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English for Scientific Purposes (EScP): Technology, Trends, and Future Challenges for Science Education

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An Erratum to this article was published on 04 April 2015

Abstract

To date, the concept of English for Specific Purposes has brought about a great impact on English language learning across various disciplines, including those in science education. Hence, this review paper aimed to address current English language learning in the science disciplines through the practice of computer-assisted language learning to identify the use of learning technologies in science-based literacy. In the literature review, the researchers found that science-based literacy instruction shares many pedagogical aims with English language teaching in terms of reading, writing, listening and speaking, allowing it to be classified as English for Scientific Purposes (EScP). To answer the research questions, the researchers conducted the survey by extracting related articles and teaching examples from the Web of Science. In the search procedure, the researchers used the keywords science OR scientific AND technolog* OR comput* in ten selected journals of social science citation index. Only articles which are specified as journal articles rather than other document types were included. After compiling the corpora, the researchers compared the trends, methodologies and results of EScP instruction in science education. The implications of this study include the opportunities, advantages and challenges for EScP instruction in science education to further develop better educational approaches, adopt new technologies, as well as offer some directions for researchers to conduct future studies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan (NSC 102-2631-S-006-001-CC3, NSC 102-2511-S-006-005-MY3 and NSC 102-2511-S-011-007-MY3). This research was also, in part, supported by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C. The Aim for the Top University Project to the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University, 1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

    Gi-Zen Liu, Wan-Yu Chiu, Chih-Chung Lin & Neil E. Barrett

  2. Foreign Language Center, National Cheng Kung University, 1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

    Gi-Zen Liu

  3. English Language Center, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, N Building No. 1, Nan-Tai Street, Yungkang Dist., Tainan City, 710, Taiwan

    Neil E. Barrett

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  1. Gi-Zen Liu
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  2. Wan-Yu Chiu
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  3. Chih-Chung Lin
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  4. Neil E. Barrett
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Correspondence to Gi-Zen Liu.

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Liu, GZ., Chiu, WY., Lin, CC. et al. English for Scientific Purposes (EScP): Technology, Trends, and Future Challenges for Science Education. J Sci Educ Technol 23, 827–839 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9515-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9515-7

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