Technical English for EFL / ESL

Page index:

What is technical English?

Index of technical texts

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What is technical English?

Technical English is a variety of written English with which a majority of English teachers are not particularly familiar.. or imagine that they are not familiar.
  The styles and grammar of technical English are not specific to technical writing, they are generally used in formal English writing on any subject (see Styles of English).

Technical English in the EFL / ESL class

   Most language teachers are linguists, graduates with arts or humanities qualifications, not with scientific or technical degrees. This is perhaps why many EFL or ESL teachers are often a bit worried about dealing with texts in technical English.
   In actual fact, there is no need to imagine that the language side of documents written in technical English will be any harder to master than the language side of non-technical documents. Language ( the medium) and subject-matter (the message) are two different things.
   Additionally, when talking about "technical English"; it is important to remember that "technical English" is not something monolithic. There may be a lot of different fields of technical English, but across these fields there are two essential types of document:

1. Documents that are aimed at a general reading public, and do not require any high-level understanding of technical matters. These are sometimes called semi-technical texts.
2. Documents that are aimed at specialists in a given field, and therefore do require a specialist familiarity with the technicalities of the subject matter.

In the framework of the EFL/ESL class, studying the second type of document is generally inappropriate – unless, for instance, one is teaching professional English to a homogenous class of doctors or nuclear-scientists, or oil-industry engineers.
   In most cases, the only technical documents that can be advantageously studied in a class of English for non-native speakers – particularly for student-age learners and at intermediate level – are texts written for a non-specialist readership; documents that talk about scientific or technical topics in a language that shows the characteristics of technical English, but can be understood by all.
   This is the type of technical English article presented on Linguapress.com .

That being said, there is some good news. Whatever type of technical English document is being studied, at whatever level, it will tend to show the same distinctive language features, in relation to articles or documents of a non-technical topics. And thankfully there are only four main distinctive features of technical English, which are:

1. The use of passives,
2. The use of compound words,
3. A predominance of non-count nouns
4. Less or no use of human subjects.

These features are present even in easy-intermediate level texts.

Technical English on Linguapress.com

Index of articles in technical or semi-technical English for use with students, technical or not.: (► See also Texts on the environment for more teaching resources)

Low intermediate level

• NEW   Short text: The car of the future?   with audio   An easy text in semi-technical English
• Will there be life after oil and gas?  What will happen when the oil and gas run out ?
• Short text: Holidays in space  An easy text in semi-technical English
• The story of Silicon Valley  What is Silicon valley, where is it, and why ?
• The legendary Mini Cooper - Semi-technical English

Intermediate level English

• NEW   Storing electricity - the big challenge. The sun doesn't shine at night, and sometimes the wind stops blowing....
  
• NEW   Climate change, can we stop it?    with audio
• Pollution - someone else's problem - a humorous dialogue on a serious subject.
• The wind farm controversy - Conservationists oppose plans to modernise a wind farm.
• Short text: Living without energy  A short text in semi-technical English
• The story of the bicycle - semi technical English

Advanced level English

Technical texts accessible to a general reading public. Specialist knowledge not required

• NEW    The electric car revolution, realistic or optimistic?  With interactive worksheet. Can the world really convert to electric vehicles by the middle of the century?
• NEW  Fox Talbot and the origins of photography  , The first photo was taken in... 1835 !
• NEW   Aeroponics. Agriculture for tomorrow's world. 
• NEW   GM crops: Frankenstein food?  Are genetically modified crops a huge risk, or the future of agriculture?
• Skiing in the wind  How science and technology help skiers go faster
•  The story of the jet plane  With audio
•  Charles Babbage, the father of the computer  (short text).
• Meet Robodog Technical English (hard):
• California's Water Wars - A critical issue facing Californians.
• Deserts of America with  audio - A large part of the western USA is covered by desert, and it is getting larger.
• Science crossword   Advanced level English crossword

And for teachers...

• Teachers' pages - A selection of ideas on practical classroom teaching

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