What is Academic English?

Academic English is the standard of the English language that colleges and universities expect students and professors to use. It is the written language of schools, of assessments, of professional articles, and of textbooks. Most teachers speak some level of Academic English, although, in conversation, all of us shift in and out of our social language. We express our culture or background in the way we pronounce words, construct phrases, or use slang.

Academic English is more formal than social English. It follows the rules of English grammar, including sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, antecedent reference of pronouns, and many more conventions. Dialectic spellings, neighborhood or generational slang, double negatives, and many other casual or creative treatments of language are excluded in Academic English.

Social English is more informal. This is the form of English we speak with our family and friends.

Social expressions change relatively quickly as people find creative ways of expressing ideas, particularly in conversation. Words and phrases we use in story-telling, songs, poetry, and rap can become a part of our everyday language in a very short time.

We expect slang and idioms in our spoken social language. Many of us even enjoy intentional and unintentional twists of grammar and mispronunciations as a part of interacting with one another.

The ability to speak and write social English is natural,for almost all English-speakers. Academic English, on the other hand, must be learned.