English as a Scientific and Research Language. Debates and Discourses, Ramon Plo Alastrue and Carmen Perez-Llantada (Eds.). De Gruyter Mouton (2015)

English as a Scien i ic and Resea ch Language. Deba es and Discou ses SYNERGY olume 12, no. 1/2016 292 ENGLISH AS A SCIENTIFIC AND RESEARCH LANGUAGE. DEBATES AND DISCOURSES. ENGLISH IN EUROPE, VOLUME 2 Ramón Plo Alas ué and Ca men Pé ez-Llan ada (eds.) 2015. Be lin/Bos on: De G uy e Mou on. ISBN 978-1-61451-749-8 (x + 366 pages) Oana Ma ia CARCIU1 The olume en i led English as a Scien i ic and Resea ch Language. Deba es and Discou ses. English in Eu ope, Volume 2 is pa o a book se ies published wi hin he ame o he English in Eu ope: Oppo uni y o Th ea ? p ojec unded by he Le e hulme T us ( esea ch ne wo k si e h p://englishineu ope.g oup.she .ac.uk). As s a ed in he “Se ies P e ace”, he o e all aim o he p ojec was ha o “p o iding o he i s ime a p ope ly in o med and nuanced pic u e o he eali y o li ing wi h and h ough he medium o English” (Linn, page ). This h ead uns h ough he whole olume, wi h a pa icula ocus on he simila i ies and di e gences ac oss Eu opean academic and esea ch se ings. In his olume, he con ibu ions om coun ies such as C oa ia, he Czech Republic, Ge many, I aly, Poland, Po ugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden we e sough , in o de o p esen a mo e comple e pic u e o he se e al na ional con ex s o he schola ly s udy o English as a lingua anca o science. The e o e, he p esen book b ings in wo k ha may be new o eade s. Also, i is a ich and aluable esea ch-in o med esou ce o in e es o schola s in ol ed in he deba e su ounding he e ec s o he dominance o English in esea ch/scien i ic communica ion. The olume is nicely o ganized in o h ee pa s ha ocus on he ollowing: Pa I “The socio-cul u al scena io”, Pa II “The discou se communi y scena io” and Pa III “The language policy scena io. English as a lingua anca in linguis ics”. This s uc u e clea ly e lec s ha he opic is app oached om he h ee-p onged pe spec i e o socio-cul u al con ex , discou se communi y and language policy and planning. In addi ion, as he “In oduc ion” announces, he s udies p o ide quan i a i e and quali a i e e idence on he ma e a issue, which is in e p e ed om mul idisciplina y heo e ical posi ions. Ha ing cul u e and he o ic a i s co e, he chap e s collec ed in Pa I p oblema ize he issue o cul u al di e si y and he o ical ea u es inhe en o Eu opean academic discou ses agains he end owa ds an English-medium academic cul u e. 1 Oana Ma ia Ca ciu, Cen o Uni e si a io de la De ensa-Uni e sidad de Za agoza, Spain, oca ciu@uniza .es Book Re iews SYNERGY olume 12, no. 1/2016 293 The chap e by Benne cau ions agains he “epis emicide” e ec s o English academic discou se (EAD) wi hin he ield o humani ies. This phenomenon is acked a he le el o discou se and claimed o be “backed up by a se ies o non- discu si e mechanisms ha ein o ce he hegemony o EAD and, by ex ension, he empi icis pa adigm, h ough ‘quali y-con ol’ and, c ucially, esou ce alloca ion p ocedu es” (p. 9). Some o he socio-cul u al consequences o non-discu si e mechanisms such as he ‘publish o pe ish’ man a, li e acy b oke ing, impac ac o s and ci a ion indexes, pee - e iewing and unding a e explo ed, while add essing ha sh c i icism a he “unc i ical espousal o he empi ical pa adigm” (p. 25) by he English o Academic Pu poses (EAP) esea ch and eaching ma ke . Once again, B eeze looks a ci a ion p ac ices o schola s ou side he Anglo- Ame ican inne ci cle and hus con ibu es e idence on he epis emological monocul u e p oblem unco e ed by Benne . This chap e is a pa icula ly elegan example o mixed-me hods esea ch. Fi s , i p o ides quan i a i e da a on he numbe o ci a ions o publica ions in languages o he han English in he social sciences. The indings ob ained, based on a sample o en op in e na ional jou nals, a e hen iangula ed by in e iews conduc ed wi h au ho s and edi o s o unco e hei ci a ion s a egies and conce ns. Wi h a ocus on he social coope a i e ac i i ies o academic w i ing and publishing (i.e. s a egies, pee s and echniques as esou ces o publishing in English), he chap e by Gnu zmann, Jakisch and Rabe aims o challenge he assump ion ha publica ion success is con ingen on language compe ence only. In he las chap e in Pa I, Bondi inqui es in o he in e play be ween gen es and language choice by Eu opean agencies o scien i ic knowledge dissemina ion on he Wo ld Wide Web. The e o e, i seems di icul o escape he conclusion ha English is he dominan language “e en in websi es o Eu opean agencies cha ac e ized by an explici mul ilingual policy” (p. 108). The con ibu ions in Pa II d aw ou a en ion o speci ic discou se communi ies. The