Educating Chinese scientists to write for international journals: Addressing the divide between science and technology education and English language teaching

As is the worldwide trend, scientists in China face strong and increasing pressure to publish their research in international peer-reviewed journals written in English. There is an acute need for graduate students to develop the required language skills alongside their scientific expertise, in spite of the distinct division currently existing between English teaching and the other disciplines. Researchers in the workplace also need ongoing training, presenting a complex challenge for the sector. We present an analysis of data gathered as we have introduced, in Chinese science- and English teaching-based contexts, an approach to the development of international publishing capacity entitled CIPSE – Collaborative Interdisciplinary Publication Skills Education. This approach involves scientists and English language specialists working together on education programs adapted to fit local contextual constraints, and builds on collaborative approaches used extensively in ESP contexts elsewhere. Our analysis suggests some possible components of the multi-faceted strategy set that will clearly be required to address the challenges. We argue for changes to the teaching of English to research students in the sciences, including the development of a strong research base incorporating corpus linguistics, English for Specific Purposes pedagogy and interdisciplinary collaborative practice.

► Chinese scientists experience strong pressure to publish articles in English. ► Recent policy initiatives have increased output but with some problems in practice. ► Separation of the disciplines may hamper collaborative approaches to solutions. ► We trialed Collaborative Interdisciplinary Publication Skill Education successfully. ► However, institutional, English teacher and scientist support are all needed for sustainable solutions.