Over the centuries, first Latin and then French, German, and Russian have receded in perceived importance as languages of science. Other powerful languages with extensive internal scientific discourse, such as Japanese and Chinese, have always been largely excluded. The dominance of English has elevated the reputation of English-language…

Analysis of tense usage in 20 scientific articles from the "Journal of Pediatrics" reveals a hierarchy of sociolinguistic relationships among context-dependent rhetorical functions, context-independent temporal meanings, and actual tense choices. (Author/CB)

One of the greatest obstacles to mastery of science and other analytical genres in school is excessive curricular emphasis on reading and hearing those genres without practice at speaking and writing them. In science, the curriculum tends to insure that only students with privileged social and linguistic backgrounds master the genre structures…

Communication in the undergraduate science curriculum in an Indian university is restricted primarily to the teacher explaining and the students understanding. The English curriculum at the same university includes practice in the interaction process as well, but could do much more to improve the communicative competence of the students. (LMO)