chap e s p esen compa a i e indings as ega ds c oss-cul u al di e ences iden i ied a ex le el o cas ligh on he linguis ic challenges ha L2 schola s ace when publishing hei esea ch in English o an in e na ional audience. In he i s chap e , Po olná explo es he Czech discou se communi y and b ings e idence o he adop ion o he Anglo-Ame ican he o ic s yle as ega ds he use o conjunc s as ex -o ganizing de ices in esea ch a icles. Oli e adop s a c oss-linguis ic and c oss-disciplina y pe spec i e o analyse esea ch pape s, case epo s and book e iews, and shows ha hedging exp essions and a i ude ma ke s a e a challenge ha Spanish schola s ha e o ace when publishing in English in he ield o medicine and linguis ics. The chap e by Schmied p esen s a compa ison o he g adua e s uden communi y ac oss di e en academic w i ing cul u es and conside s he indings o he s udy wi hin he b oade ame o in e na ionaliza ion and eaching (Non-Na i e) S anda d Eu opean Academic English. Ci a ion p ac ices o Czech and Anglo-Ame ican academic discou se communi ies a e compa ed in he chap e by Don che a-Na a ilo a o iden i y a ia ion and he English as a Scien i ic and Resea ch Language. Deba es and Discou ses SYNERGY olume 12, no. 1/2016 294 dominance o English on he Czech o iginal li e acy epis emology. The las chap e by Bocaneg a-Valle shi s pe spec i es om w i e s o he discou se communi y o pee e iewe s o epo indings om he analysis o an occluded gen e, pee e iew epo s. The majo h us o his chap e is de o ed o unpacking e iewe s’ language- ela ed commen s and sugges ions o be e esea ch w i ing since “language is a main conce n in pee e iew epo s” (p. 225). The au ho in e es ingly concludes ha “no clea pa e n has been ound ha iden i ies di e en ypologies o language- ela ed commen s o Anglophone and non- Anglophone-au ho ed submissions” (p. 228), al hough she acknowledges he need o conside u he dis inc ions be ween no ice and expe , o ne wo ked and o - ne wo k schola s. The h ead ha d aws oge he he con ibu ions in Pa III is ha o language policy and language planning. Aiming o gain insigh in o he ac o s ha lead o he choice o he language o publish in, Schlue in e iews Ge man L1 linguis s who e eal ha ins i u ional policies can be de e minan s o language choice. Ku ee a epo s on Swedish academics’ esea ch and publica ion p ac ices in an academic se ing in which pa allel language policies ha e been de eloped in o de o p omo e linguis ic di e si y. The chap e by Mu esan and Nicolae nicely complemen s Ku ee a’s s udy by examining Romanian schola s’ pe cep ions and a i udes owa ds he challenges o he policy issues associa ed wi h publishing in English as a lingua anca. The no el y o his s udy is ha i expands he ield o inqui y o include no only he esea che s, bu also jou nal edi o s who e alua e manusc ip s o publica ion; in addi ion, he au ho s o e sugges ions o ins uc ional in e en ion and pedagogical app oaches o eaching and lea ning languages o academic and esea ch pu poses. Taking as a s a ing poin he de elopmen and g ow h o English-medium p og ammes in he b oade ame o in e na ionaliza ion, Ma gić and Žeželić su ey C oa ian s uden s o de e mine hei a i ude owa ds he implemen a ion o such p og ammes. Also o ele ance o policy make s a e he indings o Lewińska’s s udy as ega ds Polish s uden s’ a i udes owa ds na i e and non-na i e eache s o English. O e all, he olume co e s a wide ange o opics. I p o ides an unde s anding o he mos up- o-da e e idence-based insigh s on how he use o English o academic communica ion may lead o oppo uni ies o h ea s wi h which Eu opean highe educa ion sys ems ha e o ge o g ips. As can be seen om he inal chap e (Pé ez-Llan ada) se ing ou key hemes o u u e esea ch, “i appea s ha he concep ualiza ion o English as an in e na ional language is g adually mo ing beyond he adi ional analy ical bina ies” (p. 353), ha is, Anglophone/non- Anglophone, inne /ou e , cen al/(semi)-pe iphe al; in addi ion, academic and esea ch se ings a e in e na ional and mul ilingual, a eali y which equi es a esea ch app oach ha iews English wi hin he complex ecosys em o languages ha cha ac e izes he “inc easingly in e connec ed mul ilingual and mul icul u al wo ld” (p. 353) and calls in o ques ion he concep o linguis ic impe ialism. Book Re iews SYNERGY olume 12, no. 1/2016 295 The Au ho o he Book Re iew Oana Ma ia Ca ciu is a lec u e in English o Speci ic Pu poses a he De ense Uni e si y o Za agoza. He esea ch ocuses on he applica ion o mixed-me hods o documen discou se pa e ns in English-medium academic communica ion. She is also an edi o ial assis an o Ibé ica, he Jou nal o he Eu opean Associa ion o Languages o Speci ic Pu poses AELFE (h p://www.ael e.o g/?s=p esen acio).