TEACHING FOOD SCIENCE ENGLISH WITH PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Abstract

The role of English as the language of international communication asks to redress English language pedagogies to give proficiency new assets. To meet these demands, university language curricula should go beyond the teaching of basic grammar, lexis and vocabulary. They should improve communicative skills and professional competences in line with the international use of English and with the requests of the world of work. This paper wants to discuss how one typical food science written genre, namely Product Specification, can be used to match English language proficiency and disciplinary contents in food science. To this aim, a blue-print describing PDO/PGI Garlics (Allium sativum L.) grown in Europe, considered as a typical agricultural product, is presented. The template meets three aims central to English teaching in food science: the outline of the main features of typical food-and-wine products in the target foreign language, the enhancement of presentation skills and the use of specific vocabulary.