{"id":3987,"date":"2013-05-01T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=3987"},"modified":"2013-05-01T11:00:51","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T11:00:51","slug":"teaching-expressions-of-cause-effect-purpose-and-function-in-english-for-students-of-science-and-technology-by-dr-meenakshi-raman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=3987","title":{"rendered":"‘Teaching Expressions of Cause, Effect, Purpose and Function in English for Students of Science and Technology’ by Dr. Meenakshi Raman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abstract<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Definitions of scientific terms, descriptions of scientific and technological processes and procedures, and the like have a pride of place in most of the scientific writings. As a result, the students who pursue their undergraduate or masters program in science and technology in various universities across the world require to use several expressions in their writing tasks intended to define, describe and discuss certain concepts pertaining to their respective domains of knowledge. Among them, expressions to explain causes & effects, purposes & functions are more frequently used than others in the writing tasks carried out by the students of science and technology.\u00a0 This article discusses the strategies and the practice exercises that can be used by the teachers of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) to teach the expressions of cause, effect, purpose and function in their ESP classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key words:\u00a0 English, writing, science and technology, teachers, classroom<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Students of science and technology are required to express a variety of intent in their writing. They may have to define, describe and discuss some concepts. They may require expressing the relations between two entities, the function of a particular machine or equipment, the significance of a reaction and so on (Weissberg and Buker, 1978 ) Among all these intents, the expressions of cause & effect<\/i> and purpose& function assume a significant place in ESP. For instance, while describing or defining certain objects or processes the students may require spelling out their purpose or function. Similarly, the cause and effect relationships between various entities in science and technology can be expressed in a number of ways using appropriate words or phrases such as on account of, because of, because, since, leads to, caused by, due to, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article discusses the use of cause, effect, purpose and function in the English language used for science and technology. It then presents sample tasks or exercises designed to teach such expressions in writing to the students of science and technology. The examples discussed would provide a clear idea to the teachers of ESP about the method of teaching the aforesaid important expressions to their students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strategies<\/b><\/p>\n

Relative clauses and adverbial clauses are commonly used in the expressions of cause, effect, purpose and function ( Quirk and Greenbaum, 2003) These expressions which are elaborated in the sections that follow can be taught to the learners of ESP by adopting the following strategies :<\/span><\/p>\n

(i) teaching signal words that show the cause and effect relationships and the purpose and function of a system , object , etc., in science and technology through examples from the relevant texts.<\/span><\/p>\n

(ii) training the students to identify the above mentioned expressions while reading their texts in science and technology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(iii) providing adequate drill in these expressions through carefully designed, context-based practice exercises.\u00a0 (EDC 2002)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sections that follow elaborate these strategies in two categories (i) cause and effect expressions (ii)\u00a0 indicators of purpose and function.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cause (C) and Effect (E) Expressions <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Cause and effect<\/i> refers to the relationship between two entities when one of them makes the other to happen ( Raman and Sharma, 2009) For instance, the sentence \u201cBecause of the reaction of nitrate with Iron sulphate and concentrated sulphuric acid, the brown ring appears\u201d reflects the relationship between the cause (reaction of nitrate with Iron sulphate and sulphuric acid ) and the effect (appearance of brown ring). Hence, clauses that explain the reason for something to happen are known as cause and effect expressions. It may be observed that there are two clauses: main and subordinate. In fact, the adverbial clauses of cause and effect expressions (subordinate clause) explain the reasons for what happens in the main clause.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a cause and effect<\/i> clause appears in the beginning of a sentence, it is necessary to use a comma to separate the two clauses ( as shown above). But when this clause appears in the later part of the sentence no comma is required ( The brown ring appears because of the reaction of nitrate with Iron sulphate and sulphuric acid). The main clause indicates the result or consequence of the cause or reason clause. Many a time, there may be multiple \/ a chain of effects (E) arising out of one cause (C) as in \u201cThe inefficiency<\/i> (E) <\/i>resulting from consumer confusion<\/i> (C) today may be costing the U.S. economy as much as $1 trillion per year<\/i> (E).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Signal words <\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Because, because of, on account of, as a result of , out of, since, as, as long as, inasmuch as, due to, due to the fact that, consequently, is caused by, lead to , if\u2026then, so, so that, thus, for, for this reason, therefore, this is how, nevertheless\u00a0 and\u00a0 accordingly\u2013<\/i><\/b>are the words \/ expressions used to signal the cause and effect<\/i> expressed in a sentence. These expressions can be introduced to the students through some examples<\/b> shown below:<\/span><\/p>\n