Eapp Handout 1

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
HANDOUT #1: READING ACADEMIC TEXTS
LESSON 1: Academic Language used from Various Disciplines
Nature and Characteristics of an Academic Text
An academic text is a written language that provides information, which contain ideas
and concepts that are related to the particular discipline. Essay, Research Paper, Report,
Project, Article, Thesis, and Dissertation are considered as academic texts.
Structure
The basic structure that is used by an academic text is consist of three (3) parts
introduction, body, and conclusion which is formal and logical.
Tone
This refers to the attitude conveyed in a piece of writing.
Language
It is important to use unambiguous language. Clear topic sentences enable a reader to
follow your line of thinking without difficulty. Formal language and the third person point-
of-view should be used.
Citation
Citing sources in the body of the paper and providing a list of references as either footnotes
or endnotes is a very important aspect of an academic text.
Complexity
An academic text addresses complex issues that require higher-order thinking skills to
comprehend.
Evidence-based Arguments
What is valued in an academic text is that opinions are based on a sound understanding
of the pertinent body of knowledge and academic debates that exist within, and often
external to a specific discipline.
Thesis-driven
The starting point of an academic text is a particular perspective, idea or position
applied to the chosen research problem, such as establishing, proving, or disproving
solutions to the questions posed for the topic.
Features of Academic Texts:

1. Complex
- Written language has no longer words, it is lexically more varied vocabulary.
- Written texts are shorter and the language has more grammatical complexity,
including more subordinate clauses and more passives.
2. Formal
- Should avoid colloquial words and expressions.
3. Precise
- Facts are given accurately and precisely.
4. Objective
- has fewer words that emphasize on the information you want to give and the
arguments you want to make
- mostly use nouns (adjectives), rather than verbs (adverbs)
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5. Explicit
- It is the responsibility of the writer in English to make it clear to the reader how
the various parts of the text are related.
6. Accurate
- Uses vocabulary accurately
- Most subjects have words with narrow specific meanings.
7. Hedging
- It is necessary to make decisions about your stance on a particular subject, or
the strength of the claims you are making.
8. Responsible
- You must be responsible for and must be able to provide evidence and
justification for any claims you make.
9. Organize
- Well-organized.
- It flows easily from one section to the next in a logical fashion.
10. Plan
- Well-planned.
- It usually takes place after research and evaluation, according to specific
purpose and plan.
Purposes in Reading an Academic Text

1. To locate a main idea;
2. To scan for information;
3. To identify gaps in existing studies;
4. To connect new ideas to existing ones;
5. To gain more pieces of information;
6. To support a particular writing assignment; and,
7. To deeply understand an existing idea.
Factors to Consider in Writing Academic Text

1.State critical questions and issues;
2. Provide facts and evidence from credible sources;
3. Use precise and accurate words while avoiding jargon;
4. Take an objective point of view;
5. List references; and,
6. Use cautious language.
Non academic texts include writings that are informal and dedicated to a lay audience.
Articles, e-mail messages, text messages, journal writing, and letters are some examples of
nonacademic text.
Academic and Social Language

Academic language is the language needed by students to do the work in schools. It
includes, for example, discipline-specific vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and
applications of rhetorical conventions and devices that are typical for a content area .
Social language is the set of vocabulary that allows us to communicate with others in the
context of regular daily conversations.

Characteristics of Academic Language
A. Formal - It should not sound conversational or casual. Colloquial, idiomatic, slang or
journalistic expressions should particularly be avoided.
B. Objective - This means it is unbiased. It should be based on facts and evidence and
are not influenced by personal feelings.
C. Impersonal - This involves avoiding the personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘we’. For example,
instead of writing ‘I will show’, you might write ‘this report will show’. The second person,
‘you’, is also to be avoided.
LESSON 2: Text Structure

Text structures (WDPI, 2012) refer to the way authors organize information in text.
Recognizing the underlying structure of texts can help students focus attention on key
concepts and relationships, anticipate what is to come, and monitor their comprehension
as they read.
COMMON TEXT STRUCTURES

Why is Text Structure Important?
The readers can significantly improve their comprehension and retention of information
when they can identify and recognize the text structure of a text. It can also help them:
1. Organize information and details they are learning in their minds while reading.
2. Make connections between the details being presented in a text
3. Summarize the important details shared in a text
Lesson 3: Techniques in Summarizing Variety of Academic Texts

Summarizing is how we take larger selections of text and reduce them to their bare
essentials: the gist, the key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering.
Webster's calls a summary the "general idea in brief form"; it's the distillation,
condensation, or reduction of a larger work into its primary notions. (“Reading Quest
Strategies | Summarizing”)
Basic Rules:
A. Erase things that don’t matter. Delete trivial material that is unnecessary to
understanding.
B. Erase things that repeat. Delete redundant material. In note taking, time and
space is precious. If a word or phrase says basically the same thing you have
already written down, then don’t write it again!
C. Trade, general terms for specific names. Substitute superordinate terms for lists
(e.g., flowers for daisies, tulips for roses). Focus on the big picture. Long, technical
lists are hard to remember. If one word will give you the meaning, then less is more.
D. Use your own words to write the summary. Write the summary using your own
words but make sure to retain the main points.
Techniques:
1. Somebody Wanted But So. The strategy helps students generalize, recognize cause
and effect relationships, and find main ideas.

After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary:
Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she
encountered a wolf. He got to her grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old
woman. He was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but she realized what he was doing
and ran away, crying for help. A woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the
wolf.
2. SAAC Method. This method is particularly helpful in summarizing any kind of text.
SAAC is an acronym for “State, Assign, Action, Complete.” Each word in the acronym
refers to a specific element that should be included in the summary.
Use the four SAAC cues to write out a summary of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in complete
sentences:
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf," by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a
shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore
his false cries. Then, when a wolf really does attack, they don’t come to help him.
3. 5 W's, 1 H. This technique relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when where, why,
and how. These questions make it easy to identify the main character, important details,
and main idea.

4. First Then Finally. This technique helps students summarize events in chronological
order.
First: What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action.
Then: What key details took place during the event/action?
Finally: What were the results of the event/action?
Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat
in their chairs, and slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her,
so she jumped up and ran away.
5. Give Me the Gist. This type of techniques is like giving a friend the gist of a story. In
other words, they want a summary – not a retelling of every detail.

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ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

HANDOUT #1: READING ACADEMIC TEXTS

LESSON 1: Academic Language used from Various Disciplines

Nature and Characteristics of an Academic Text

Features of Academic Texts:

1|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

Purposes in Reading an Academic Text

Factors to Consider in Writing Academic Text

Academic and Social Language

2|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

LESSON 2: Text Structure

COMMON TEXT STRUCTURES

3|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

Lesson 3: Techniques in Summarizing Variety of Academic Texts

5|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

6|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

Here is an example using "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

7|Page Prepared by: Mrs. Rose Jane B. Aves

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