Academic English

Overview

Recent federal policies and state consortia initiatives have focused the attention of educators, policymakers, and researchers on the demands of language and literacy inherent in the content areas (e.g., the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts include literacy skills required of Grades 6–12 history/social studies and science/technical areas). Interest in academic English stems from at least two sources: (1) attempts to operationalize definitions of the language that ELL students must acquire for success in school and (2) increasing recognition that the language necessary for accessing the school curriculum also may not be known by native or proficient English-speaking students.

The term academic language is also frequently used in the literature, but this broader term can apply to the scholastic uses of any language, [Page 5]including English. In this entry, the focus is exclusively on the features that have been identified in the academic uses of English. Academic English is commonly regarded as a register of the language; a register is a style of the language that differs in terms of the vocabulary, grammatical structures, and organization of language to suit the context in which it is used. The academic English register is considered a more formal register than the register of everyday, casual conversation. Formality is manifest in academic English in

• 1.
  the choice of more precise terms for objects and concepts (thus avoiding ambiguity of reference that can occur with deictic terms such as “this” or “that”),
• 2.
  the completeness of grammatical forms (again to avoid the ambiguity that might occur with unfinished or elliptical sentences), and
• 3.
  the fully explanatory nature of the discourse (text or talk is organized in elaborated and frequently routinized ways; for example to convey a scientific process or retell a sequence of events).

A series of continua have surfaced in definitions to try to capture additional salient qualities of the academic English register and by which to contrast it with other registers. Academic English is described as being more abstract, more complex, less contextualized, and less familiar; containing rarer, more specialized, and more sophisticated forms; and providing greater precision or nuanced meanings than nonacademic registers, particularly casual conversation. These qualities are useful for conceptualizing the academic English register at a very superficial level, but they are not without contention (navigation of the personal and recreational spheres of life also requires complex and specialized language), and they lack the specificity often desired by instructors and developers of curricula and assessments. The formal features and functions that constitute the academic English construct are considered next.

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