Academic Literacy Research Articles

An intervention study on the influence of altruistic teaching on L2 learners’ English research article abstract writing

Abstract A large mass of research has reported the significance and power of positive psychology (PP) constructs in second/foreign language (L2) education. As an offshoot of PP, altruistic teaching, which highlights teaching without self-focus, has recently initiated its way into L2 research territory. However, the way altruistic teaching influences L2 students’ academic literacy skills, such as abstract writing, has been left uncharted to date. To bridge this gap, the present study used an experimental design to investigate the contribution of altruistic teaching to 163 university students’ English abstract writing required in research article (RA)s. The results of t-test and ANOVA indicated a statistically significant difference between the learners’ RA abstract writing in the control and experimental groups in both the short and long run in light of altruistic teaching. The study discusses the results and presents the implications of altruistic teaching for L2 research and practice.

‘We didn't need to know about everything all at once’

Tertiary student engagement with information and academic literacy online resources provided by centralized units is low. Although these resources are designed to prepare students for their assessments, they are often positioned peripherally to students’ learning environments. In attempting to position resources within students’ learning environments, our Library team conduct regular user experience (UX) testing of a course we have designed in our institution’s learning management system. Our two-year UX project has focused on the design and organization of resources that show students examples and guidance with how to do their assessments. Over two rounds of data collection and analysis, UX methods of usability testing, card sorting, low-fidelity wireframing, and high-fidelity prototyping helped identify student preferences for organising and accessing our resources. Findings indicate that students value the provision of relevant examples and guidance that show them what is expected in assessments and that they want direct access to that content as part of their courses. Implications for design include maximizing ease of use by positioning links to relevant examples and guidance in the assessment instructions and/or specific learning materials of courses, with the content being linked to positioned within a centralized repository in the same online learning environment.

Fostering academic literacy in English for Academic Purposes students through online academic Communities of Practice

Fostering academic literacy in English for Academic Purposes students through online academic Communities of Practice

Blending belonging

The disruption caused by the Covid pandemic to expectations of and assumptions surrounding already disputed concepts such as engagement and participation within the student journey throughout tertiary education remains wicked in its unruliness. As such, our ability as practitioners to anticipate and manage students’ (and our own) expectations in both physical and virtual learning spaces is dynamic and fragile. However, the in-between space created by the tension of the desire to nurture a new normal and avoid The Snapback (Bryant, 2021), gives rise not only to uncertainty, but scope to innovate for enhancement. This case study will share reflections on using an e-portfolio assessment to address and consolidate the mooted four foundations of belonging in HE (Wonkhe and Pearson, 2022); connection, inclusion, support, and autonomy. The paper will consider the implications of facilitating and promoting these dimensions in the context of supporting an ever-more heterogeneous student population within tertiary education, for whom recent experiences of formal, post-compulsory education may have been disjointed or interrupted. The e-portfolio (using Pebblepad) supports engagement within the case study university’s embedded Academic, Professional and Personal Development curriculum framework, which has been designed to support learners with diverse and rich prior experiences of learning and, using an academic literacies (Lea & Street, 2006) based ethos, facilitate the extrapolation of existing competences and confidence to the academic domain.

A bluffer’s guide to academic literacies: can we communicate a complex set of ideas in simpler terms?

I have often felt sceptical about the idea of academic literacies (AL), which presents a highly influential account of ‘how students learn to write at university’ (Lea and Street, 1998). AL theory has had a significant impact on the field, but some things about it bother me. Key ideas are frequently expressed in very abstract terms (it is hard to justify this comment in an academic context, but bear with me). Research has recognised difficulties in outlining AL’s core principles to students (Lea, 2016, p.91), and ‘the exact nature of the relationship between [its component] approaches’ (Hilsdon, Malone and Syska, 2019). It can be hard to convert the lofty AL aims of emancipation or transformation into practice. As theories go, it clearly thinks of itself as on ‘the right side of history’, and perhaps it is. However, having recently spent time wrangling with AL literature, I have developed more of a (grudging) respect for its insights and possible uses in practice. Drawing on theoretical writing and case studies of AL in use, this session aimed to identify the AL insights which are most relevant for the day-to-day practice of Learning Developers and present them in more concrete terms. In doing so, I hope to make this theory ‘meaningful, relevant and accessible to all’ (for Hockings’ definition of ‘inclusive’, see Hockings, 2010, p.1). After brief comments on its context and aims, I presented a short series of my ‘translations’ from AL into everyday English for use in everyday Learning Development practice.

