquaint cardinal data inwards an easy-to-digest cast at the commencement genuinely helping them amongst the academic reading skills they’ll demand to original at some point?

Of course, equally ever, what’s appropriate depends a lot on context. What phase your students are at (pre-university, early on undergrad or preparing for postgrad study) volition inevitably influence what skills you lot create upward one's heed to focus on.  Similarly, you lot equally good demand to intend close the aims of a particular lesson. If it’s a give-and-take cast together with your aim is to acquire students engaged inwards lively discussion, together with thus the exact cast of whatsoever input volition hold out much less meaning than if you’re working specifically on reading or writing.

In my side past times side post, I’ll await at how New Scientist journalists alter the language of scientific articles to travel far to a greater extent than accessible to their readers together with what implications this mightiness withdraw maintain inwards the EAP classroom.

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