学术写作

Features of academic writing : complexity, formality, objectivity, explicitness, hedging

Complexity

:

more

subordinate

clauses,

more

“

that/to

”

complement

clauses,

more

long

sequences of prepositional phrases, more attributive adjectives and more passives than spoken

language; more nominalizations, more noun-based phrases, more lexical variations , high lexical

density ( more lexical words than grammatical words).

Formality:

more

formal

vocabulary,

(

no

jargon

or

slang,

less

emotional

language)

,

longer

paragraphs, longer sentences.

Objectivity: impersonal language, passive voice

Explicitness: in signposting of the organization of the ideas; in acknowledgment of the sources of

the ideas in the text;

Hedging:

Language

features

of

abstracts:

the

use

of

full

sentences;

the

use

of

past

tense;

the

use

of

impersonal

passive;

the

absence

of

negatives;

the

avoidance

of

“

abbreviation,

jargon,

symbols

and other language shortcuts that might lead to confusion

”

2

Discuss the tone the following sentences convey.

1 The sales of vitamine E, helped by the statements from heal food enthusiasts and doctors, have

doubled in the past five years.

2

The

sales

of

vitamine

E,

helped

by

the

deceptions

and

lies

of

health

food

enthusiasts

and

doctors, have doubled in the past five years.

3The sales of vitamine E, helped by the statements of health food freaks and quack doctors, have

doubled in the past five years.

4 The sales of vitamine E, helped by the claims of health food faddists and doctors, have doubled

in the past five years.

5 The sales of vitamins E, helped by the claims of health food faddists and some doctors, have

doubled in the past five years.

6 The sales of vitamins E, helped by the claims of health food faddists and even doctors, have

doubled in the past five years.

7 In the past five years, the sales of vitamins E have doubled, thanks to the claims of health food

faddists and even doctors.

1 This paper______ an experimental study of SLA motivated by three current lines of research in

cognitive

psychology

and

SLA

theory,

with

________

of

contributing

to

an

increased

understanding

of

the

learning

processes

activated

by

exposure

to

second

language

(L2)

input

under four training conditions.

2 __________ was to test whether this error frequency hierarchy holds when a single group of L2

speakers

’

production and identification of specific consonants is observed.

3 This allowed the essays to be ______ four groups

：

（

< br>1

）

short essay with short T-units, (2) short

essay with long T-units, (3) long essay with short T

—

units, and (4 )long essay with long T-units.

4 As is the case in many EFL and ESL contexts, learning/teaching academic writing is challenging

to students and teachers in Syria and other Arab countries. This is mainly _______ of students

______proficiency

and

insufficient

motivation

to

write.

The

challenge

is

greater

in

countries

where English is not the language of instruction but a compulsory school and college subject.

The paper_____ a pedagogical project: a cross-cultural essay exchange. The main ____ of the

exchange was to _____ students to write by giving them real audiences, but it ______be useful to