Academic discourse 99
Noun phrases contribute to the construction of
terminology and act as a
sort of shorthand for specialists, but the relations between the elements are
not clearly specified, making them difficult for learners
and non-specialists
to understand. It may not be obvious, for example, what
air plasma sprayed
means. Is
air plasma a type of plasma? Is the coating sprayed with air or
with plasma? Similarly, noun phrases are difficult for students to produce.
They might write
thermal coating barrier or
erosion rate with 0.126 mg/g.
Thus learners need plenty of exposure to and practice with authentic aca-
demic texts that are characterized by the use of this nominal style.
Nominalization is the use of a noun or noun phrase to express the mean-
ing of a process or property; for example, the process of
explaining can be
nominalized as
explanation. Nominalization has several important effects
on the text. First, it makes texts more abstract. For example, when we use
the clause
writers use nouns, we need a subject and verb, but when we nomi-
nalize it, these elements disappear:
the use of nouns. Nominalization also
allows us to re-present material in a reduced form,
which can create cohe-
sion by functioning as given information. For example, in the two sentences
below,
this position is a nominalization of the clause
EAP textbooks do not
represent authentic academic discourse and is given information.
It has been argued that EAP textbooks do not represent authentic aca-
demic discourse.
This position is supported by several corpus-based
studies.
The nominalization labels the whole of the previous statement in a way
that shows the reader how the information is to be understood (it is a
posi-
tion) and may indicate the writer’s
stance (see the next section for an expla-
nation of stance). For example, if the writer wanted
to accept the criticism
of textbooks, the nominalization
this problem could be used. The choice of
nominalization also indicates to the reader how the text will proceed. We
expect a
problem to be followed by potential solutions, but a
position to be
supported or challenged.
Thus the effects of nominalization are far-reaching;
not only does it con-
tribute to the construction of terminology, making texts more concise and
abstract, but it can also create cohesion, indicate the writer’s stance and help
the reader follow the text. It is thus essential for students to understand the
multifunctionality of nominalization and to practise
both reading and writ-
ing texts that have a high density of such nominal expressions.
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