Research in English

PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English

I am the co-author of the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English, a textbook for university and research writing.

Humans store language not only as individual words but also as ‘chunks’ of ready-made language. Research has suggested that non-native speakers use phrases as a main way of writing. The PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research gives non-native-speaking researchers a bank of over 5000 words and phrases to help write, present and publish in English.

Phrases are divided into around 30 main sections that follow the structure of university and research writing, such as Introducing a Study, Defining the Scope of a Study, Arguing For and Against, Reviewing Other Work, Summarizing and Conclusions. Many sections are further divided, for example the Relationship to previous work, Contrasting work and the Limitations of current knowledge.

In addition, Writing Help sections give advice on university and research writing in English. Main chapters include Style, Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar, Vocabulary, Numbers and Time. These include subsections on for example Referring to yourself, British and US spellings, Punctuating quotations, and References. The Writing Help sections help writers avoid many common errors in English. The PhraseBook also has a University and Research Thesaurus to help improve academic vocabulary, as well as a Glossary of University and Research Terminology. It further includes exercises for self-study and guides for using the PhraseBook in the classroom.

The PhraseBook is used both as an individual reference and in classroom teaching in subjects ranging from Medicine, Science, Engineering and Technology to Law, Business and Economics, Geography, History, Sociology, Psychology, Language and Education. Users of the PhraseBook include academic staff, students and researchers at universities such as Oxford University, the University of Geneva, the University of Tokyo, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, as well as at organizations such as the Medical Nobel Institute and companies from pharmaceuticals to space technology

 

Learning English in Sweden and Japan

I am interested in why Scandinavia produces some of the best non-native speakers of English and what aspects of Scandinavian English-language education can be adopted in Japan. By the time they graduate, school-leavers and university students in Scandinavia are almost all fluent in English. Furthermore, Scandinavian schools achieve good levels of English across the ability range. What can we learn from best practice in other countries? My research examines various factors, both inside and outside the classroom.

The fact that Scandinavians speak excellent English is something we take for granted, but it is not a matter of course. Nor should it be treated as a matter of course that native English or Japanese speakers are comparatively ‘poor at foreign languages’. It is the result of a number of factors that Scandinavian students can speak a foreign language very well by the time they graduate, while a majority of Japanese, British and US students cannot. What do Scandinavian schools and universities do, and what factors in Scandinavian society produce such excellent English ability? The aim of my research is to make a preliminary attempt to unravel and outline what these might be.

I have lived in Scandinavia and Japan.

 

Sports coaching and language teaching

I am a keen footballer and am interested in transferring skills from sports coaching, sports psychology and playing to the classroom in language teaching.

 

Work in progress

Howe, Stephen and Henriksson, Kristina (2007) PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English, paperback, EnglishforResearch.com, Cambridge, 4th edition.

Click here to download a sample PDF or view online. The PhraseBook sample PDF is in the top 0.5% of viewed publications on Academia.edu (Sept. 2014).

The full PhraseBook is available in paperback at Amazon, as well as on KindleApple iBooks and Google Play.

Howe, Stephen (2007) ‘Looking In, Looking Out: Best And Worst Practice’, Paper presented at the 33rd JALT International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning, Tokyo, November 2007.

What can we learn from best practice in countries with successful foreign language teaching? And what can we learn from worst practice? This paper will examine various factors, both inside and outside the classroom.

By the time they graduate, school-leavers and university students in Scandinavia are almost all fluent in English, while their Japanese counterparts lag well behind. In fact, if we were to place two students of average ability side by side, one from Scandinavia, the other from Japan, the difference would be astounding. Furthermore, Scandinavian schools achieve good levels of English across the ability range. Nor is Japan unique in achieving low levels of foreign language ability – the English-speaking countries, too, achieve only very modest fluency in French, German or Spanish. The fact that Scandinavians speak excellent English is something we take for granted, but it is not a matter of course. Nor should it be treated as a matter of course that Japanese or native English speakers are ‘poor at foreign languages’. It is the result of a number of factors that Scandinavian students can speak a foreign language very well by the time they graduate, while most Japanese, British and US students cannot. What do Scandinavian schools and universities do, and what factors in Scandinavian society produce such excellent English ability? The aim of this paper is to make a preliminary attempt to unravel and outline what these might be.

The author has lived in Scandinavia and Japan.

Howe, Stephen (2015c) ‘Learning English in Sweden and Japan: an overview’, Fukuoka University Review of Literature and Humanities, vol. XLVII, no. I (no. 184), June, pp. 97–128.