This book provided reading and vocabulary study for students whose proficiency in English has reached an intermediate level and whose major interest is in the biological, physical, or applied sciences. It has been found that students of English as a second language who are scientists or expect to be scientists wish to build up a working science vocabulary in English as soon as they possibly can. Science Readings for Students of English as a Second Language was designed for this purpose.
The text is a general science reader with special attention given to the development of vocabulary. The reading selections, dealing with science education, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, mathematics, medicine, meteorology, oceanography, physics, and space exploration, have been adapted for intermediate students of English. Through adaptation, the selections have been shortened and divided into convenient parts.
Vocabulary control has also been applied, so the student will not be faced with a large number of "new" words at one time. For this purpose two vocabulary lists have been used: A General Service List of English Words edited by Michael West, including the 425-word *"Supplementary Scientific and Technical Vocabulary"* by Flood and West, and the Thorndike 3,000-word list from The *Teacher's Word Book of 30,000 Words* by Edward L. Thorndike and Irving Lorge. To these a few words from the Thorndike 4,000 list have also been added, namely, words that experience has shown to be within the English vocabulary of intermediate-level students. Thus, the assumed vocabulary runs to about 3,500 words.
About 700 additional vocabulary items are introduced in the readings and exercises. Where "new" vocabulary appears in the reading selections, footnote explanations and, in some instances, pictured illustrations are given. For convenient reference, new words and expressions are also listed in the glossary at the back of the book.
Exercises follow each reading selection. Some test the student's understanding of what he has read and his understanding of the words and idioms introduced in the lesson. Others are devoted to systematic word building and vocabulary review. "General purpose" vocabulary has been given the same careful treatment as "scientific or technical" terms. Most patterns of word formation seem to apply equally to both kinds of vocabulary.
As far as we are aware, this book is the first of its type to be published commercially in the United States. Comments and suggestions from teachers who use it will be welcome.
*Kenneth Croft and Billye Walker Brown*
Washington, D. C.
December, 1965
