Доброва В.В., Елизарова Е.А., Крутская С.В., Сысуева И.Г.

Д 56 English for Academic Purposes: учебник / В.В. Доброва, Е.А. Елизарова, С.В. Крутская, И.Г. Сысуева – Самара: Самар. гос. техн. ун-т, 2015. – 182 с.

 

Предлагаемый учебник предназначен для развития навыков устной речи в группах магистров, аспирантов и научных сотрудников, готовящихся к сдаче кандидатского экза­мена по английскому языку, а также к любым видам работ, предполагающим владение академическим английским языком. Учебник содержит оригинальные тексты с большим количеством тематически организованных речевых оборотов, характерных для современного научного дискурса, и тренировочных заданий, нацеленных на развитие навыков научного письма и устной презентации.

 

 

ББК Ш13 Англ-923

УДК 811.111 (075.8)

Д 56

Рецензент: к.ф.н., доцент Суханова И.А.

 

© В.В. Доброва, Е.А. Елизарова, С.В. Крутская, И.Г. Сысуева 2015

© Самарский государственный технический университет, 2015

Introduction

 

This textbook may be used by anyone who learns the kind of English which is used in academic contexts. It deals with the kinds of language used in academic textbooks and articles as well as in lectures and seminars. It also presents vocabulary relating to being a post-graduate student at a university or college and covers the topics associated with university life. It will be particularly useful for students preparing for any examination and especially candidates' English examination. It will be helpful for people who needs to attend or give lectures and presentations in English or to participate in international conferences. It will enable students who have to prepare assignments or write up a dissertation in English to do so in a much more natural and appropriate way.

The book presents and practices the kind of vocabulary that is used in academic speech. It does not deal with the specialist vocabulary of any particular subject. It presents the more general words used for discussing ideas and research and for talking about academic work that you need to be familiar with in order to feel comfortable in an academic environment. Despite the fact that they are much more frequent than specialist words, these more general words are often felt to be more difficult to learn. It is, therefore, extremely useful to approach them in the systematic way suggested by this textbook.

The book involves 48 sections. The sections are organized into 3 units. The first unit includes 11 sections focusing on aspects of life and research at academic institutions.

The second unit is devoted to the basic aspects of academic vocabulary such as what is special about academic vocabulary, key verbs and key quantifying expressions, aspects of opinions and ideas, words typically combine with one another in academic English, etc.

 The third unit discusses the ways of talking about describing data: numbers, time, cause and effect. There are four reference sections dealing with numbers, units of measurement, common symbols, and abbreviations.

 

How should I use this book?

We recommend that you work through the 48 sections so that you become familiar with key aspects of academic vocabulary and how best to study it.

You need a notebook or file in which you can write down all the academic vocabulary that you study in this book as well as any other words and expressions that you come across elsewhere. In your vocabulary notebook it is important to record such things as:

• examples of the word or expression in use

• typical word combinations - you might, for example, note down adjectives or verbs typically associated with a noun that you want to learn or nouns, adverbs or prepositions associated with a verb

• any additional vocabulary that may help you to learn the key vocabulary (e.g. does a verb have a related noun, or what is the opposite of an adjective?)

• any extended uses of the word being focused on (e.g. does the same word have other meanings in the way that so many English words do?).

You also need to have access to a good dictionary. Dictionary provides exactly the kind of information that you need in order to be able to understand and use English vocabulary. Through its example sentences it provides you with the information you need about how the word is used in practice and which other words it typically combines with. The dictionary also helps you with difficult items. You will need a specialist dictionary relating to your own subject area as well. Your teacher may also be able to recommend other dictionaries for your specific needs.

UNIT 1