ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#44 | October 29, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
This book review is submitted by Amit Kumar. Amit is pursuing Ph D at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. His area of interest is English for Academic purposes, English language teaching materials and Collaborative learning.
Book Details
Title: English for Academic and Professional Skills (2012)
Author: Anand Mahanand
Publisher: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, New Delhi
ISBN-13: 878-1-25-902608-9
ISBN-10: 1-25-902608-6
Over the years, substantial shift in theory, belief and practice have occurred in the teaching and learning of English language specifically from general to specific purposes. Unlike focusing on general English, there has been a shift in focus to teach only those aspects of language which learners’ need and expected to need. This demand has paved the way for the emergence of a new area called ‘English for Academic Purposes’ where much of the instruction is given for academic development of the learners. Many learners especially from regional medium backgrounds are yet to develop the linguistic resources necessary for academic and professional competence. Most of them often find problems in academics at higher level. Majority of them enter into higher education ill-equipped and some find the tasks of academic reading, writing, and grammar difficult. The present academic scenario focuses on and demands students’ academic reading and writing skills such as skimming, scanning, note making, note taking, essay writing, paragraph writing and summary writing, paper writing, resume writing and so on. Implementation of effective methods supplemented with effective materials is essentially required to ensure students’ mastery of academic skills and to bring about positive outcomes in students’ academic and professional performances.
Though numerous books have been published in order to cater to the academic needs of the learners, few of them resulted effective and beneficial to fulfill its objective. However, “English for Academic and Professional Purposes” written by Dr Anand Mahanand sets a milestone in this genre. The book attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice of teaching and learning English. This book has come up with some practical ways to bring positive changes in learners’ academic skills.
A glance of the ‘content page’ shows that most of the relevant areas of academic skills such as academic reading, grammar and academic writing are covered in a coherent manner. Each lesson defines and presents a significant field of academic reading, grammar and writing with necessary details.
The book is composed of three parts i.e. academic reading, grammar and academic writing each with unique organizational format, style, and purpose. The integration of three relevant areas trains the learners not only in academic skills but also in their professional purposes. The first part of this book deals with academic reading that is intended for enabling the learners to adopt the strategies of reading such as skimming and scanning effectively in their academics. The first section consists of two lessons Skimming and Scanning. Both the lessons in part-1 follow same format which include introduction of the specific reading strategy and techniques of reading with some interesting examples. Finally, the lessons conclude with some different types of exercises such as matching test, choose an appropriate heading; rearrange the jumbled headlines and tasks on identifying the central idea of each passage. The first part of the book contains many interesting examples and exercises which provide adequate information and practice to the learners to become efficient readers.
Second part of the book has lessons on essential grammar like Tenses, Articles, Reported Speech and Modals considering their relevance in academic skills. The focus of this part is to brush up and reinforce the learners in learning English at higher level. The rationale behind the selection of grammatical aspects is that they are commonly and frequently used grammar skills both in academics and professional domains. This part of the book highlights important aspects of grammar and provides enough scope to the learners for adequate practice.
Finally, third part is devoted to academic writing and improving professional skills. It comprises of eight lessons that expose learners to the conventions of different forms of academic writing such as note making, note taking, summarizing, essay, papers, reviews and descriptive writing. Whereas some of the lessons of the last part focus on the most required professional skills such as presenting a balanced argument, resume and letters. This part intends to enable the students to write these forms independently in an efficient way and also to assess their understanding and learning skills by providing adequate practice exercises. The first two lessons Note Making and Note Taking mainly include definition and sub-skills for note making with variety of examples from various sources. Adequate numbers of exercises are provided focusing on each sub-skill. Next lesson discusses ‘how to summarize’ and the steps for summarizing a text/passage with ample examples and exercises. Through the lesson, ‘Essays, Paper and Reviews’, Dr Anand aims at sensitizing students to different aspects of essays, papers and reviews. This lesson attempts to make the learners aware of various aspects of these forms and to learn to write on their own. Like other lessons, this is also supplemented with relevant examples and tasks. The subsequent lesson focuses on the ways of describing object/people/event with variety of sample and tasks for practice. Aiming at developing professional skills of the learners, the chapter ‘Presenting a balance Argument’ helps them in presenting own views on an issue. The concluding lessons provide very much significant ideas for writing resume and letters. Various types of resume and letters for different purposes that suit to the context are nicely discussed with apt examples. Ultimately, this part helps the learners to get valuable inputs for developing their academic writing skills that would add to their professional skills.
Apart from all the above mentioned details, the book has some additional features such as indication of stipulated time for each lesson, innovative and interesting authentic materials, and innovative exercises with solutions for guidelines.
On the whole, this book is clearly a labour of intellect, care, creativity and endurance, and is finally set to advance the learning of academic and professional skills in enjoyable and empowering ways.
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