HENK00011U English, 2013 curriculum - Free topic 1: Academic language use in the L1 and L2 with a focus on vocabulary

Academic language is an important tool for gaining, sharing and developing knowledge within any field of study, enabling us to develop and convey abstract and technical ideas and facts about complex phenomena. The hallmark of academic discourse is precision and nuance in expression, often at word and phrase level. Learning to use a technical language, as well as a general academic language, enables us to analyse, synthesize and express relations between concepts and phenomena. Academics therefore need to master both technical vocabulary within their own field of study and an academic vocabulary which, in contrast to technical vocabulary, is used across disciplines.

In this course, participants will be introduced to the concepts of academic language, academic literacies, academic competences and academic language skills by explorations of the following issues:

• The role and function of academic language
• Student and professional academic language use
• Vocabulary types within academic language use with a focus on academic vocabulary
• Learning and teaching academic language skills
• Development of academic word lists