How Language of English Scientific Changes from Early to Late School - Case Study Example

How language of English scientific changes from early to late school Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction Typically, English is considered as a lingua franca of the scientific community. More than 80% of published indexed journals are published in English (Swales, 2001). English has been adopted as the global language for science since it is part of history as well as economic aspects that favored English as compared to other languages. The Scientific English language has been used over the years and will still continue to be used for giving descriptions and analysis of scientific phenomena. While making publications in English, there is a need to be accustomed to different audiences through different genres. The objective or purpose of the text also influences the way it is written thus influences the relationship between the audience and the reader (Gläser, 2000). This essay seeks to provide a description of four texts with regards to how scientific English language is used. The analysis will specifically look into six aspects of scientific language. This includes the genre, lexical density, technical language, nominal groups and nominalization, interpersonal representation, and information organization. Text one: Pushes and Pulls Genre The genre used in this writing is a factual scientific genre since it gives a description of a factual scientific phenomenon. It gives a sequential explanation on the different types of forces as well as a causal explanation of why objects move in certain directions with different strengths of forces. The reader is persuaded by the sequential discussion of the topic (Parkinson & Adendorff, 2005). Furthermore, different practical experiments have been used to convince the readers on the scientific phenomenon. Technical language The text has used a lot of scientific jargons to give the description of what force entails. Some of the technical languages used include ‘contact forces’, electrostatic forces, gravitational forces and motion’. These jargons have been used to give the readers a scientific understanding of the push and pull topic. The narration could be simplified further as it would portray the intended meaning thus the use of these jargons helped in creating an illusion that the writer had an in-depth knowledge on the topic under discussion. Furthermore, the writer targeted a scientific audience which he assumed understood the terminologies. Lexical density There is a variation on the use of lexical words including adjectives, nouns, adjectives and adverbs in the text. The lexical density used in the narration can be estimated to be 80%. By integrating the use of lexical words, the author increases the understanding and clarity of the text. The writer has been able to state the object and subjects in the sentences thus giving a clear description of how the subject did the action. The heading of the text ‘push and pull’ creates a vivid description of what is expected in the text. For instance, the author states a ‘contact forces’ and goes deeper to give a description of what it is, stating that they are forces acted by contact. This is a lexical word. Nominal groups and nominalization The author has been able to create some nouns from the other word classes. Words such as ‘tug-of-war’ are derived from two different word classes. The use of normalisation has been used to make the arguments much clearer and easy to understand by the readers. The flow of the text has not been tampered with in any way by the use of the nominal words Information organization In this article, the author has managed to present his information in a more coherent and sequential manner. The author starts his explanation by looking into two experiments to create a foundation or basis for the topic and make it easier to be understood. The experiments help in explaining how force occurs; he then looks into the different types of force. He further looks into how force can be balanced or how it is unbalanced. Furthermore, the information is presented logically through the use of subheadings to make it easier for the readers to understand and what is being described in each of the subsections (Veel, 1997). Similarly, the information presented is valid because the findings are based on experiments that have been provided in the text. Moreover, the author has also used pictures to give a vivid description of how force acts. Interpersonal representation The text has also provided some aspects of interpersonal representation. The description mainly relies on findings from scientific experiments on different aspects of force. Text 2: Space travel Genres A genre being a specific type of writing, with regards to this text, the predominant genre used is scientific nonfiction genre (Halliday & Martin, 1993). This is because the text presents factual scientific phenomena. The text provides an in-depth theoretical explanation as well as an exploration explanation of getting into space. The authors give a sequential explanation of acceleration. It gives an explanation of the formula for obtaining force. This formula is factual and was reached through a sequential process. There is the use of a persuasive voice which is evident by the step to step process of formulating the formula. Furthermore, there is the use of a visual aid of a rocket accelerating upwards to convince the readers that this is as a result of the force that is generated by the rocket’s engine. Technical language A technical language is a jargon that is difficult to be understood by people. The writer of the text has used different scientific jargons. Some of the jargons that relate to space science include; ‘acceleration, force, mass and weight’. The author used these words to bring a better understanding of the topic under discussion, getting into space. Lexical density The writer has been able to use lexical words to emphasize what the text was about (Unsworth, 1999). The heading of the text under discussion ‘getting into space’, provides a vivid description of what is expected in the text. Nominal groups and nominalization Unlike in the first text, the author has not generated noun words from other word classes. The words are direct and flow harmoniously without any conflicting information flow. Information organization The information is presented logically. The author begins by giving a small background on force, and then formulates the acceleration formula and also weight. The information is organized in subheadings to make it more it easier for the readers to understand and what is being described in each of the subsections. The information provided is also valid since it gives a description of how the formula is attained. Interpersonal representation Interpersonal representation has also been achieved in this article. The description mainly focuses on the use findings from experiments to come up with the formulas. Text 3: Motion Genre The kind of genre that is evitable in this text is the factual science genre. This is because the text highlights various mechanical review segments. The text offers the theoretical explanation of mechanics. In the text, ways in which vectors are added, subtracted and how multiplication of vectors by scalars are done. The procedures of doing this kind of operations have been researched and have been universally accepted. This makes the genre factual. Since scalars are mostly used in scientific applications, the genre is scientific. The language used is scientific language that tries to bring the scientific concepts more easily to the reader of the text. Examples have been elaborated in the text to show the validity of