ABSTRACT
Academic discourse (AD) is often understood as the name for a field in applied linguistics that focuses on the language and discourse practices in the academic world, which may include schools and universities and educational contexts at different levels and in a variety of disciplines. Professional discourse (PD) may be conceived as overlapping with academic discourse or as an independent field of study of language and discourse interactions at the workplace and is also concerned with a diversity of disciplines. In spite of the fact that the line between the two may be fuzzy because we are dealing with communicative practices in dynamic social processes in institutions and organizations, it is important to keep in mind that they differ mainly on account of the context, the participants, and their goals. The difference may be viewed on a temporal axis, in which AD is concerned with learning or getting ready to obtain a professional degree in a particular discipline in an educational context, and in which PD is concerned with the practice of that profession at the workplace after obtaining a first degree. The professional practice itself may take place in schools or universities and other contexts such as business, the media, the government administration, legal institutions, and many other types of organizations. Although the distinction between AD and PD might not seem necessary (Gunnarson 2009), we sustain that it is important to draw the line between them because the focus is on different types of interactions and processes that are realized in a wide variety of genres and text types. As it is often the case that academics do research on academic discourse, PD may appear more difficult to define in the academic context because of the range of roles that academics play, but in theory there should be no major difference between studying the discourse of professionals in general and the discourse of academics as professionals in their different roles. This chapter focuses on the developments of AD and PD in Spanish, mainly in Latin America and Spain, without forgetting that there is a great amount of literature in English and French that has inspired research in these fields. The scientific production in Spanish is steadily growing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to give an in-depth account of theoretical and empirical findings, particularly in AD. For this reason, we shall present an overview of research highlights in Spanish-speaking countries, but which will, undoubtedly, leave out many relevant references regarding research that is being carried out in Spanish university departments in the United States (US) and Europe. Also, we shall have to leave out information on research related to the origins and developments of professional discourse in business organizations and to the regulatory forces that affect behaviour of people at the work-place and in the professions (Zachry and Thralls 2007).
