STEMskiller: Skill Set Map for Mentors of Early Career Researchers

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Language training

Definition:

While English is currently “the” language to learn in STEM, mentees may also need additional language competencies for exchange experiences, postdoc stays, internships, and other stints abroad. Mentors should consider formalizing expectations about required language competencies for those they mentor, and create opportunities for mentees to improve their skills—either by utilizing existing language support entities at their institutions or by supplementing them whenever possible. This training should go beyond the acquisition of specialized vocabularies and include training in: discourse, creation of complex texts, explanation, argumentation, purpose, text and sentence structures, and related written and oral communication skills.[1]

For students wishing to study in English language programs, standardized test scores may be required, commonly TOEFL or IELTS. Links to these test information sites are provided below.

[1] Chmiel, M. (n.d.). Talking Science: Where STEM Literacy and Language Acquisition Meet. https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/talking-science-where-stem-literacy-and-language-acquisition-meet

Useful Language training resources:

ETS. (2021). The TOEFL Family of Assessmentshttps://www.ets.org/toefl

Information for test takers planning to study in Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the U.K. and Europe, and the United States.

IELTS. (2021). IELTS Home of the IELTS English Examhttps://www.ielts.org/

Describes the IELTS testing system and its two tests, Academic and General Training.

Tags: All IPS; all PSR; all GL; all Comp

Peer Review: None

Table of contents:

3.1. Language training

 

Author: Stephanie Krueger

Peer Reviewer(s): None

Last Updated: October 28, 2021

 

Editor: Last modified: 24.5. 2024 08:05