Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.

Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna

LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

English for Academic and Professional Purposes

11
First Semester-First Quarter
Lara Bernadette B. Balderas
larabalderas.hrc@gmail.com
Time allotment: 2 weeks (8 hours)

Module 1
Aspects of Academic and Professional Language

Lesson Description:
Academic writing requires sophisticated use of language. Since your task as students includes
writing for assignments, exams, and reports, there is an expected quality in your use of language
and structuring of texts.

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
• Identify the aspects of professional and academic language.
• Apply the language features in academic writing.

Lesson: Aspects of Academic and Professional Language

A. Formality
B. Objectivity
C. Explicitness
D. Caution
E. Structure

How much do you know about academic writing? Read reach statement below and decide
whether you agree or disagree with it by placing a check mark in the appropriate column.

Statement Agree Disagree

1. Academic writing follows the same rules and
conventions as other types of writing, like poetry and
writing.
2. Academic writing uses and cites credible references and
sources following a specific format.
3. Academic writing is an expressive form of writing
primarily aimed at allowing the writer to convey his/her
ideas.
4. Personal blogs and information from social media can be
used as a reference in academic writing.
5. Academic writers analyze the writing situation and go
through the writing process to communicate ideas
effectively.

Writing in the university level and in the workplace is done with clear purpose in mind. The most
common reasons for writing are the following:
• To report findings from research endeavors
• To discuss a concept to a greater populace
HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester 1
 Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.
Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna
LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

• To formulate a solution to a problem

• To evaluate programs and personnel

Academic and professional reports come in different forms. Each type serves a specific purpose
and follows an acceptable format. Below are some of the common types of written work
produced by students and professionals alike.
ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
◦ FORMALITY
◦ OBJECTIVITY
◦ EXPLICITNESS
◦ CAUTION
◦ STRUCTURE

A. FORMALITY
o Formality reflects your dignified stance in your writing as a member of the academic
community.
❑ Register refers to the degree of formality of language use, while tone pertains to
the writer’s attitude or treatment of the subject matter. Both are expected to be
formal and professional.
o The written output adheres to the set standards acceptable in the academic and
professional community.

To achieve formality, keep in mind the following points:

1. Avoid contractions.
A contraction is a common feature of spoken language but in formal writing, it is
avoided.
Can’t Cannot
Haven’t Have not
Won’t Will not
Couldn’t Could not
Isn’t Is not

2. Avoid figurative language.

Formal writing adheres to direct and clear expressions and avoids creating multiple
meanings that can confuse readers.
FIGURATIVE FORMAL
You should start investing now because as Investing at a young age is an important
the old adage goes, “Opportunity knocks decision one has to make to secure a good
only once.” financial situation in the future.

3. Observe rules in writing numbers and acronyms.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration
(PAGASA) last Monday declared the start of the summer season as the ridge of High-Pressure Area
(HPA) extended across Luzon. PAGASA reminds everybody to stay hydrated and avoid sun
exposure especially from 10 AM to 4 PM as this may cause sunburn.

4. Avoid slang and colloquial expressions.

These are typically used in casual spoken conversation but may appear weak and
inappropriate when used in formal writing.

HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester
2
 Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.
Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna
LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

A lot Several/Many
Wanna Want to
Gonna Going to
Kinda Somewhat
Sort of Rather

5. Choose one-word verb over two-word verbs.

Mess up Damage
Set up Establish
Cut down Reduce
Gone up Increased
Come up Create

2. OBJECTIVITY
o The writing must be impersonal and maintain a certain level of social distance.
o The writer avoids expressing personal opinions about the subject matter and resorts to
facts in presenting evidence.

To achieve objectivity, keep in mind the following points:

1. Avoid the use of personal pronouns.
The researchers need to conduct the
You need to conduct the experiment.
experiment.

2. Avoid rhetorical questions.

Certain measures must be discovered
How can these problems be solved?
to solve the problem.

3. Avoid emotive language.

The investigators were very shocked to The investigators did not expect the
see the outcome of the tests. results.

C. EXPLICITNESS
o Academic writing demands the use of signposts that allow readers to trace the
relationships in the part of a study.

To show explicitness, keep in

mind the following points:
If you want to tell your reader
that your line of argument is
going to change, make it clear.
If you think that one sentence
gives reasons for something in
another sentence, make it
explicit.
If you think two ideas are
almost the same, say so.
Examples
It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance
to the poorest of the poor. However, giving dole outs to the
“poorest of the poor” does not work in the long run.
With the Supreme Court ordering MERALCO to return
overcharges to the end users, government offices have been
tapped to operate as claim setters. This resulted in a number
of MERALCO consumers trooping to the City Hall to claim
the PHP 500.00 cash incentive.
The study showed that eighty percent of the 200 participants
involved in the study were dissatisfied with the operations of
MERALCO. Similarly, the data revealed that majority of the

HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester
3
 Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.
Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna
LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

participants were not aware of the charges imposed on them

by MERALCO.
If you intend your sentence to MERALCO has been operating business conglomerate
give extra information, make it involving foreign stakeholders and independent power
clear. producers or IPP. In addition, MERALCO owns major IPPs
operating in the region.
If you are giving examples, do The MERALCO issue has led to disputes between opposition
it explicitly. and administration senators. For example, those who have
been labeled as against the president considered the issue as
the administration’s way of avoiding the NBN-ZTE scandal.

