English and Academic Writing.

Abstract

English has become the lingua franca of research and science. In Iceland, as elsewhere in the world, researchers are encouraged to publish in international journals, most of which are written in English. The rationale is that international publication increases the status of research and of universities. Questions have arisen as to inherent inequity faced by users of English as a lingua franca vs. native speakers and especially what effect it has on the functional range of the native languages if whole research communities switch to English. This article describes the results of a study that elicited Icelandic researchers’ views about the adequacy of their English proficiency for academic writing, how working with two languages affected their workload and whether, and if so, where, they sought assistance in their writing. an electronic survey was sent out to all faculty and staff at the university of Iceland. Two hundred and thirty responses were received. an overwhelming majority of respondents considers their English proficiency good or very good and have no problems with working in two languages. none the less, two thirds need assistance with their English academic writing and seek help from various sources. The university of Iceland provides no assistance with writing or proofreading. almost half of the youngest group of re - spondents write almost entirely in English. These results raise several questions, such as how to reconcile official language policies that call for increased use of English and at the same time calls for the strengthening of Icelandic as an academic language.