The following scholars have agreed to give plenary talks during the conference:
prof. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Masaryk University, the Czech Republic
English academic discourse: Challenging norms and changing conventions for experts and novice writers
The globalization of academia and the rise of English as the lingua franca of academic communication have affected deeply most of the epistemological and literacy traditions in Europe. This has called for research into the differences between English academic discourse conventions and non-Anglophone academic traditions and the changes experienced by non-Anglophone European academic discourses under the influence of the dominant Anglo-American academic norms.
This talk addresses the distinctive features of English academic discourse and compares it to Central European academic literacies. It draws on the findings of several corpus-based cross-cultural studies exploring English-medium academic discourse to discuss and illustrate differences between the ways in which Anglophone and Central European scholars strive to enhance the persuasiveness of their discourse by conveying authorial presence, creating cohesive links and using citations when writing academic texts. It also considers the challenges that novice non-native writers face as part of their secondary socialization in the academic discourse community.
The talk suggests that intercultural variation could be seen as enriching rather than restraining international English-medium academic communication.
prof. Julia Hüettner, University of Southampton, the United Kingdom
Occupying a new space: Oral disciplinary language skills in English-Medium Instruction
Bilingual education programmes involving English are currently experiencing an unprecedented rise in popularity, both at school and at university levels. While one of the aims of such educational programmes lies in developing both academic knowledge and language proficiency, our understanding of the nexus between these two elements – language and content – is still developing. I would argue that disciplinary language, both its learning and use, can provide a unique focus on content and language interaction, both in the participants’ educational practices and for researchers.
In this talk, I will outline the issues surrounding disciplinary language use, both at secondary and tertiary levels of education. I will focus on two areas of research; firstly, I will outline the perceptions of students and teachers, at school and at university, surrounding disciplinary language, showing the difficulty of clearly positioning it on a continuum from “language” to “content” and the diverse interpretations of stakeholders.
The second area of research will focus on oral language production within the discipline. I will highlight two studies, one at university and one at upper-secondary school level, to show patterns of language production in terms of lexico-phraseological profiles of teacher talk and student production, as well as discourse-pragmatic analyses of patterns of argumentation and reasoning. The focus will lie on the potential of English-Medium-Instruction observed in student production.
The final section of my talk will highlight the pedagogic practices observed, including bilingual ones, and the effect of these on students’ language production. Implications for practices in both secondary and tertiary EMI programmes will focus on teacher education and classroom practices.
prof. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Masaryk University, the Czech Republic
English academic discourse: Challenging norms and changing conventions for experts and novice writers
The globalization of academia and the rise of English as the lingua franca of academic communication have affected deeply most of the epistemological and literacy traditions in Europe. This has called for research into the differences between English academic discourse conventions and non-Anglophone academic traditions and the changes experienced by non-Anglophone European academic discourses under the influence of the dominant Anglo-American academic norms.
This talk addresses the distinctive features of English academic discourse and compares it to Central European academic literacies. It draws on the findings of several corpus-based cross-cultural studies exploring English-medium academic discourse to discuss and illustrate differences between the ways in which Anglophone and Central European scholars strive to enhance the persuasiveness of their discourse by conveying authorial presence, creating cohesive links and using citations when writing academic texts. It also considers the challenges that novice non-native writers face as part of their secondary socialization in the academic discourse community.
The talk suggests that intercultural variation could be seen as enriching rather than restraining international English-medium academic communication.
prof. Julia Hüettner, University of Southampton, the United Kingdom
Occupying a new space: Oral disciplinary language skills in English-Medium Instruction
Bilingual education programmes involving English are currently experiencing an unprecedented rise in popularity, both at school and at university levels. While one of the aims of such educational programmes lies in developing both academic knowledge and language proficiency, our understanding of the nexus between these two elements – language and content – is still developing. I would argue that disciplinary language, both its learning and use, can provide a unique focus on content and language interaction, both in the participants’ educational practices and for researchers.
In this talk, I will outline the issues surrounding disciplinary language use, both at secondary and tertiary levels of education. I will focus on two areas of research; firstly, I will outline the perceptions of students and teachers, at school and at university, surrounding disciplinary language, showing the difficulty of clearly positioning it on a continuum from “language” to “content” and the diverse interpretations of stakeholders.
The second area of research will focus on oral language production within the discipline. I will highlight two studies, one at university and one at upper-secondary school level, to show patterns of language production in terms of lexico-phraseological profiles of teacher talk and student production, as well as discourse-pragmatic analyses of patterns of argumentation and reasoning. The focus will lie on the potential of English-Medium-Instruction observed in student production.
The final section of my talk will highlight the pedagogic practices observed, including bilingual ones, and the effect of these on students’ language production. Implications for practices in both secondary and tertiary EMI programmes will focus on teacher education and classroom practices.