EST RHETORIC: A PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR NORWAY'S SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Abstract
This thesis provides a pedagogical model for basic instruction in EST (scientific and technical English) for Norwegian senior secondary school science programs. This model is based on: (1) an established need for basic written EST in these programs; (2) a proposed rhetorical model adapted from current EST research and tailored to the needs of the Norwegian target population; and (3) an example analysis of scientific and technological English writing samples from representative Norwegian industries. Chapter I describes the need for basic written EST proficiency among the science majors in the Norwegian senior secondary schools. The chapter points to an urgent industrial demand for personnel proficient in EST composition and a simultaneous failure of Norwegian senior secondary schools to provide satisfactory basic training in this field. Chapter II adapts a semantic approach to EST discourse structure and proposes a rhetorical model tailored to the target educational levels: 10th-11th grade (sentence level) and 12th grade (paragraph level). Chapter III investigates conceptual paragraphs (i.e. small units of EST discourse) from three technical reports, written by Norwegian civil engineers, in terms of rhetorical, grammatical, and lexical features. The analysis further confirms the relevance of the rhetorical model for instructional purposes in Norway, and the chapter concludes with a suggestive list of rhetorical, grammatical, and lexical features to be included in the pedagogical model of Chapter IV. Chapter IV first offers an introductory writing program aimed at the sentence level and focussing on grammatical and lexical skills taught in the 10th and 11th grades. Major attention, however, is given to a basic 12th grade composition program focussed on the conceptual paragraph. This program consists of rhetorical skills and appropriate methodology needed to foster basic proficiency in the two major kinds of EST paragraph development: the straightforward/explicit and the less straightforward/implicit developments. Authentic conceptual paragraphs from American senior secondary school science textbooks are used as a basis for the exercises in these two kinds of EST paragraph development. Further implications for text selection and methodology are also discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Linguistics
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