the operations. The text uses scientific terms together with English terms to make it clearer and easy to understand. There is a use of diagrams in the text. The main purpose of the diagrams is put emphasis on what is being communicated by the diagrams. Technical language The technical language that comes out clearly in this text about motion is scientific English. Some of the terms that are used in the text are scalar, magnitude, general vector and resultant vectors. These terms show that the author intended to use technical language in passing out his information and not pure English that does not stress on some points that need to be emphasized scientifically. The text has a lot of scientific terms that shows much about the mechanics and in particular vector techniques. The technical language used requires somebody that has grown from the scientific grammar of talk to a grammar of writing. For the clear understanding of the technical language used in describing motion, vector techniques, in particular, some background information about the topic is necessary. It is, therefore, clear that the use of technical language within the text was of great importance as the writer had the chance of stressing some of the main issues that he wanted to pass in the text. Lexical density The lexical density of the text is 74%. In the text, there has been a variation of lexical words such as adjectives, nouns, adverbs and verbs in the text. The higher percentage of the lexical density of this text makes it clear to the reader as they can easily gauge the main purpose as to why the text was written (Myers, 1991). In most sentences within the text, the objects and subjects are indicated hence a clear description of how the various components of vectors relate. It can be concluded from the above text that it is the higher level of the lexical density that has made the text to be more informative to the readers. Nominal groups and nominalization The nominalization process assisted in converting the verbs and nouns into nominal groups. Nominal groups in the text are the words that have been used in expressing the entity in a piece of text thereby giving more details about the values and the mathematical operations of the vectors. Some of the use of nominal groups within the text is the resultant vector which shows the arrival of addition or subtraction of vectors. It may also be arrived at after multiplication of a vector by a scalar quantity. Information Organization The writer of the text has clearly organized the information in the text in a chronological way that the reader can comprehend the important details of the text. It has been made brief and to the point. It increases the attention of the reader by the use of visual arts and also provides a basis for comparing the information with other articles. The arrangement of the information within the organization has made the whole text look simpler despite the technicalities in the subject discussed. Interpersonal representation International personal representation has been used in the text, and it has shown the interpersonal experience. This is because various ways of assessing the text are provided. The text has provided examples. Thus, it can easily be understood by its readers. Text 4: Crustacea Genre Some of the genres that are present in the text are the narrative nonfiction and factual document genre. It is descriptive as it talks about the Class Crustacean. It describes the Class Crustacea into details as it gives the number of species in the group. It provides a lot of information on what is distinctive about this class of animal (Unsworth, 1999). The text has also described the main kinds of crustaceans. The information that is provided in this text can be trusted. This is because they are what have been researched and have been accepted universally. They have been tested in the laboratory, and they are accepted by scientists. The information is factual as the animals belonging to the group are real animals, and the features that have been discussed in the text are observable. Technical Language The language that has been used in passing information in the text is scientific English. The writer did not use pure English in his writing as there are scientific terms that are best described through scientific means. Some of the scientific terms that have been used in describing the Class Crustacea are arthropods, antennae, brachiopods and many other many other terms that are used to stress some points. To understand the text in details, it is necessary to have some background knowledge about the topic. Failure of not having background information about the Class Crustaceans may not clearly understand the topic. It is, therefore, clear that the use of technical language has enabled the writer in emphasizing some of the main points about Crustaceans. Lexical density The lexical density of this text was 71%. In the text, crustacean, there are a variety of lexical words that have that have lexical words has made it easy for the text to be easily understandable to the readers as it has made the text to be easily understandable. The words that have been used in the text are simple, and any reader can understand them. The use of lexical words has made it easy for the writer to comprehend easily the message that is being passed. This is a true reflection that the lexical words are spread throughout the text making it easy for them to understand the text. Nominal groups and nominalization The writer of the text has been able to use nominal groups within the text. This is evitable in how the nouns and the verbs have been transformed into the text. The nominal groups have provided more information about Crustacea. The nominal groups that are within the texts are described in the main divisions of Class Crustacea and the distinctive features of Crustacea. Information Organization The information within the text is logically arranged. This makes it easy to read the text as one can easily get what the reader passes. The writer has used a diagram to emphasize his points and allow him to pass information more easily and clearly. Interpersonal representation The writer has not stressed so much on the interpersonal representation in the text. This effect is not felt so much because of the topic which is scientific, and the use of interpersonal representation may not be of the great essence. Reference Gläser, R. (2000). Linguistic features and genre profiles of scientific English. P. Lang. Halliday, M. A. K. & Martin, J. R. (1993).Writing science: Literacy and discursive power. London: The Falmer Press. Chap 10 - Technicality and abstraction: Language for the creation of specialized texts. Myers, G. (1991). Lexical cohesion and specialized knowledge in science and popular science texts. Discourse Processes, 14 (1), 1-26 Parkinson, J. &  and Adendorff, R. (2005). Variable discursive constructions of three genres of science, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. 23(3): 281-303 Swales, J. (2001). Writing Scientific English. London: Nelson. Unsworth, L. (1999). Developing critical understanding of the specialised language of school science and history texts: A functional grammatical perspective.Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 42 (7) 508 – 521 Unsworth, L. (1999). Developing critical understanding of the specialised language of school science and history texts: A functional grammatical perspective. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 42 (7) 508 – 521 Veel, R. (1997). Learning how to mean – scientifically speaking: apprenticeship into scientific discourse in the secondary school. In F. Christie, F. and J. Martin.Genre and Institutions. London: Cassell Read More