Academics’ Understandings of the Literacy Needs of International Graduate Students

Abstract

This article critically explores the understandings about the English academic literacy needs of international graduate students from the perspective of academic teaching staff in a Faculty of Education at a large Australian university. Research suggests that international graduate students for whom English is another language, on coming to English speaking countries, acquire English academic literacies as part of a complex set of academic competencies needed for successful graduate study. In this study, 16 academic teaching staff participated in focus groups and revealed their understandings and practices about academic literacies in the context of their experiences of working with international graduate students as teachers and supervisors. Emergent thematic analysis and Bourdieu’s ideas of doxa, field, and habitus were used to examine the data. Findings revealed a range of beliefs about what international graduate students need regarding academic literacies and language support, and some contestation about the role of the academic in providing literacy support. This suggests challenges of consistency in graduate teaching and learning, and the need for greater clarity concerning what equitable support international students are given.