Speaking of Science: The Use by Australian University Science Staff of Language Skills

Abstract

This paper reviews and examines the increasing trend to publish journal literature in English B i.e. the language use trends in the various scientific disciplines. The impact of communication in English in scientific writing and citation, displacing as it does the use of other languages, has been the topic of discussion in the literature. The question this paper poses is - what impact has this practice had on English-speaking scientists? To answer this question, attitudes towards language use in business as a general indicator of the value placed on languages in multicultural Australia are examined. Then language teaching at Australian Universities is briefly examined and finally university Science Staff language use is studied to see whether they use and cite work published in other languages. Is work in languages other than English ignored by English speaking scientists or does it impact on the field?

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