What Is Academic Language?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Academic language is a meta-language that helps learners acquire the 50,000 words they are expected to have internalized by the end of high school and includes everything from illustration and chart literacy to speaking, grammar, and genres within fields.

What are examples of academic language?

Academic language is the language needed by students to do the work in schools. It includes, for example, discipline-specific vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and applications of rhetorical conventions and devices that are typical for a content area (e.g., essays, lab reports, discussions of a controversial issue.)

How would you define academic language?

Academic language refers to the oral, written, auditory, and visual language proficiency required to learn effectively in schools and academic programs —i.e., it’s the language used in classroom lessons, books, tests, and assignments, and it’s the language that students are expected to learn and achieve fluency in.

What are the 4 components of academic language?

These include morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and phonology . Morphology is the study of word structure. It describes how words are formed out of more basic elements of language called morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language.

What are academic language words?

In education, academic language refers to the words we use mostly in schools in places like text books, lessons, assignments and tests. It’s the vocabulary students need to learn and is necessary for their success in school.

What are the 3 categories of academic language?

The three main components of academic language are vocabulary, grammatical structures, and functions .

What are the academic language skills?

Academic language skills include three skills: (1) use of inferential language (communicating about ideas across contexts); (2) use of narrative language (clearly describing a series of events); and (3) understanding a range of academic vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Why do we need academic language?

Students who are proficient in the Academic Language for the subject areas you teach will be much better equipped to acquire new knowledge through reading and listening, and to express this knowledge and their ideas through oral discussions, writing and test taking.

What are the characteristics of academic writing?

  • Complexity. Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language.
  • Formality. Academic writing is relatively formal.
  • Precision. In academic writing, facts and figures are given precisely.
  • Objectivity. ...
  • Explicitness.
  • Accuracy.
  • Hedging.
  • Responsibility.

What are the purposes of doing an academic writing?

The most common purpose in academic writing is to explain some idea or research finding and to persuade readers that your explanation or theory is the correct one. In doing so, you may need to describe an object, place, or activity.

What is an academic structure?

The academic structure and its elements are the building blocks for an academic institution , from the institution itself down to degrees. Components of the structure include such things as academic careers, academic departments, plans and subplans, subjects, etc.

How language affects your life as a student?

Learning a new language, or even being surrounded by lots of languages, can have a big impact on your studies. ... A study showed that bilingual children scored higher in cognitive performance tests than their monolingual friends, and students who study foreign languages also score better on standardised exams.

What are the five features of academic language?

  • Complexity. Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language. ...
  • Formality. Academic writing is relatively formal. ...
  • Precision. In academic writing, facts and figures are given precisely. ...
  • Objectivity. ...
  • Explicitness. ...
  • Accuracy. ...
  • Hedging. ...
  • Responsibility.

How do you create an academic language?

  1. 5 Tips for Teaching Academic Language. ...
  2. Teach one word at a time in an explicit direct instruction format. ...
  3. Equip your students with sentence frames they can use for discussion, writing, and collaboration. ...
  4. Integrate academic language into your daily practice through content areas. ...
  5. Make a wall of academic language words.

What is the best definition of academic vocabulary?

Academic Vocabulary is defined as words that are traditionally used in academic dialogue and text. Specifically, it refers to words that are not necessarily common or frequently encountered in informal conversation .

What is standard academic English?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. English for academic purposes (EAP), commonly known as Academic English, entails training students, usually in a higher education setting, to use language appropriately for study . It is one of the most common forms of English for specific purposes (ESP).

Ahmed Ali
Author
Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Ali is a financial analyst with over 15 years of experience in the finance industry. He has worked for major banks and investment firms, and has a wealth of knowledge on investing, real estate, and tax planning. Ahmed is also an advocate for financial literacy and education.