Low Level of English Language Proficiency is one of the challenges faced by postgraduate students & the importance of language editing

In-Brief:

• Proficiency in English language is now mandate for the students undergoing higher education.
• It is not just important for the understanding the academic instruction but also in contributing to the research.
• An inadequate knowledge of the language can lead to poor academic indulgence and hence universities should be offering the specialized English language courses related to field of education.

Introduction

Globalization has turned the world into a small village and English is a language that holds a prominent position in today’s world. The necessity of the English language becomes important for communication globally. English is not even taught as a foreign language anymore but is taught as an alternative language for the medium of academic instruction. However, the students in the countries with non-native English speakers sometimes face great difficulty since their proficiency and the command in the language is not so strong. If we take an example of Asian and Arab countries, the formal education of the English language does exist in the classrooms but there is a lack of language exposure since it is nowhere seen in the daily conversations. The approach to teaching the English language in the classroom is not up to the mark and thus results in the slow progress of the students.  When the students undertake the Postgraduate programs they are exposed to the English in wide contexts, as in the areas of health sciences and engineering, science and technology, physics, biology, etc use English as a primary language of the academic courses. Academic proofreading and academic editing services are mostly carried out in English. Hence, proficiency in the language is a must and is one of the major challenges faced by postgraduate university students.

English language in scientific writing

In most of the Scientific writings and professional proofreading,  English has been a prime language to present papers. Due to the low proficiency, the postgraduate students sometimes rely on the direct translations of the studies to present their writings. However, direct translations are never correct and apt because of the context of the vocabulary in different languages. Sometimes direct translations lead to funny meanings in English which is certainly not accepted in the professional environments.  In the scientific paper, we need to present facts, theories, proofs, experiments, and testing objectivity that requires a good language flow in English. Many students lack this ability and hence the research papers are simply rejected by the bad use of grammar and language flow. Academic proofreading services and reviewers do not entertain the flawed use of language. For example, the title of any research paper is never a sentence and the use of verb and word wastage should be avoided. However, a lack of proficiency and flawed use of language is a thumbs down to all of the research done by the student.  Style, good grammar, and clarity are as important as the research itself.

Status of english in the world’s science

In a research, the sources of Global media translated to other languages were identified.  The data included from the books, twitter, and Wikipedia. The research showed that English is the largest hub for the information. Other languages such as Spanish and Russian were also recognized as hubs but smaller as compared to English. Communication with the wider audience confers the ability to influence a greater sum of people. Research trend, a scientific publication also revealed that 80% of articles were entirely written in the English language as a huge amount of these articles were based out of the US & UK.  The research also included that the non-English articles have a very fewer audience.  For students and scientists who want to produce the globally recognized work will have to attend conferences in the English Language. proofreading and editing are also done mostly in English.

Language of Scientific Output in the biotic Stress Research Field

English language in the postgraduate and scientific studies and challenges

Science education is a preparation for a scientific career in the future. The English language is taught in non-English speaking countries as a primary language and the trend is continuously rising. Nonproficiency often leads to disengagement and is one of the major challenges. Students often do not participate in group work activities and presentations because of the anxiety caused due to nonproficiency. Sometimes students also build up an inferiority complex when they are not very good at English communication.  The wrong pronunciations often lead to embarrassment and less significant participation in the classrooms. Errors in the punctuation, grammar, and spellings can be the result of poor literacy if the language by the students. There are students with non-English speaking backgrounds. These students are sometimes not sure about the appropriate titles and surnames. Language is also a key factor in forming relationships between students and professors. Hence for the overall wellbeing of the students in universities language plays an important role.  The non-English proficient students belonging to higher technical education sometimes have a disadvantage as they can not participate in dissertation proofreading or any professional editing service.

Conclusion

Universities need to do better in dealing with students with low proficiency in the English language. The investment of more time and money in addressing the language-related challenges can bring about a substantial change in the overall environment and well being of students and universities. Educators should be able to understand the hidden reasons behind the silence in the classrooms and help students to be more interactive in the subjects. Diversity is always a strength that can bring about solutions from different linguistic backgrounds. The postgraduate students can be indulged in thesis proofreading, professional proofreading, and assignment proofreading of their peers that can help in the proficiency in understanding the language in different contexts.

The students can also be taught specified use of language as per their technical purposes and special needs and not just general English. These courses can be of zero credit bit a compulsion in the universities. For example, English for Medical Sciences can be taught to the students with the related fields. This way students can have better participation in the academic environment and can overcome the challenges of non-proficiency and have more confidence with their verbal and written skills.

References

1. Khan, I. A. (2011), Challenges of Teaching/Learning English and Management.  Global Journal of  Human Social Sciences.
2. Natalia Fernández Díaz-Cabal, The Importance (or Not) of Writing in English in the Scholarly Context.
3. IFLScience, Most influential languages
4. Estella Gimenez, Maria Salinas, Francisco Manzano, Worldwide research on Plant defense against Biotic Stresses and Improvement for sustainable Agriculture
5. Clemence Due, Sally Baker Three issues language proficiency can hide for students from non-English speaking backgrounds.
6. Aisha Bint Al-Hussein, English Language challenges among students of Jordan.