Date of Award
11-1996
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
English: Teaching English as a Second Language: M.A.
Department
English
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
James Robinson
Second Advisor
Donna Gorrell
Keywords and Subject Headings
Challenges of publishing for nonnative English speakers
Abstract
This study will determine what types of rhetoric editors of scientific and technical (S&T) journals find unacceptable and provide insight into how nonnative English writers need to write in order to get their works published in these journals. A review of the literature discusses how scientific writing in English is viewed--as universal vs culture bound. The literature also shows that different cultures use different rhetorical approaches in presenting their material. The cultures reviewed were: Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Finnish, and Polish. Yet~ the research also shows that the way we are teaching other cultures in technical writing needs reassessment. For example, advisors are overburdened with the task of teaching nonnative speakers of English how to write technically. The technical writing experts recommend keeping it simple, brief, precise, and clear, but the advice remains unheeded by foreign students and their advisors. Journal writing is a regurgitation of the same complicated styles that have been used for the last 100 years. To determine how nonnative speakers are currently publishing successfully, IO were interviewed for this study from various cultures: Korea, India, China, Ghana, and Thailand. Five were from the business area, and five were from the science and technology area. In addition, rejection letters from journal editors were obtained from four of the interviewees. Review comments from an international engineering journal were also collected for three writers residing in India, China, and Japan.
FINDINGS:
None of the interviewees had ever taken a technical writing class. They attribute their success in publishing primarily to getting the assistance of native speakers and to modeling existing works. All interviewees said their articles were rejected for technical reasons, not due to any language or culture issues. However, when analyzing the comments on the four letters provided, language related issues can be seen to make a difference, mainly in their techniques of persuasion and argumentation, which can differ widely across cultures. The Americans are very direct, and many other cultures are indirect, trying not to offend. The comments from the international engineering journal show that editors may be taking on a huge burden for doing massive rewrites to fit the material to the journal. The pedagogical implications are that higher educational institutions need to become more effective in teaching technical writing.
Recommended Citation
Erickson, Arlene K., "Strategies for Nonnative English Writers Publishing in Scientific and Technical Journals" (1996). Culminating Projects in TESL. 67.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/tesl_etds/67
