THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE ON A SPECIFIC SUBJECT MATTER AND THE WRITING STYLE

Abstract

The paper is a result of a small-scale research conducted with 3 rd and 4 year students majoring in communications and journalism. The basic hypothesis of the paper is that the students’ background knowledge in their own subject matter may interplay with their acquisition of the specific scientifi c language genre. In other words, we wanted to see whether students with better understanding of topics in communications and journalism could more easily articulate their ideas within this fi eld in English, and if so, to which extent. Our focus was on brief report writings in English and the adjectives that the students used in order to generate more expressive messages. Namely, the theory of English for Specifi c Purposes points out the relevance of learner-oriented courses devised so as to meet the needs of the learners exclusively. On the other hand, we tested the students, who are not fully skilled in their own fi eld of study because they are in the process of learning. The results indicate that there are certain nuances in ESP outcome due either to poor or good knowledge within the scientifi c fi elds in question. We assume that this fact may help plan ESP courses because we not only take into account the learners’ needs but also their potential to adopt and articulate a certain language genre.