Learning to read and write academically

Purpose: To show the essential features and connections between reading, writing and vocabulary development in academia.
Thesis: Learning to read and write professionally are two complex processes which can be closely connected through the development of academic vocabulary.
Audience: English teachers, post-graduate students, researchers.

I. Academic vocabulary for EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses
A. Sinclair and Renouf’s (1988) criteria for lexical selection (as cited in Pintos, 2008)
1. common word forms
2. patterns of usage
3. possible combinations
A. Martin’s (1976) classification (as cited in Pintos, 2008)
1. The research-process vocabulary
a. verbs and nouns in context
2. The vocabulary of analysis
a. high-frequency verbs to present information
3. The vocabulary of evaluation
a. adjectives and adverbs present at critiques, reviews, and reports
II. Nuttall’s (1996) prerequisite to reading comprehension
1. same code shared by writer and reader
2. activation of L1 schemata
III. Effective use of written language
1. learning to read
2. learning to write
3. writing to learn
4. using written language in social contexts
IV. Language acquisition and language study through reading
1. vocabulary and grammar analysis
2. construction of sentences, paragraphs and texts
V. Purpose of reading
1. introduction of interesting and engaging texts
2. discussion stimulation
3. provocation of imaginative and creative responses
4. challenge of students’ cognitive capacities
5. general knowledge construction
VI. Reading of academic texts
1. acquisition of advanced literacy
2. motivation to write meaningfully
3. development of reading capacities
4. discovering of the target community
VII. Possibility for having a voice to be heard



References

Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford, UK: Macmillan/Heinemann.

Pintos, V. (2008). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved August 2009, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=2730