The noun

phrase in EFL
reading
Patricia Medina

Area
English

as a Foreign Language (EFL) for

academic purposes.
Reading comprehension.

Problem
The

position of adjective in the

sentences is different in English and in
Spanish.
In English many (1-5) adjectives can
precede a noun.
This creates confusion in Spanish native
speakers learners

Claim
Teaching

the identification of the noun

English phrase, its head (noun) and
premodifiers contributes to the overall
reading comprehension of Spanish
native speakers learners.

1st Source: Viviana Soler

Viviana Soler.
Analyzing adjectives in scientic discourse: an exploratory
study with educational applications for Spanish speakers at
advanced university level
Academic journal: English for specific Purposes 21 (2002)
145-165

Being interrelated with the evaluation and

interpretation of data collected in research,
adjectives should not be analyzed as an isolated
phenomenon but within the social and academic
environment in which they occur (Soler)

Soler, V.
Classification
Adjectival constructions

Divided into two groups according to

the position of the adjective.
)
)
)

Position differs in English and Spanish.

English: pre-modifiers.
Spanish: post-modifying position.

Soler, V.
Pre-modifying

/ Post-modifying position

Soler, V.
Pre-modifying / Post-modifying position
Spanish-speaking
First

student should:

determine the head in the

construction
Then, read to the left.

Translation
Adjectives

are positioned to the right

of the head

2nd Source: Leiva & Bailey

Bertha

Leiva de Izquierdo & Dan Bailey

Complex noun phrases and complex
nominals: some practical
considerations
Tesol Reporter 31,1 (1998), 19-29.

Leiva & Bailey

This article will address the use in english of complex noun phrases in general
and complex nominals nominals in particular these structures are frequently
found in scientific and technical texts extremely compact they combine several
ideas into just a few words by adding a variety of premodifiers premodifiers to a
noun an example is excess water weightremover suggesting some kind of
device that gets rid of surplus weight consisting of water complex noun phrases
are found especially in technical english and journalism language areas where
compression is highly valued.
In spite of their frequent use no explicit rules for the formation or analysis of
these combinations exist this worsens the confusion of many EFL readers
especially spanish speakers because the position of nouns and adjectives in
english and spanish is almost always different in english the adjective precedes
the noun it modifies almost without exception in spanish however although
limiting adjectives usually precede nouns eg dos ecuaciones two equations el
tercer capitulo the third chapter el mismo dism resultado resultado the same
result tanto dinero so much money descriptive adjectives generally follow them
eg un envase elvase frio a cold container un dcido a organico 6rganico organics
organico an organic acid an additional problem arises from the fact that often
several nouns are strung together in english while parallel nominal structures in
spanish use prepositions to make their relationships and meanings more explicit
compare radio signals and senates de radio).

3th Source: Swiwezbin, B.

Bonnie

Swierzbin
Whats in a Noun Phrase? Judging the
Difficulty of a Reading Text by
Understanding the Complexity of Noun
Phrases
Minnetesol Journal. Minnesota Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other
Languages.

Swiwezbin, B.
Identifying,

classifying and analyzing noun

phrases
A noun phrase is a group of words that
includes an obligatory head noun and all the
words that modify it (Biber, Johansson, Leech,
Conrad, & Finegan, 1999; Crystal, 2004).
Thehead nounis the core of the noun phrase,
and it may stand alone or havedeterminersor
modifiers before it (premodifiers), or after it
(postmodifiers).

Swiwezbin, B.
Why worry about understanding and teaching noun phrases?
A significant purpose of academic language is to clearly
describe complex ideas (Schleppegrell, 2004). Complex
thought requires complex language. In particular, as we saw in
the academic science texts in this study, as academic levels
rise, noun phrase complexity increases to express increasingly
complicated and difficult concepts.
To express these ideas, nouns are important because they are
technical terms that are specific to an academic areawhat are
often calledbricks(Dutro & Moran, 2003, Zwiers, 2008). The
importance of ELs knowing nouns is apparent, but noun
phrases are even more important because the context for the
noun creates a more specific meaning than the noun itself.

4th Source
The

Impact Of The Complex Noun

Phrase In Reading Comprehension Of
English Scientific Texts

Abstract:
This work is a pioneering experience in educational research at the
school of exact, chemical and natural sciences. the approach to the
text is three-levelled: semantic, morphological and syntactic and the
aim is to help students avoid word-for-word translation and overuse of
the bilingual dictionary. problems in the comprehension of complex
lexical units have been identified as a major issue in the literature and
also by our research team. this project is framed in the qualitativequantitative paradigm. the population consisted of two 40-student
groups (an experimental and a control group) chosen randomly. results
of this work confirm our hypothesis that students exposed to greater
theoretical instruction of the complex noun phrase (cnp) are more
efficient readers. although the explicit teaching of the cnp does not
appear linearly correlated with the general comprehension of texts as
a whole, it is reflected in a better quality of reading comprehension.

Types of texts (in this

research)
1

scientific academic article

Title and abstract.

Academic

articles usually have more

premodifiers because of the highly
specialized language.

Context and Justification

Context
Population: Spanish native speakers
graduate students.

Students of EFL for academic purposes.

Different areas.

Justification
Students need to research.
Understand abstracts.

Title
Conceptual design of Indian molten salt
breeder reactor

Conceptual design of Indian molten salt

prem.
n

breeder reactor
n

Diseo conceptual de un reactor generador

de sales fundidas indias.

Abstract
The third stage of Indian nuclear power programme
envisages the use of thorium as the fertile material with
233U, which would be obtained from the operation of
Pu/Th-based fast reactors in the later part of the second
stage. Thorium-based reactors have been designed in
many configurations, from light water-cooled designs
to high-temperature liquid metal-cooled options.
Another option, which holds promise, is the molten saltfuelled reactor, which can be configured to give
significant breeding ratios. A crucial part for achieving
reasonable breeding in such reactors is the need to
reprocess the salt continuously, either online or in batch
mode. India has recently started carrying out fundamental
studies so as to arrive at a conceptual design of Indian
molten salt breeder reactor (IMSBR). Presently, various
design options and possibilities are being studied from
the point of view of reactor physics and thermal
hydraulic design. In parallel, fundamental studies on
natural circulation and corrosion behaviour of various
molten salts have also been initiated.

References
Soler,

V. Analyzing adjectives in
scientific discourse: an exploratory
study with educational applications for
Spanish speakers at advanced
university level. In English for Specific
Purposes, 21 (2002). p. 145-165
Conceptual design of Indian molten salt
breeder reactor