Why do some journal articles have to be such a nightmare?

[Gandalf]

I know I am supposed to be a wizard and full of knowledge and wisdom but I have just spent two hours trying to read a ten page article. Frustrating as hell and the worst article I have read so far in this module. Not bad in terms of points made but a nightmare in trying to decipher what the points actually were. All about knowledge of language and our ability to use the language. I had to reread passages multiple times and even had to get out my COBUILD dictionary. Surely there should be some kind of rule against people who use more than 60 words per sentence. 60 words per sentence and too high a proportion of lexical words at that. A bloody nightmare to read.

Do they write these pieces just so they can feel superior to us or is it to make them feel big about themselves? Actually, the writer makes some astute observations regarding language and its application for classroom instruction but it just took a long time to actually work out what any of them were.

Im done study for today. Its Friday night...beer is calling...

[Douglas]

I guess so they're so hyper and excited about what they're printing, they just don't want to shut up and end the sentence.

[Gandalf]

Probably not the most interesting of threads to start....but I was just having a little venting session. Been a long day today and Ive spent over four hours reading articles as well as doing my regular teaching slog. Not much fun and it was 30 degrees celsius today. God I hate the summer. I need to plough through six more articles this weekend in order to stay on schedule. Grrrr.

[brucelee]

Probably not the most interesting of threads to start....but I was just having a little venting session. Been a long day today and Ive spent over four hours reading articles as well as doing my regular teaching slog. Not much fun and it was 30 degrees celsius today. God I hate the summer. I need to plough through six more articles this weekend in order to stay on schedule. Grrrr.

Me, I have to read cases and bunch of cases for my students in the master's program.

[Gandalf]

Probably not the most interesting of threads to start....but I was just having a little venting session. Been a long day today and Ive spent over four hours reading articles as well as doing my regular teaching slog. Not much fun and it was 30 degrees celsius today. God I hate the summer. I need to plough through six more articles this weekend in order to stay on schedule. Grrrr.

Me, I have to read cases and bunch of cases for my students in the master's program.

Are you an instructor too? What kinds of cases are these?

[brucelee]

financial management cases

[brucelee]

I know I am supposed to be a wizard and full of knowledge and wisdom but I have just spent two hours trying to read a ten page article. Frustrating as hell and the worst article I have read so far in this module. Not bad in terms of points made but a nightmare in trying to decipher what the points actually were. All about knowledge of language and our ability to use the language. I had to reread passages multiple times and even had to get out my COBUILD dictionary. Surely there should be some kind of rule against people who use more than 60 words per sentence. 60 words per sentence and too high a proportion of lexical words at that. A bloody nightmare to read.

Do they write these pieces just so they can feel superior to us or is it to make them feel big about themselves? Actually, the writer makes some astute observations regarding language and its application for classroom instruction but it just took a long time to actually work out what any of them were.

Im done study for today. Its Friday night...beer is calling...

That's the problem I have when writing. I'm more of a feature writer and writing for a journal really takes effort. I agree with you that articles in a journal should be easy to understand.

It just feels good to write something only you can understand sometimes at your own detriment when editors return your paper with major modification.

[Gandalf]

I know I am supposed to be a wizard and full of knowledge and wisdom but I have just spent two hours trying to read a ten page article. Frustrating as hell and the worst article I have read so far in this module. Not bad in terms of points made but a nightmare in trying to decipher what the points actually were. All about knowledge of language and our ability to use the language. I had to reread passages multiple times and even had to get out my COBUILD dictionary. Surely there should be some kind of rule against people who use more than 60 words per sentence. 60 words per sentence and too high a proportion of lexical words at that. A bloody nightmare to read.

Do they write these pieces just so they can feel superior to us or is it to make them feel big about themselves? Actually, the writer makes some astute observations regarding language and its application for classroom instruction but it just took a long time to actually work out what any of them were.

Im done study for today. Its Friday night...beer is calling...

That's the problem I have when writing. I'm more of a feature writer and writing for a journal really takes effort. I agree with you that articles in a journal should be easy to understand.

It just feels good to write something only you can understand sometimes at your own detriment when editors return your paper with major modification.

Writing a good article takes a tremendous amount of effort and Ive nothing but admiration for that. Generally I manage to work my way through reading them okay, but this one wore me down. I can understand that academic writers use specific terminology but this guy seemed to be writing in Kerouacesque stream of conciousness mode at times. But Jack Kerouac seldom worked to an 80% lexical density ratio. And you dont expect academic writers to forget to use punctuation!!

[brucelee]

so you're an English teacher?

[Gandalf]

so you're an English teacher?

Yep, ESL is my calling. Been doing it for ages now.

[brucelee]

English as a second language in Korea? That's quite difficult...


Many koreans are coming to the Philippines to study english. My wife, who is an English instructor, sometimes has students from Korea and she would usually complain.