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Distinguishing between levels of formalityWhat is academic writing? There are many different kinds of academic writing in English. Some of these differences arise from the different disciplines and the ways in which they create and share knowledge; some relate to the audience (the reader); and some to the use to which the text will be put. The rules of academic writing in English are quite complicated; nevertheless most students find that they can recognise the difference between informal writing and formal, academic writing. Recognising academic writing Task 1: A: Look at the following sentence and together with a partner, identify at least three features of this sentence that you think are academic. Linguists were and remain convinced by Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who discovered that however disparate human languages seem, all share a common, basic structure, seemingly hardwired into the brain. B: Now look at the following sentence and with the partner, identify at least three features of this sentence that seem non-academic to you. The way you speak says a lot about you. Recognising levels of formality Task 2: Study the Table 1, which identifies two quite different levels of formality, and then complete the table that follows. Table 1: Different levels of formality
Read the sentences and tick (✓) either F (formal) or I (informal) after each sentence. Make notes on which features helped you reach your decision. 1) I couldn’t finish the interviews on time. 2) The initial tests were completed and the results analysed by June 2002. 3) I’d like to start by drawing your attention to previous research in this area. 4) In the 1990s, some researchers started to point out the problems with this theory. 5) He agreed with me that this procedure didn’t make much sense. 6) We’ll repeat the test sometime next year. 7) While it is still too early to draw firm conclusions from the data, preliminary analysis suggests the following trends are present. 8) In addition, the research attempts to answer two further related questions.
Distinguishing between levels of formality Task 3: Put the following texts in order by giving 1 to the most academic and 4 to the least academic. To help you, think about: - Who is this text intended for? - Why would readers pick up this text and read it? - What resources did the writer of the text have available? Explain your choice.
Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1918
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