English Scientific Texts Research Articles

“... but be sure you let it settle”: Late Modern Authors’ Presence in English Scientific Texts

The use of pronouns shows the author’s intention to address the reading public or the presence of the target readership in texts. This paper focuses on second-person pronouns, which are especially revealing of the author`s desire to engage the reader by endowing on them an active role in the negotiation and construction of knowledge. For the same reason, we will also analyse the use of the word reader. Science writing is thus understood as a dialogue between the two groups of participants involved in knowledge creation. Two usages of you have been detected in previous works using the Coruña Corpus of English Scientific Writing (CC): general and dialogic. The former might be interpreted as a generic “one,” “everybody;” the latter, considered as an in-group strategy that embraces both the writer and the reader. The detailed analysis of the pragmatics of the second person pronouns and reader in Corpus of English Chemistry Texts (CEChET) and Late Modern English Medical Texts (LMEMT) will hopefully shed some light on the object-centred nature of scientific writing.

Readers’ Behavior during a Monitoring Task in English as a Foreign Language: Connecting Outcomes and Mental Processing

Metacognitive skills are important for text comprehension, especially at university where most learning processes are unsupervised, and students rely on self-control and regulation when reading for comprehension. In today’s universities, English as L2 has become the vehicle language for teaching and learning. However, some studies have concluded that university students who read English as L2 have inadequate metacognitive monitoring skills. Higher level processing skills, such as comprehension monitoring, are difficult to study and then improve. The main goal of the present study was to analyze the mental processing of readers when they monitored expository texts in English as L2 considering their English proficiency. Mental processing was related to readers’ behavior when performing a reading task by using a set of variables guided by a psychological mechanism proposed for inconsistency detection. A total of 169 university students participated. The task was modeled on the error detection paradigm, which involved assessing the comprehensibility of scientific texts in English and reporting comprehension difficulties encountered. A special software was used to collect detailed data online about the readers’ text processing and written reports. The results confirmed the set of processing variables and the theory-based predictions.

TRANSLATING METAPHORICAL TERMS OF ENGLISH SCI-TECH TEXTS INTO UKRAINIAN

The article highlights the peculiarities of the carried-out translation analysis of metaphorical terms in English specialized texts of natural sciences and technical sciences. During the study of English scientific and technical texts, the method of critical literature analysis and contextual analysis was applied, which involved the study of figurative constructions in the context of their use. Figurative means of various types were investigated using descriptive and comparative methods. The continuous sampling method was used to extract the corpus of the study. Systematization and generalization of the research results was carried out using the descriptive method. It is emphasized that the most common figurative device used in the scientific style is a metaphor. Since in modern scientific literature, a metaphor is most often used to describe an object or phenomenon, it can acquire a terminological character due to the figurative reinterpretation of commonly used words and the stability of the form. In the process of terminologicalization, the metaphor loses a significant part of its inherent imagery and the possibility of double interpretation, therefore, such a metaphor is quite characteristic of modern scientific prose. Since the main function of the terminological metaphor is informative, and therefore its use does not violate the functional features of the scientific style. It is noted that terminological metaphors, which are widely used in scientific style texts, can be translated into Ukrainian by a counterpart with a similar or changed character of imagery and a non-metaphorical word, conveying only the denotative meaning of the metaphor-term.

Нетипичные ошибки аспирантов в научных текстах на английском языке: способы устранения и предотвращения

The aim of the research is to identify the relationship between atypical errors of graduate students and the level of their foreign language competence of academic writing. The paper analyses the variants of translations of articles, annotations and reports made by students, examines the types of atypical errors found and offers tasks to eliminate and prevent them. The novelty of the research lies in systematising and providing rationale for atypical errors of graduate students when creating scientific texts in English. As a result, it has been proved that the main errors that arise among young scholars during the compilation of an English text are related to interference, i.e. the transfer of the rules of the native language into a foreign language; author’s exercises have been developed to improve the quality and competitiveness of student research papers in the international academic environment. The tasks proposed in the study are aimed at overcoming the negative influence of the Russian language when students write scientific papers in English.

