English for special purposesEnglish for science and technology [Archives:2005/830/Education]

By Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
Associate Professor
Faculty of Education
Mahweet
Over the past few years, there has been a steady increase in focus on the use of a specialized variety of English for specific disciplines. This is broadly known as register- based English or English for special purposes (ESP). M. A. K. Halliday, a prominent linguist, defines 'register' as 'language distinguished according to 'use' not to 'user'. Within the broad framework of general English, register based use of English forms a subset where there is high correlation between linguistic features and subject matter. The individual style or idiolect has no place in register simply because the focus in on 'use' and not the 'user'. Examples of register based use of English are :English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and Trade (EBT), Legal English, Religious English and so forth.

Let's look at some of the main features of EST. In science and technology, language is used to define, classify, report, explain, and prove. Clarity of concepts and logical thinking are very important cornerstones of scientific English. Keith Jones and Peter Roe in their seminal paper “Designing English for Science and Technology” (1975) rightly point out that the central concern of EST is the accessibility of knowledge. 'We thus need a rhetoric that reveals how knowledge is mapped into the print and sound system of English.'

The language here serves a purely referential purpose. Objectivity and impersonal tone are the watchwords in science and technology. Most often it is concerned with the referential or propositional meaning of language and not with the pragmatic or a socio-linguistic meaning.The latter is used in a context where the speaker or writer has a particular listener or reader with a distinct socio-cultural background in mind. Obviously, the language in science and technology is valued for objective, propositional content, where an interrogative structure means a question and a declaration is embedded in a statement.

English for science and technology is a variety of language usage. Here the language is manifested in a certain way in the expression of concepts and procedures that characterizes the study of science and technology. Language, per se according to this view is not of vital importance in so far as the its basic concern is with the purely symbolic operations of the language. Hence words are primarily associated with, what MAK Halliday calls, “the heuristic and representational functions” as contrasted with “personal and interactional function.” Therefore words used in English for science and technology have to be immune to any cultural associations or implications.

There is a high degree of correlation between grammatical structures and the purpose of language. As far as the style of writing is concerned, there is little scope for individual style of writing. As a natural corollary of this, a greater emphasis is put on the language 'use' and not the 'user'. Moreover, there is little consideration for role relationships.

In view of these features , the teacher of EST is ultimately concerned with teaching language as a linguistic system. There is a greater accent put on the 'use' rather than 'usage' with a shift of emphasis from 'grammar' to 'rhetorical acts'. As such, in teaching the register of science, there is no scope to focus on language as a social system in order to preserve its objectivity.

The most important purpose of English for science and technology is, so to say, not to show how beautifully one can write, how wide is one's vocabulary, how varied is one's sentence structure ,but to focus on its referential,roles and functions . Keeping this in view, English for science and technology should be properly taught and learnt.
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