Abstract
Susan Conrad, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University (USA), contributes this article on the applications of
register research to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Her research focuses on topics
including academic register variation, discipline-specific language, student and workplace writing, and grammar and writing
pedagogy. Since the 1990s, her work has advocated for and exemplified the ways in which register-based descriptions can facilitate
language teaching, including building awareness of register variation in learners and novice writers themselves. This focus is
illustrated in her book Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach to English (Conrad & Biber 2009, Pearson Longman), which takes many of the major register-based patterns of variation in
English grammar (described in the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Biber et al. 1999) and translates them into practical grammar lessons for language learners, making
explicit how grammar use is mediated by register. Her applied focus is also evident in her work as Principal Investigator for the
Civil Engineering Writing Project <http://www.cewriting.org/>. The
project, funded by the National Science Foundation, addresses the writing needs of Civil Engineering students through corpus-based
register comparisons (of university student writing, practitioner workplace writing, and published academic writing), applying the
results to the development and evaluation of pedagogical materials that improve students’ preparation for writing in the
workplace.
Board 27: Improving Student Writing with Research-based Instruction: Results from the Civil Engineering Writing Project