Polish and English Discourses on the History of Medieval Italy: A Polysystem Study

The article deals with the problem of polysystem differences between Polish and English historical text dealing with Middle Ages. In the Polish literary tradition, the Renaissance poetics of translation favored free adaptations, totally independent of the originals. The British tradition of translation, codified at the end of the eighteenth century, did not allow paraphrase. On the contrary, translation should give a full transcript of the idea of the original text, while the style and manner of rendering should have the same character as in the original. As for the rhetoric of science, in the Polish language, it was first shaped by literary models of highly declensional Latin and then French models of purple prose. In the English language, scientific diction was based on inherent Germanic and Norman syntax-oriented models and openness to foreign patterns which was valued as a resistance against smooth reading and straightforward interpretations. The article analyses Henryk Samsonowicz’s introduction to Rozkwit średniowiecznej Europy [The Heyday of Medieval Europe] (2001) as well as the Polish translation of Chris Wickham’s Medieval Rome. Stability and Crisis of the City, 900–1150 (2015). The conclusion is that Polish and English scientific texts – not only those treating about Italy in the Middle Ages – belong to different genres. While ­Polish authors try to create linguistically transparent, smooth, and stylized essays belonging to belles-lettres, their English colleagues seem to be down-to-earth and precise, consciously preserving traces of cultural (Italian/ Roman) foreignness.

SPEECH REALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT A WORK OF GENIUS IN THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW

The article is dedicated to the investigation of the verbalization of the concept A WORK OF GENIUS in the world view of the English-speaking society. The proposed study was performed within the framework of linguogenionics, which examines the interpretation of the phenomenon of genius in language in general and in English in particular. The study is based on specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias, English scientific texts, as well as the British National Corpus. Special linguistic methods used in the study include definitional, componential analysis, which together with the use of contextual-interpretative method allowed conducting a conceptual analysis aimed at identifying the structure of the concept A WORK OF GENIUS in the scientific world view. The analysis of scientific publications allowed singling out the peripheral features of the studied concept in the English scientific picture of the world, namely: relevance, importance, time trial, mystery, usefulness, polysensity, universality. The English conceptual field GENIUS consists of three segments connected by a cyclic relationship. Each of these segments is denoted by a corresponding nuclear concept: GENIUS as a phenomenon, GENIUS as a person, and A WORK OF GENIUS. The ontological cycle consists of the following three parts: 1) a person endowed with 2) the gift of genius creates 3) a masterpiece that is recognized as a work of genius (in art or science), and this gives its creator the status of a genius. The relatively small amount of peripheral features of all nuclear concepts in the scientific picture of the world is accounted for by the fact that in scientific discourse the most frequent conceptual features are nuclear components. We see the prospect of the research in the possibility of further studies of geniuses in the paradigm of linguopersonology, contrastive linguistics and psycholinguistics.

A Systemic Functional Grammar Approach to the Study of Emphatic Constructions in English and Arabic Scientific Texts

The study deals with emphatic constructions in English and Arabic scientific texts. To the researcher’s best knowledge, this topic received little attention from linguistic researchers, exceptionally in functional grammar analysis. The importance of this study arises from the fact that some syntactic forms are effective linguistic choices for conveying the meaning of emphasis to the readers. The study aims to identify and analyze different types of linguistic constructions in English and Arabic scientific texts and show the similarities and differences between the two types of scientific texts under investigation. The study intends to analyze the structure of complex clauses by adopting Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) modal of ‘Systemic Functional Grammar’ of syntax and Prince’s (1978) modal of ‘Given-New’ information of discourse analysis. These models analyze-samples of English ‘Spaceport’ magazine and pieces of Arabic ‘Sadeem Bulletin’ magazine. Moreover, the study depends on a qualitative approach to answer the research questions and confirm its hypothesis. The results show that both languages use some syntactic forms, but Arabic is rich in its constructions. This difference is due to the nature and flexibility of both languages. The findings will be helpful for researchers concerned with syntax and scientific issues because it provides a rigorous analysis of complex clauses into simple parts and shows the focus of information in its suitable.

Aspects of translating scientific and technical texts from english into russian for specialists with technical education

This article analyzes various difficulties that are usually encountered by specialists with technical education when translating scientific and technical texts. And although the purpose of any translation is to convey the content of any text as accurately as possible, nevertheless, one should not forget about the peculiarities of translating scientific and technical texts. In most English scientific and technical texts there is a huge number of technical terms, and much more than in European languages. Therefore, when translating such kind of texts, it is necessary to take into account their specifics and, accordingly, competently select the means for the most accurate translation of the content of such texts, while preserving its lexical, grammatical and substantive aspects.

