Academic discussions are a key part of university life. This podcast will help you understand how to participate in academic discussions by considering the reasons for taking part in discussions and giving ways that individuals and groups can help to create an effective discussion. It also includes some tips on how to improve your discussion skills.

EAP Foundation

Episode 56: Taking part in academic discussions

This podcast explains what EAP (English for Academic Purposes) is, giving a definition of EAP, describing its development, locating EAP in a family tree of English Language Teaching, considering general versus specific EAP, and comparing EAP to General English.

Episode 56: What is EAP (English for Academic Purposes)?

Each subject has words which are either used specifically in that subject area (and not in general English), or common words which are used with special meaning in that subject area. Such words are known as technical, domain-specific or subject-specific vocabulary. This podcast explains what subject-specific vocabulary is, and gives an overview of some of the technical lists available for academic study. 

Episode 55: Technical (subject-specific) vocabulary

General vocabulary, also called high-frequency vocabulary, is vocabulary that occurs frequently in all kinds of texts and everyday language. It is likely to comprise the majority of the words and phrases learners encounter on a General English course at school. This podcast discusses general vocabulary, beginning with a definition, then considering how many words should comprise general vocabulary, looking at two common models of vocabulary: one by Nation (2001), and a more recent one by Schmitt and Schmitt (2014).

Episode 55: General (high-frequency) vocabulary

The two most common forms of writing at university are reports and essays. This podcast describes academic reports, giving information on what a report is, outlines the main types of report you may need to write, and summarises the differences between reports and essays.

Episode 54: Academic report writing

Academic writing is generally impersonal and objective in tone. This podcast considers what objective writing is, how objective academic writing is, then presents several ways to make your writing more objective, namely: using passive; focusing on the evidence (The findings show...); referring to sources (Newbold (2021) shows...); using impersonal constructions with It and There; using hedges and boosters to show strength of feeling, rather than emotive language; personifying the writing (This report shows...). The writing objectively page on the website also includes an academic article, to show authentic examples of objective language, and a checklist, that you can use to check the objectivity of your own writing.

Episode 54: Writing objectively: How to create an objective tone in academic writing

The Academic Formulas List (AFL) is a list of the most common formulaic sequences in academic English, i.e. recurring word sequences three to five words long. There are three separate lists: one for formulas that are common in both academic spoken and academic written language (the 'core' AFL), one for those which are special to academic spoken language, and one for those which are special to academic written language. This podcasts gives an overview of the AFL, as presents the 10 most frequent formulas in each of the three lists.

Episode 54: Academic Formulas List (AFL)

Hedging, also called caution or cautious language, is an important component of academic style. This podcast explains what hedging is, then looks at different ways to hedge, namely using introductory verbs, modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and some other ways such as adverbs of frequency and introductory phrases. On the website there is as an example passage so you can see each type of hedging in an authentic text, and a checklist so you can check your understanding.

Episode 53: Hedging in Academic Writing

This podcast describes the New Academic Word List (NAWL), giving information on what the NAWL is, as well as the 10 most frequent words in the NAWL.

Episode 52: New Academic Word List (NAWL)

This podcast describes the New General Service List (NGSL), giving information on what the NGSL is, as well as the first 10 words in the NGSL.

Episode 52: New General Service List (NGSL)

This podcast describes the Academic Collocation List (ACL), explaining what it is and giving some example collocations.

Episode 51: The Academic Collocation List (ACL)

Academic writing is arguably the most important skill in academic contexts, since writing is the main method of academic communication. It is also the most difficult skill for most students to master. This podcast considers what academic writing is, looking in detail at the main features of academic writing, namely that it is structured, evidenced, critical, balanced, precise, objective, and formal. The podcast also suggests ways for you to develop your academic writing.

Episode 50: What is academic writing?

Although it is often assumed that idioms are too informal for use in academic English, two studies have identified idioms which occur fairly frequently in spoken and written academic English. This podcast describes idioms in academic English, giving information on what an idiom is, why academic idioms should be studied, as well as giving the 10 more common academic idioms for spoken and written English from a recent study of idioms (Miller, 2019). The podcast also gives the background to the creation of the list.

Episode 49: Idioms for Academic English

This podcast describes the Academic Word List (AWL), giving information on what the AWL is, as well as listing the first 60 headwords of the AWL.

Episode 48: The Academic Word List (AWL)

There are many word lists for general and academic English study. This podcast gives information on why word lists are important, then presents ideas about how to use word lists. For more information, check out the page on the website, as well as the companion page which gives a detailed overview of the many different word lists available for academic study.

Episode 47: Using word lists

EAPFoundation podcasts cover all areas of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), from writing to study skills.