Helping Space Scientists Level Up

The U.S. Consulate General Chennai and RELO in New Delhi conducted a short-term program on developing and implementing English for Academic Purposes at IIST. (SamCreativeArts/Shutterstock.com)

The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is dedicated to the study and research of space science. Established in 2007 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), IIST offers a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs, designed with a special focus on space science, technology, and their myriad applications, nurturing the next generation of space scientists and engineers.

The U.S. Consulate General Chennai and the Regional English Language Office (RELO) in New Delhi conducted a short-term program on developing and implementing English for Academic Purposes for the 700 students enrolled at IIST. This was the first program of its kind in English for scientific writing or communication skills. It included a component to train faculty to run similar courses for future scientists. The program aimed to improve academic communication skills, technical writing, and communication skills for employment, as well as research writing skills for more than 60 undergraduate and doctoral students at the institute.

Language specialists Mackenzie Bristow and Wendy McBride implemented the program both virtually and in person.

Drafting the curriculum

Bristow, who has a background in applied linguistics and user experience (UX) research, previously directed Emory University‘s graduate English as a Second Language program. There she, in part, worked with scholars to improve their research and presentation skills.

Bristow visited IIST in early 2023 and encouraged her students to understand the purpose and the audience when communicating, whether in writing or through presentations. “For example, let’s think about email,” explains Bristow. “We have to write them all the time, but they can be difficult. Taking a moment to think about what my reader expects from me, or why I’m writing this email, and having that moment to analyze the audience and purpose makes it so much easier to write.”

By the end of her six-week course, Bristow says, students became adept at quickly planning their communications. “I could throw anything at the scholars and they would just know the level of formality and how to organize their thoughts,” she says. “They would create a mental outline and it just made the writing so much easier. And that is the real power of thinking about audience and purpose.”

Before arriving in Thiruvananthapuram, Bristow held several virtual sessions, scanned the IIST’s course offerings and engaged closely with professors and graduate students to understand their needs. She reviewed professors’ published articles and analyzed research publications, particularly scientific research, to help students navigate their academic journey effectively.

As part of the training, Bristow held several in-person speaking and writing classes for undergraduates. “They each had learning objectives toward increasing fluency and proficiency,” she explains. She also created a language research article writing class for graduate students. “At least once a week, I had a two-hour session with a group of graduate students where we went through the pieces of the research article,” she says. “Part of my role there was to share with faculty the kind of methods I use to create the curriculum.”

“Our conversations were very much an exchange of knowledge,” she says. “I was learning so much from them about how they wanted the students to express themselves, and I was providing them tricks and tips from linguistics on how to analyze language. We were able to blend our styles together and, I think what was left with them were some new, exciting lessons that could be integrated into their curriculum.”

Teaching at IIST

McBride has been teaching English as a second language at the University of Arkansas for over a decade. Her career has revolved around teaching English to undergraduates, graduates and Ph.D. students.

She visited IIST for three weeks in October 2023, where she helped train students in academic and formal writing. Most of her classes were held remotely, with a few in-person visits to the institute. “Everyone spoke English very well. But when it translated to writing, it was a very conversational style of writing,” says McBride.

Her focus was on graduate students aiming to get published and competing with English speakers from around the world. “A large percentage of them are native speakers with strong writing skills, and possibly more experience with research writing. So, I was addressing some basic tenets of research writing at IIST,” explains McBride.

Her key areas included presenting ideas in a formal way, aligning with the standards of the scholarly community, identifying and eliminating slang and idiomatic expressions, and learning vocabulary and phraseology. “I noticed significant progress in formal writing, with stronger grammar and fewer conversational elements like idioms, contractions, and personal emotional content,” she adds.

The contrast between American and Indian students’ learning styles significantly influenced McBride’s teaching approach. While American education emphasizes interactive participation, with students expected to engage actively in class discussions and group work, the students McBride worked with in India were more accustomed to listening attentively and taking notes. As a highly interactive teacher, McBride found herself pushing harder to encourage participation among her students, striving to create a more engaging classroom environment.

“For me, education is personal and there’s not a huge power distance between the instructor and the student. It’s a more equal relationship and we are learning from each other,” she explains. “That was not what this audience was expecting or familiar with. So, both in-person and virtually, I had to work hard.”

What impressed McBride was the dedication and hard work her students put into showing up for her classes. “The students didn’t shed any of their existing workload to attend my classes. My classes were added to it.” One student who attended most of the classes left a mark on McBride. “The student was married and had two children, and I thought it was incredible that she was able to make space for my program with her already hugely demanding home life and school life,” she says.

“Good science is not enough if you can’t convey it well in a written form,” explains McBride. “You are going to end up at a dead end, and someone else who communicates more effectively will secure the funding, get published, or advance their knowledge more easily,” she adds, emphasizing the need for language skills among space scientists.

And she agrees with Bristow when it comes to the purpose of writing. “It’s important to think about the audience and be able to meet the audience where they are at.”

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