Text Cohesion in English Scientific Texts Written by Saudi Undergraduate Dentistry Students: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Textual and Logical Relations in Oral Biology Texts

This qualitative study examined multimodal cohesive devices in English oral biology texts by eight high-achieving Saudi English-as-a-foreign-language students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science Dentistry program. A Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) of the textual and logical cohesive devices in oral biology texts was conducted, employing Halliday and Hasan’s cohesion analysis scheme. The findings showed that students used varied cohesive devices: lexical cohesion, followed by reference and conjunctions. Although ellipsis was minimally employed in the oral biology texts, its discipline-specific uses emerged: the use of bullet points and numbered lists that facilitate recall. The SF-MDA of cohesion in multimodal semiotic resources highlighted the processes underlying construction of conceptual and linguistic knowledge of cohesive devices in oral biology texts. The results indicate that oral biology discourse is interdisciplinary, including a number of subfields in biology. The SF-MDA of pictorial oral biology representations indicates that they include instances of cohesive devices that illustrate and complement verbal texts. The results indicate that undergraduate students need to be provided with a variety of multimodal high-cohesion texts so that they can successfully extend underlying conceptual and logical meaning-making relations.

THE SEMANTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF DEIXIS IN SCIENTIFIC TEXTS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Texts in a scientific style usually differ from those in literary style, as the scientific method is related to scientific terminology. Sometimes artistic means of speech are used to ensure the imagery and emotionality of the narrative. Language was said to be a means of perceiving being and communicating about it. But language does not exactly reflect the being, it interacts with the being through its internal structure. Languages differ in their structure and grammatical structure. In this article the author explains the variety of using deictic tools in scientific texts in English and in Uzbek. All the materials are collected from the texts from natural scientific texts. They are analyzed by their usage. The semantic difference of deixis are shown with the help of the examples.

RELEVANCE OF TRANSLATION IN ESP TEACHING METHODOLOGY

This paper offers an observation and discussion on the relevance and scope of presence of translation within English for Specific Purposes courses in academic settings of the Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš. There is concern with methodological issues of translation skills regarding domain terminology. This subsumes translation methodology, finding precise target language equivalents, as well as determining whether to translate a text, respecting the syntax of the target language, or to paraphrase it with the primary aim to most precisely convey information contained in the original. The main argument and the issue of the survey conducted with the students of both faculties is direct correlation between translation, or absence of it for that matter, and the cognition of the domain content taught. Then, there is an emphasis on a wider social context that implies inducing in students the awareness of the responsibility they as future professionals and experts in their field have towards their own mother tongue in the dissemination of content knowledge. It is common in the Serbian scientific and professional environment that the translation of scientific texts in English is done by domain experts without consulting linguists, philologists of Serbian language. The consequence is mere (and often incorrect) transliteration of English scientific terminology, and ultimately uncurbed influx of foreign terminology. Yet another argument on the relevance of the previous one is that translation enhances soft transversal skills such as thoughtfulness and critical thinking which among others benefit comprehension of the domain knowledge, as it has been noted that professors, and then students use the English terminology while speaking Serbian, where the latter group do not fully understand the content presented in such scientific ‘newspeak’. The paper presents concrete teaching practice which has for its goal inducing the students with cautiousness when choosing professional terminology in either language.

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION FROM ENGLISH INTO BELARUSIAN

The article deals with the problem of improving the quality of machine-based translation. The paper provides the neural network and statistical approaches with control over the created automatic specialized dictionaries for the development of a system for the automatic translation of English scientific and technical texts on information technologies into Belarusian. The article considers the main aspects and stages of linguistic database and algorithmic model developing for the given purpose and analyses the results and prospects of the developed automated information system “English-Belarusian Dictionary”.     &nbsp

THE FORMATION OF LINGUISTIC AND EXTRA-LINGUISTIC COMPETENCES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS IN ACADEMIC WRITING COURSE

