Syntactic complexity is a crucial aspect of linguistic proficiency and thus understanding and supporting such development in learners is a keen concern for language teachers. Research conducted has shown growing sophistication of noun phrase structures by writers of different abilities in academic writing (Biber & Gray, 2010; Liu & Li,…

Many non-native English speaking (NNES) graduates are required to write academic papers in English; consequently, recent research in the past decade has been devoted to investigating the usefulness of genre-based Writing Instructions (GBWI) on learners' writing cultivation. There is little specific guidance, however, on how GBWI can be employed in…

Describes a special on-site writing course for advanced learners of English working in a research and development division that addresses students' needs (acculturation and lessening of writing anxiety) through in-class contrastive analysis of semitechnical documents produced by novice nonnative speaker writers and by experienced native and…

Defines the term "model" and reviews what the literature says about the use of models in the teaching of writing. Provides justification for the use of models in the teaching of English for science and technology and gives a practical demonstration. (Author/VWL)

Presents reasons and methods for including numerous reading assignments when teaching technical writing to engineering students. (RAE)

Presents and discusses results of study on the specific linguistics needs of Italian scientists who must use English for science and technology for study and work purposes. Writing and listening were considered to be the most difficult skills to master. Questionnaire appears in Appendix. (LMO)

Word processing presents a new, creative environment that demands a radically different approach to second-language writing. Originating, revising, and formatting are important new literacy skills that students need to make effective use of the medium. (six references) (Author/CB)

In a Singapore study of the evaluation of engineering students' writing, engineering lecturers and language lecturers marked scripts differently. Analysis showed that engineering lecturers placed more emphasis on students' understanding of a process rather than their expression of that understanding. (Contains 13 references.) (LB)

Focuses on the textual revisions involved in the creation of "successful" scientific research articles by nonnative novice researchers. A linguistic framework of text analysis and interpretive commentary show how the hard, norm-developing processes of interaction between inexperienced novice and expert writers in the scientific discourse…

This guide suggests techniques for teaching skills in summary writing to students of English as a foreign language (EFL) in scientific and technical fields. Activities include: pre-summarization (identification of thesis sentences, conclusions and other essential components, multiple readings, notetaking and text-marking); summarization activities…

A study investigated the types of writing assignments commonly found in undergraduate natural sciences and engineering courses. The study was used as a basis for the development of composition courses for limited-English-speaking students in these fields, the most popular fields of study among foreign students. Eighty take-home assignments given…

Analyzed matched writing samples of 100 native Arabic speakers' writing on writing for science and technology (WST) topics in English and Arabic. Findings indicate that, though students have studied English-as-a-foreign-language writing for 8 years, and are judged to be good at the mechanics and lexis and grammar, they still have trouble with WST…

Biologists at Center for Biological Research found ways to improve their scientific writing without benefit of an English-language program. By tapping Internet biology forums for comprehensible input, and using computer-assisted retention strategy to profit from error correction, writing improved. Scientific dialog on Internet has helped group…

In business correspondence and technical communications, lack of coherence can cause serious misunderstanding. This paper examines how the problem of generating coherence is addressed in English for Business and Technology textbooks. It proposes a cognitive approach to skill building and presents a teaching procedure for doing so. (Contains two…

Scotland's vocationally-oriented Napier College was funded by the French Government to develop language courses for scientists and engineers. The courses developed have been intensive and extensive, based on work started by a team of French scientists focusing on the language, concepts, and ways of thinking common to the scientific community.…