Lesson 1: Academic discourse

1. Academic discourse in English
Goran Brkić, mag. educ. philol. angl.

2. Welcome!
• In the comfort of your home, or study area, please read this
presentation. Try not to simply flip through the slides, but carefully
consider the topics presented.
• Whenever you see this icon, please do the assignment.
• Write your answers on a piece of paper during the presentation.
When the presentation ends, copy your answers and send them in
the next step as „Homework”.

3. Who are you?
• Think about yourself. Who are you?
• What is the key information about yourself that sets you apart from
others?
• Take a piece of paper and (without looking at the next slide) try to answer
this question using two or three pieces of information.
• WHO ARE YOU?
1

4. Who are you?
• Was your NAME and SURNAME the first thing that came to mind?
• If so, this is rather common because our names serve the purpose of
distinguishing us from others.
• Consider this: your name and surname are the first present you have ever
received from your parents! At the same time, they place you in a family,
and even a geographical location!

5. Who are you?
• What was the second information about yourself that you have written
down?
• Perhaps it was your role in the family – I am a daughter/mother/father…
or your occupation, I am a kindergarten teacher, etc.
FAMILY

6. Who are you?
• When we think about ourselves, we tend to start with placing ourselves in
social circles – starting from the closest one (family) and then expanding
to our occupation, etc.
• Daughters, sons, grandchildren…
• Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces,
nephews…
FAMILY

7. Language as identity

8. Who are you?
• Think about the language you use in different social circles, e.g., with
family, friends, at work, at the Faculty.
• Explain in two sentences: how does your language differ in different social
situations, in your daily life?
2

9. Who are you?
• In each of these social circles, we tend to use a specific variety of language
(a sociolect). Some are more similar (e.g., family and friends), and some
are rather different (e.g., family / faculty).
• This means that we have – an awareness of our social enviroment.
FAMILY
FRIENDS
(best friends,
acquaintances,
social media)
UNIVERSITY,
OCCUPATION…

10. Communication model
Pošiljalac poruka primatelj
• This means that we (as the SENDER) are always aware of who our RECEIVER is,
and we adapt our MESSAGE accordingly.
• We do not need to change the general idea of the message, BUT we do
change the DISCOURSE (style, grammar, and vocabulary of the message for
different contexts).

12. Communication model
UNIVERSITY

13. SOCIAL CONTEXT
1. Most of the time it is easy for us to be AWARE of the different social
contexts (even when they happen simultaneously). For example, at the
Faculty, you see a friend and say: Bok!, and then you see a professor and
say: Dobar dan! (you naturally switch from one style to another).
2. Sometimes we forget about the social context and we fail to switch our
language style appropriately – this is called overlapping.
Overlapping doesn’t only include the wrong use of language (Bok instead of a
Dobar dan), but also includes many other breaches of social rules and conduct.

14. Examples of overlap
For example, at the Faculty:
Interrupting a fellow student/professor
Speaking out of turn
Arguing rather than debating…
Adressing someone inappropriately.
Inappropriate non-verbal communication…
E-mailing the professor or employer from:
toaster69@gmail.com / dinamogirl@hotmail.com

15. Examples of overlap – in politics

16. Academic discourse
• Think about this: friends – argue. However, even in our arguments with
friends, we are aware of certain boundaries which we musn’t cross.
• In the academic community – discussion is encouraged, but with an open
mind; debate must be based on evidence, facts, and research. This must
also be reflected in the language style that we use – that is, one must use
the academic discourse.
• WHY?

17. Academic discourse
• Which text is more credible?

19. Academic discourse
• „ Longitudinalno istraživanje (21 godinu) koje je provodilo Britansko
medicinsko vijeće u Engleskoj i Walesu od 1965. godine, a koje je
uključivalo 36 000 djece u dobi od 10 mjeseci do dvije godine, pokazalo je
dugoročnu pozitivnu učinkovitost cjepiva (v. Miller C., „Live measles
vaccine: a 21-year follow-up”. British Medical Journal, 1987; 295:22-24).”

20. Academic discourse
• Many news portals, magazines etc., are fond of sensationalism and use
such language in order to attract readers/viewers.
• An academic paper uses academic discourse that is based on proven facts,
research results, and a language that is formal, neutral and objective.
• Why?

21. Discourse of Truth.
• To establish the truth.
• It is not about opinions or feelings, but…
„Academic discourse has come to be a privileged form of
argument in the modern world;
a demonstration of absolute truth, empirical evidence or
flawless logic (…)”. (Hyland, 2009)

22. Discourse of Truth.
Academic discourse „gives us an objective description of
what the world is actually like and we, in turn, invest it with
a cultural authority [based on our education and] free of
the cynicism”, which we often find in politics and
commerce. (Hyland, 2009)

23. Lack of respect towards the academic community
• What happens in a society when academic discourse is not being respected?
• Disrespected profession, trivialisation of science, relativisation of
knowledge.

24. Lack of respect towards the academic community
• Weaker boundaries between the academia and commerce,
politics etc. lead to the influx of corporate and marketing
language into education, science etc.
• E.g. visit some universities’ websites; vision, mission, strategies,
students – clients…

25. Lack of respect towards the academic community

26. Food for thought

27. Conclusion: Why is this important to you?

28. Why is this important to you?
• You are students – members of the academic community.
• You are preschool teachers – members of the academic community.
• You are guardians (and transmitters) of the knowledge of
children/upbringing etc. (accumulated over decades of study) and stand
between this knowledge and the other members of the public: parents,
children… even the public online.

29. In this course we will…
• Discuss types of discourse, particularly academic discourse.
• Recognize its importance in our personal growth as professionals and
members of the academic community.
• Use scientific and professional papers and literature and practice writing
our own.
• Gather other knowledge useful for writing your graduate thesis.
• Debate, discuss, and learn!