The acquisition of competencies (knowledge and skills) necessary for a modern professional is impossible according to known models in the context of the formation of a new humanistic paradigm of higher education. The purpose of the study is to highlight the problems of introducing academic writing as an element of academic integrity and as a basic component of academic culture in a modern university, as well as to propose a model for the development of linguistic and extra-linguistic competences while working on the writing of scientific texts in English on the basis of the textbook “Introduction to academic writing” as a way of solving the above-mentioned problems. The article contains an analysis of the scientific fund for updating the methods and forms of organizing the educational process, which involves the acquisition of certain linguistic and extra-linguistic competences by the applicants for higher education. The prerequisites and possibilities for the development of such competences derive from the orientation of education towards the full development of the personality of the future specialist and the support of the principles of academic integrity, paying attention to the mastery of high-quality academic writing skills. It has been established in the study that academic writing is an element of academic culture and is a system in which language is a means of forming a multidimensional set of skills, including both linguistic (syntax, stylistic, etc.) and extralinguistic competences such as logic, objectivity, analysis and synthesis, respect for the ideas and texts of others. The study also identified the essence of the need to observe ethical standards in the institution of higher education and to learn how to formulate and prove one’s own hypotheses and conclusions, to structure the academic text according to the norms of the English language. The essence of the concepts of academic integrity, and academic writing as well as the concepts of linguistic and extra-linguistic competences is also defined. The study provided is supplemented by a structured teaching manual which was developed taking into account the experience of authors of foreign linguistic literature, where among the skills and abilities required by the English-speaking academic environment, the competence to effectively use the various methods of writing essays, describing graphic information, writing scientific article and thesis is indicated.
 It is noted in the article that the mentioned skills and abilities are within the most challenging area for applicants and require an approach to learning in which written competence is a key one and the overall learning process is based on the active use of written speech.

A brief overview of foreign resources for authors on teaching writing, translation and editing services for scientific texts in English

A brief overview of foreign resources for authors on teaching writing, translation and editing services for scientific texts in English

Compound Term-nouns in Electrical Engineering Texts: Structural, Semantic and Functional Peculiarities

This article aims to analyze, systematize, and unify compound term-nouns in electrical engineering by several classifications. The report's significance draws on the modern linguistic trends towards research on the structural, semantic, and functional peculiarities of compound terminological units. Moreover, it is relevant to study compound term-nouns as specific lexical content of English electrical engineering texts. The article's scientific novelty is in integrated and systematic research of compound term-nouns in electrical engineering because of semantics, stylistics, and lexicology. The study used a continuous sampling method and drew on a collection of English scientific and technical texts with 10296 pages. Compound term-nouns have been systematized according to their semantics. In electrical engineering, they consist of seven micro fields. According to the degree of abstraction, compound term-nouns have been classified into abstract and concrete. We revealed that in the texts on electrical engineering, abstract compound term-nouns dominate. Concerning the degree of stylistic features, we have arranged compound term-nouns into stylistically colored and stylistically neutral. As to usage frequency, we have researched that science textbook is the primary source of functioning compound term-nouns in electrical engineering. In respect to functional coloring, compound term-nouns have been classified into neologisms, obsolete vocabulary, archaisms, occasionalisms, and borrowings. We have found that in texts on electrical engineering borrowings, prevail. The results of the study have been summarized in the concluding section.

STRATEGI MEMAHAMI KATA-KATA SULIT DALAM MEMBACA TEKS BERBAHASA INGGRIS

The purpose of writing this article is to describe the easy way to understand difficult words in reading scientific texts in English. We often find difficult words, which hinder understanding of the contents of English-language reading. In fact, we are often lazy to continue reading, and are very time consuming when searching for the meaning of words in a dictionary. If only one or two words are found it doesn't matter. However, if more than ten difficult words will interfere and hinder understanding of the contents of the reading, and will depend on the dictionary. For that there are several steps we can take to avoid obstacles in understanding the English text as a whole. For that reason, there is no need to worry if finding difficult words in a text, through the context of the sentence can help guess the exact meaning of the word.Keywords: Difficultwords, Strategy, and English Text

Communicative-syntactic model of teaching precis writing of English scientific texts in a non-core university

An important condition for the formation of foreign language professional communicative competence is the development of a skill of precis writing. Annotation of scientific texts suggests a strong command to determine communicative and semantic structure of the text. However, this process is complicated by information saturation of a scientific text, which on the level of linguistic interpretation manifests in a high frequency of syntactic constructs with complex communicative and semantic structure. Using the example of one of such structures (sentences with gerundive turn as an adverbial), the author examines the peculiarities of teaching the aspects of precis writing, which are related to the analysis of semantic structure of the text and develop the following skills: the ability to determine communicative significance of thematic sequence that ensure logical-semantic integrity of the text, as well as ability to segment the English sentence considering its syntactic specificities and interaction with semantic structure of the text. The proposed model of teaching of the discursive aspects of precis writing is focused on the necessity to form the skill of integration of knowledge regarding the peculiarities of linguistic interpretation of local and global connectedness of the scientific text for determination of most important elements of its content and further creation of logically organized and connected secondary text.

ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ЕЛІПТИЧНИХ КОНСТРУКЦІЙ У АНГЛОМОВНИХ НАУКОВО-ТЕХНІЧНИХ ТЕКСТАХ

The article is devoted to the study of one of the most important issues in modern linguistics – the problem of elliptical sentences, namely their definition, classification, different approaches to the study of this phenomenon and functioning in English-language scientific and technical texts. One of the tasks of scientific text is the ability to convey a large amount of new information in a sufficiently limited amount of text. It is this that leads to syntactic compression (the use of an ellipse) in such texts. Syntactic compression, as we have mentioned, is one of the characteristics of the modern scientific style. Authors of scientific texts seek to reduce the amount of text by compression, while increasing its content. Ellipse is a multidimensional phenomenon in language that allows authors to make the communication process more productive by using language savings. The ellipse has an extremely large pragmatic potential in achieving an extralinguistic effect. The use of the ellipse as a means of linguistic economy in scientific and technical texts is especially appropriate because the characteristic features of scientific and technical style are its informativeness (content), logic (strict sequence, clear connection between the main idea and details), accuracy and objectivity. It is an effective way of unloading sentence matter and exempting it from meaningfully redundant or structurally redundant components that carry repetitive information, it is based on the principle of compactification of predicative units. From a stylistic point of view, the desire to save language means leads to the emergence of new constructions that enrich the language, make speech dynamic, expressive. The article considers pragmatic and linguistic features of the ellipse, its structural and functional features. The article traces an attempt to review and structure the main theoretical approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "ellipse", the study of functions that perform elliptical structures in sentence structure and analysis of functional features of elliptical structures in English scientific and technical texts.

DIALOGISM AS A BASIC TEXT CATEGORY AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE ENGLISH SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TEXTS

The article investigates dialogism as a category of English scientific and technical texts, ways and means of its interpretation. Being a communicative category, dialogism becomes an object of linguistic analysis due to the development of text communicative paradigm and discourse investigation. The topicality of the paper is determined by insufficient investigation of the category of dialogism in scientific and technical texts, its significance for their comprehension and interpretation, as well as by absence of works devoted to considering the ways and means of their interpretation. The article aims to identify units and means of rendering the abovementioned category in the process of dealing with English scientific and technical articles of electronics. The multi-dimensional, complex nature of dialogism is determined in a number of dialogic relationships: inter-subjective (between the author and the reader), interdisciplinary (between the author and other authors) and intrinsic (within the same text between its parts). Dialogism is an integral category of scientific and technical texts not only due to the purpose of their creation which consists in spreading certain scientific and technical information among specialists, but also in communicative intentions of these texts’ authors by establishing contact with the addressee and attracting their attention to the most important information.

Teaching Academic English to Russian-speaking Academic Staff: The Case of the Office of Academic Writing

The paper discusses the preliminary results of teaching academic writing to scientific and academic staff at South Ural State University (national research university) within the framework of advanced training courses. The 36 and 72-hour training programs were developed by the academic and methodological department of the Office of Academic Writing. The Office was opened at the university in 2016 in order to improve the academic literacy of the university’s academic staff, develop professional communication skills in English, and assist authors who aspire to get their papers published in top rated scientific journals indexed in the scientific citation databases Scopus and Web of Science. Upon completion of these programs, authors of scientific papers gain knowledge about the basics of academic writing, the structure of a scientific paper, the English scientific style and its lexical and grammatical features, as well as editing a paper, working with scientific citation databases, and elaborating a publishing strategy. We conducted a study from October 2016 to December 2018 and calculated data on the attendees’ affiliation (an institute or higher school), the contingent (position), and the importance of the offered training programs (the number of attendees in each course). The obtained data indicates that representatives of social-humanitarian and technical fields show a special interest in the courses. The courses of academic writing are most popular among associate professors who have experience in publishing papers in Russian. Authors are especially interested in intensive practice-oriented programs. Upon completion of the courses and with the support of the Office of Academic Writing, attendees prepared scientific texts in English and submitted them to top rated journals and conference proceedings. The educational activity of the Office of Academic Writing can be developed through elaboration and implementation of new advanced training programs, including the distance ones. Their effectiveness will be evaluated by an increase in the publication activity of the university’s employees.