Abstract:

The paper considers the ESP language-teaching scientific and technical contexts, where findings of cognitive-genre analysis can be used to appreciate challenges in current language teaching at Russian technical universities. The cognitive-genre approach is applied to teaching English grammar, namely, the use of complex nominal expressions in professional and academic discourses. The goal of the research is to prove that cognitive-genre grammatical explanation is of special importance in language teaching, particularly in ESP. Complex nominal expressions are typically associated with scientific and professional genres. Our research consists of two steps. First, it involves investigation into three areas of professional writing (research paper, reports, and legislative provisions) and analyzing the use of three types of complex nominal expressions (nominal compounds, complex nominal phrases, and nominalized noun phrases) in them in order to find out the purposes and ways of academic and professional writers’ implementing these expressions in their texts.

The findings show that:
(1) although they perform very similar grammatical functions in the English language, they have different grammatical realizations,
(2) they are actualized in particular genres,
(3) they cognitively textualize different aspects of specific genres with which they are associated,
(4) they carry different discourse values in the three genres,
(5) they are a useful linguistic tool to bring in text cohesion, facilitating reference to associated technical concepts.

Second, we implement our first step findings into the ESP classrooms at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. We focus on teaching students how to use these expressions correctly from a cognitive-discursive and genre-perspective viewpoint. The positive results of an experimental study conducted in 10 student groups demonstrate reasonability of explanatory way of teaching grammar. The final test scores show that the participants in the “cognitive” group gained 8.2 points on average. The participants in the “traditional” group gained only 5.3 points on average (maximum is 10 points for both groups). Thus, the “cognitive” group outperformed the traditional group by 2.9 points on average, approximately a 37% advantage. The qualitative analysis also reveals that the “cognitive” group made significantly greater improvements than the “traditional” one. The students demonstrate better awareness of the rationale of the text-genre that they must read orwrite. They become sensitive to the conventions in order to ensure the pragmatic success of the text in the academic or professional context. They infer grammar features carrying genre-specific values rather than general grammatical one. In sum, the teaching of grammar in ESP settings has to be cognitively and genre oriented as it reveals not only the utilizable form-function correlations but also contributes significantly to students’ understanding of the cognitive structuring of information in specific language areas.

Keywords:

English for Specific Purposes (ESP), cognitive-genre approach, professional and academic discourses, teaching English grammar.