IdeasandOp2onsinEnglish
for
SpecificPurposes
Chapter6
“HelenBasturkmen”
CombiningLanguage
Descrip2ons
ArezooRashidnia
Review
LanguageUsesinESP
Ø  Speechact
Whichiscommunica,veactthatconveyanintended
languagefunc,on.
includefunc,onssuchasrequests,apologies,sugges,ons,
commands,offers,andappropriateresponsestothoseacts
Ø  Genre
Aclassoflanguageuseandcommunica,onthathappensin
par,cularcommuni,es.
Ø  Socialinterac,on
Meansspeakersandwriterslubricatetheirdiscourseand
maketheirlanguageuseappropriate.
CombiningLanguageDescrip,ons
ESPteachingorresearchmayrelyononetypeofdescrip,onor
combina,onofthem,orcombiningdescrip,onsoflanguagewitha
focusonlanguageskills.
Theaimofthechapteristoillustratethis,threeexamplesareused:
•  In-houseteachingmaterialforengineeringstudents
•  Anacademicspeakingcourse
•  Researchstudyintoworkplacelanguage
In-houseteachingmaterial
Genre-basedlanguagedescrip,on
+
Grammar
Aimsofthecourse:
•  Tohelpthestudentswriteabstractsforreportsonengineering
projectsthatinvolveinnova,veprocedures,techniquesor
designs
•  Tohelpthestudentsdeveloptheirabilitytoreadandwrite
technicaltext
Focuson:
•  Wri,ngabstracts
•  Wri,ngrecommenda,onproposal
Doesn’tfocuson:
•  Wri,ngprocessesandskillsdevelopmentalthough
wri,ngandreadingprac,ceareinvolved.
SothemainfocusisonthefeaturesoftwowriTengenres:
•  Howabstractandrecommenda,onreportsare
organized
•  Whatkindofcontenttheycontain
Theabstractsthatyouwriteinthisunitwillbegraded
accordingtothefollowingcriteria:
1.  Allmainideasarepresent.
2.  Yourpresenta,onis:
1.  Concise
2.  Coherent(organiza,onislogical)
3.  Cohesive
4.  Gramma,callyaccurate/intelligible/stylish
FIG.1.Introduc,ontotheabstrac,ngunit
Theverbinthesissentenceisimportant.Thetenseinformsthereaderif
thear,cleisaboutsomethingwhichhasalreadybeendeveloped,is
presentlybeingdevelopedorwillbedevelopedinthefuture.
Presentperfect:hasbeendeveloped
Presentprogressive:isbeingdeveloped
Future:willbedeveloped
FIG.1.con,nued
Anacademicspeakingcourse
Speaking-skills-focusedcourse
+
Speech-act-basedlanguagedescrip,on
TABLEOFUNITS
Topic
SkillsFocus
LanguageHelp
1 Countries
Preparingpresenta,on Askingques,ons
2 Defense
Genera,ngideas
3 Themedia Givinganoverview
Agreeing&disagreeing
Askingforclarifica,on(could
youexplainwhatyoumean…)
FIG.2.Languagehelpoverview.FromSpeakingStudent’sBookbyM.RignallandC.Furneaux
Focuson:
•  Skillsinvolvedin givingpresenta,ons(lookingforideas
toshapeatalk,givinganoverview,andrehearsing)
•  Par,cipa,ngindiscussions
•  Offerssomelanguagedescrip,onofanumberofspeech
actsimportanttopar,cipa,oninacademicspeaking
includingexpressingopinions,askingques,ons,and
askingforclarifica,on
Researchstudyintoworkplacelanguage
Speech-act-basedlanguageresearch
+
Inves,ga,onofaspectsofsocialinterac,on
PascalBrown’sStudy(2001):
•  Themainspeechacttargetedforinves,ga,onwasdirec,ves
(trytogetotherstodothings)
•  Whousedirec,vesandwhen
•  Howworkersandkeyfiguresinthefactoryusedirec,ves
•  Examina,onofthesyntac,cchoicesthespeakersusedin
makingdirec,vesinthefactoryseeng
Focusofthestudywason:
•  Speechacts(direc,ves)
•  Rela,onshipbetweensocialfactors(suchasstatusand
distance)andthelanguagechoicesmadebythepeople
workinginthefactory
•  Alsoinvolvedafocusonsocialinterac,onandhedging
ThedatasetfromPascal’sstudywasanalyzedforthe
followingfeatures:
•  Thechoiceofsyntac,cformsbythepar,cipants
•  Therela,onshipbetweentheformsselectedbythe
par,cipants,strengthofthedirec,ves,andthepower
rela,onshipsandsocialdistancebetweenthespeakers
•  Theuseofmodifyingdevices(hedgesorothermeansto
minimizeormaximizethestrengthofthedirec,ves)bythe
par,cipants
Thanksforyour,me