Spoken and written language Example of an authentic presentation/lecture: Um, let’s talk about psychological tests. So there’s interviewing, um, which is my personal favourite way of trying to figure out what’s going on. But there’re also tests, and these can be used obviously in a much broader sense you can give the test to a lot of people at the same time… um sometimes they can be very helpful in trying to get a grip on … um specific issues they’re trying to assess.. And when we talk about tests we always have to talk about validity and reliability, and this is stuff that is probably familiar to you from Introductory Psychology. Uh, all these kinds of validity that you have here on your, um, in your notes are fancy names for what is basically common sense. Typical features of spoken language: - vocabulary: colloquial words and phrases; approximation and vagueness - syntax: less complex sentences; coordination (and, so) rather than subordination - discourse structure: discourse markers (well, now), repetition and redundancy, references to “here and now” - low lexical density (proportion of content words to the total discourse) E.g.: After reviewing the nature and the extent of the recent growth of business services in Britain, the wider significance of such growth will be examined. x I will first review the nature of the recent growth of business services in Britain and try to determine how large this growth is. Then, I will go on to examine the wider significance of such an increase. - less frequent use of nominalisation Discussion of these factors will be followed by the identification of a number of conclusions that are common to both countries. x I will first discuss these factors and then identify a number of conclusions that are common to both countries. Rewrite the following sentences to make them more suitable for the spoken register. 1. The present research project comprises methods of development and application of mathematical simulations to real world engineering problems in three principal areas. 2. Far right ideologies have thereafter been the focus of renewed academic – since the recent European election – political interest. 3. New research into the effects of sedentary behaviour has called into question the commonly held assumption that obesity and TV viewing are directly related. Spoken and written language Example of an authentic presentation/lecture: Um, let’s talk about psychological tests. So there’s interviewing, um, which is my personal favourite way of trying to figure out what’s going on. But there’re also tests, and these can be used obviously in a much broader sense you can give the test to a lot of people at the same time… um sometimes they can be very helpful in trying to get a grip on … um specific issues they’re trying to assess.. And when we talk about tests we always have to talk about validity and reliability, and this is stuff that is probably familiar to you from Introductory Psychology. Uh, all these kinds of validity that you have here on your, um, in your notes are fancy names for what is basically common sense. Typical features of spoken language: - vocabulary: colloquial words and phrases; approximation and vagueness - syntax: less complex sentences; coordination (and, so) rather than subordination - discourse structure: discourse markers (well, now), repetition and redundancy, references to “here and now” - low lexical density (proportion of content words to the total discourse) E.g.: After reviewing the nature and the extent of the recent growth of business services in Britain, the wider significance of such growth will be examined. x I will first review the nature of the recent growth of business services in Britain and try to determine how large this growth is. Then, I will go on to examine the wider significance of such an increase. - less frequent use of nominalisation Discussion of these factors will be followed by the identification of a number of conclusions that are common to both countries. x I will first discuss these factors and then identify a number of conclusions that are common to both countries. Rewrite the following sentences to make them more suitable for the spoken register. 4. The present research project comprises methods of development and application of mathematical simulations to real world engineering problems in three principal areas. 5. Far right ideologies have thereafter been the focus of renewed academic – since the recent European election – political interest. New research into the effects of sedentary behaviour has called into question the commonly held assumption that obesity and TV viewing are directly related.