Signaling words/Signposts:
1. Time/order
at first, eventually, finally, first, firstly, in the end, in the first place, in the second place, lastly,
later, next, second, secondly, to begin with
2. Comparison/similar ideas
in comparison, in the same way, similarly
3. Contrast/opposite ideas
but, despite, in spite of, even so, however, in contrast, in spite of this, nevertheless, on the
contrary, on the other hand, still, whereas, yet
4. Cause and effect
accordingly, as a consequence, as a result, because, because of this, consequently, for this reason,
hence, in consequence, in order to, owing to this, since, so, so that, therefore, thus
5. Examples
for example, for instance, such as, thus, as follows
6 Generalization
as a rule, for the most part, generally, in general, normally, on the whole, in most cases, usually
7. Stating the obvious
after all, as one might expect, clearly, it goes without saying, naturally, obviously, of course,
surely
8. Attitude
admittedly, certainly, fortunately, luckily, oddly enough, strangely enough, undoubtedly,
unfortunately
9. Summary/conclusion
finally, in brief, in conclusion, in short, overall, so, then, to conclude, to sum up
10. Explanation/equivalence
in other words, namely, or rather, that is to say, this means, to be more precise, to put it another
way
11. Addition
apart from this, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover, nor, not only...but also,
too, what is more
12. Condition
in that case, then
13. Support
actually, as a matter of fact, in fact, indeed
14. Contradiction
actually, as a matter of fact, in fact
15. Emphasis
chiefly, especially, in detail, in particular, mainly, notably, particularly

HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester 4
 Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.
Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna
LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

D. CAUTION
Academic writing requires care since knowledge is built from proven theories and concepts.
Therefore, caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations.

Practicing caution in the use of language is important in academic and professional writing to
distinguish between facts and claims.

• Hedging, a technique used by writers by resorting to tentative language, is often

employed in academic essays to show a high level of credibility on the part of the writer.
In research, hedging is usually reflected in the recommendations part where the writer
wants to appear to be suggesting and not imposing.

Below are some of the words and phrases that show caution/hedging:
1. Introductory verbs: seem, tend, appear, indicate, suggest, think, believe, doubt
The findings of the survey suggest that students who use social networking in their
academic work tend to be more updated on recent developments in their respective
subjects.

2. Modal verbs: would, may, might, could, will, can, must

The observations of students’ use of social networking sites may lead to the different
behaviors that manifest in real-life communication.

3. Adverbs of frequency: often, sometimes, usually

The essays that were given marks were usually high.

Since academic writing draws on previous writings done related to your topic (in the case of
research writing), it is important that creating knowledge is expressed through means that do not
lead to sweeping generalizations that may directly attack other writers' point of view.

If your results show something different from another author’s ideas, there are possible
ways in writing these points:

• The results contradict Meyer's findings.

• The results appear to be different from Meyer's findings.

While both sentences essentially mean the same thing, sentence expresses an explicit
difference between your findings and of Meyer's. This may be interpreted by readers as an attempt
to highlight your findings as superior compared to Meyer. On the other hand, sentence 2 shows
that you are distancing yourself from your work (basing conclusions on what is observed) and
comparing it to previous works done by other researchers relating your contributions to other ideas
in the discipline. Remember that in academic writing, since you are part of a community, it is
important that you express ideas with openness, striking a balance between being concise and
cautious.

E. STRUCTURE
Aside from language, sentences need to be constructed in such a way that they show a
level of complexity that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer. Combining ideas
effectively, nominalization and passivization are some ways to achieve structure fit for academic
writing.
In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid redundancy and at the same time,
make sure that ideas are packed effectively.

HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester 5
 Holy Rosary College of Santa Rosa, Inc.
Tagapo, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna
LEARNING MODULE
SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021

Consider the following examples:

The earthquake caused loss of life. The earthquake caused massive property damage. The
earthquake changed the landscape of the village.

Though these sentences are grammatically correct, they do not possess the sophistication
of academic writing. They can be improved by continuing similar ideas expressing them through
a more complex construction. Hence, they can be rewritten this way:
The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life, property damage, and permanent
changes in the landscape.
In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they denote action. Transforming verbs
into nouns helps readers focus on the action and not on the doer of the action.
Examples:
The company created software to manage the transactions successfully.
✓ The creation of software to manage transactions was a success.

The president announced a three-day holiday this September.

✓ The president's announcement of a three-day holiday for September was released.

The mall distributed several tree items to consumers in the hope to boost sales.
✓ Distribution of free items for consumers was done in the hope to boost sales.

In passive construction, the results of actions are highlighted. In academic writing, since the
writer of the paper is presumed to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is understood
that all results of the action are a product of the writer’s work.
Examples:
The researcher conducted experiments to validate the hypothesis.
✓ Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis.

An engineer built a saltwater lamp to help communities with no electricity.

✓ A saltwater lamp was built to help communities with no electricity

Several scientists conducted an experiment to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

✓ An experiment was conducted to the examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

ACTIVITY:

For Lesson 1 (A), answer Task 1 A, B, and C on pages 7 and 8.

For Lesson 1 (B), answer Task 2 on page 9.

For Lesson 1 (C), answer Task 3 on page 11.

For Lesson 1 (D), answer Task 4 on page 13.

For Lesson 1 (E), answer Task 5 on page 15.

Assessment
Refer to Microsoft Teams. Further instructions will be given.

HRC English for Academic and Professional Purposes, Grade 11, 1st Quarter / 1st Semester
6