Simplified Technical English

Pincas (p. 40, 2001) discusses the problems of using English as an international language for education, arguing it is "impossible to define 'Standard English'". However, there are controlled natural languages, most notably the "ASD Simplified Technical English" (ASD-STE100, aka STE) for aerospace manuals (Kuhn, 2014). STE provides a simplified grammar and style rules, as well as a limited dictionary. It clearly is possible to define a standard English for use in a discipline, should the discipline wish to devote resources to the task.

References

Kuhn, T. (2014). A survey and classification of controlled natural languages. Computational Linguistics, 40(1), 121-170. Retrieved from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/COLI_a_00168#.VsV7nUKfFyQ

 

Pincas, A. (2001). Culture, cognition and communication in global education. Distance Education, 22(1), 30-51. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0158791010220103

ANU to Use Specialist Company to Prepare Students for University

The Australian National University (ANU) has   partnered with company Study Group to prepare students for university. The Australian newspaper reported the sale of "ANU College" to Study Group on 25 November 2013. The College offers two programs to help students meet university requirements. Courses are offered in Academic English, Computer Applications and six academic content subjects. This is primarily intended for international students. Courses are offered on the ANU campus in Canberra. However, I suggest that this form of preparation could be equally effectively be carried out on-line. Such courses would benefit domestic as well as international students. Recently I completed a short on-line familiarization course before commencing some students at a university in North America.