Utilizing the Literatures in Teaching the Research Paper

Abstract

Teaching research English, particularly the writing of papers, to nonnative speakers (NNS) has not been given the attention it needs. Available evidence points both to the overwhelming role of English as a medium of communication in the international research literature and to the low level of NNS contributions to that literature. This article outlines and illustrates an approach to the teaching of research English (on a group rather than an individual basis) which derives from four bodies of literature: (a) the sociology of science, (b) citation analysis, (c) technical writing, and (d) English for academic purposes. It is argued that this approach gives the ESL instructor insight into research writing processes and products, increases instructor confidence, provides accessible content, and produces texts from the literatures that can be used directly in class. The discussion reviews present knowledge of the research paper; considers the issues of genre, schema, and rhetorical structure; and relates the orientation taken in this article to the current debate about "process" and "product" approaches to ESL writing.

Reader-Friendliness and Feedback: German-L1 Scholars’ Perceptions of Writing for Publication in English

“…As long ago as 1986, Eugene Garfield calculated that 90% of the world's scientific citations are for articles published in Anglophone science journals (Garfield 1986), and by 2008 the Institute of Scientific Information listed 95% of indexed natural science journals as using all or some form of English (Thomson Reuters 2008). In a range of publications, John Swales has referred to the increasing 'Englishization' of scientific publishing and the domination of research published by scientists from Anglophone-centre countries such as the USA and Britain (Swales 1987(Swales , 1990(Swales , 1996(Swales , 1997(Swales , 2000(Swales and 2004. Although the number of papers published by scientific researchers from China is growing fast, the United States remains the dominant force in global scientific publishing, with articles written by scientists from US institutions accounting for 20% of the world's scientific papers and 30% of the most frequently cited articles (Royal Society 2011).…”

Cursos de IFE y colaboración interdisciplinar: rol de los especialistas

“…También Swales (1987) apuntaba que más de la mitad de los artículos de investigación publicados a nivel mundial, no necesariamente vinculados a la ciencia y a la tecnología exclusivamente, se escribían en inglés, cifra que aumentaba espectacularmente si al restringirse a las áreas mencionadas, es decir, química, biología, física, medicina y matemáticas. Las demandas de la sociedad industrializada trajeron consigo la expansión de un aspecto particular de la enseñanza de la lengua inglesa que no se había dado hasta entonces, a saber, la enseñanza del IFE.…”

English for University Administrative Work: English Officialization Policy and Foreign Language Learning Motivation

“…One of the major strategies is to expand the role of English campus-wide and shift English from a major foreign language to an official language. Apparently, this enforcement of English is mainly due to the role of English as the medium of international communication in various social sectors such as business, technology, science, and even the Internet (Crystal, 2000(Crystal, , 2008Graddol, 1997;Swales, 1987). The strategy to officialize English has been enforced not only in education, but also in research and administration of HEIs in Korea.…”