From abstracts to “60-second science” podcasts: Reformulation of scientific discourse

Abstract

This paper examines Scientific American's 60-Second Science podcasts from a genre perspective to identify structural and linguistic strategies for reformulating scientific discourse for diversified audiences. Move analysis of 110 representative texts revealed a dominant structural pattern consisting of an engaging Orientation, a foregrounded Claim followed by the establishment of its Credibility, the conventional Introduction-Methods-Results-Discussion, and a distinctive Termination often flavored with witty humor. This pattern contains the essential components of academic abstracts, research presentations, and science news reports. However, despite some overlapping moves, 60-Second Science differs from any of these similar genres in terms of communicative purposes, target audiences, move sequences, and even types of move signals. Apart from common linguistic devices used in typical academic genres, other notable move signals include topic shifters, rhetorical questions, and voice shifts between the podcasters and researchers. Meanwhile, weaving researchers' voices into the podcasters', frequent use of engagement devices such as inclusive pronouns, reader pronouns, self-mentions, questions, and hedges result in a highly dialogic and interactional style. These structural and linguistic features may make 60-Second Science podcasts an authentic listening resource suitable for EFL students to acquire a basic awareness of academic spoken discourse and strengthen the interface between general and academic English.