Academic literacies as a theoretical underpinning for Learning Development support

Research into academic literacy or literacies, however the term is defined, and how the field relates to disciplinary practice, has been debated in recent decades (Lillis and Scott, 2007; Lillis, 2019). Consideration of academic literacies is also a key component of the Learning Development community as the profession has evolved and developed its own identity. Is the term defined as ‘literacy’ or ‘literacies’? Is it a core component of Learning Development practice, or is it more tied to disciplinary and curriculum-based delivery? By understanding the literature around the definition and the development and application of academic literacies, can we consider how this relates to current perceptions and understanding of the field in a Learning Development context and what impact it may have on student learning? This workshop provided participants with the opportunity to hear about current research being undertaken by the ALDinHE research virtual Community of Practice (vCoP) to investigate our current understanding of academic literacies, how they are (or it is, if considered a singular literacy) perceived across the Learning Development community, and how we might measure its impact on our practice and student learning. For simplicity within this paper, academic literacies will be referred to as a plural form. Due to the historical creation of Learning Development teams in response to sector changes in higher education, this workshop provided participants with the opportunity to hear about the current research on academic literacies. Participants were also able to discuss their own experiential views to develop a shared understanding of how we may apply this understanding to practice, and what the impact on our work may be. The workshop aimed to help define our understanding of academic literacies—both in terms of the literature and in practice—and take away ideas and examples of practice that we can apply in our own work.

Critical learning development and the crisis of the university: a collective consideration

This participatory session concerned consideration of the ‘critical turn in LD’ (Syska and Buckley, 2023: 107), manifest through an emerging critical LD movement – as centring an academic literacies approach (Hilsdon, 2018; Asher, 2022, 2023a; Dhillon, 2023; Rooney, 2023) – as a response to ‘the crisis of the university’ (Bacevic, 2017). The focus is on the positionality of LD/LDers within the increasingly neoliberal university, and to this critical learning development movement. Time and space are provided for sharing experiences, worries and hopes for LD/HE and to collectively explore the contemporary realities/trajectory of LD/HE – and alternative futures. The central cause of the crisis of UK HE, exacerbated by government and senior management responses to COVID-19, is intensifying and accelerating processes of the ‘deep neoliberalisation’ of the public university – reflected in industrial action concerning ‘pay devaluation; pay inequality, based on gender and race; excessive workloads; and casualisation’ (Hall, 2020a). The session explores where LD/LDers are positioned within the HE crisis, before considering how critically oriented LD/LDers who believe HE should be a social and public good can best respond to the crisis, while connecting such to wider contemporary societal and global crises. Specifically: How might LD/LDers respond to different contexts of crisis in ways that encompass LD’s developmental/pedagogical ethos, emancipatory values and empowering academic literacies approach (Syska and Buckley, 2023; Webster, 2019)? How do we link with wider critical educational theories, practices, communities and struggles? What might be the role of critical Learning Development and academic literacies? The objective is critical reflection on contemporary LD/HE contexts – with take-aways, as thus grounded in actual lived experiences of the crisis, including: Developing understandings as to self, team and LD contemporary positionality. Considerations of possible actions and next steps, including the potential for an ALDinHE CoP focused on critical LD and academic literacies.

Embedding academic literacies and skills into courses through graduate competency maps

The University of Bedfordshire will launch our updated Curriculum Framework in autumn 2024. A core feature will be for all courses to include a Graduate Development Pathway which spans pre-arrival, induction, first assessment, on course teaching, and beyond graduation. A central part of the pathway is a universal ‘learning to learn’ six-week induction that addresses the development of core academic literacies and skills. This is then followed by course specific graduate competency maps that outline how institutional graduate competencies are developed across units within a course. Institutional graduate competencies such as ‘communication’, ‘problem solving’, and ‘digital learning’ align to topics historically supported by our Learning Development Team. As such, it is pivotal that the Learning Development Team is involved in the development of these maps. Our approach to developing Graduate Pathways will therefore position Learning Developers at the heart of curriculum co-creation. Course teams will work in partnership with our Learning Development Team (along with Careers and Employability Advisors) to develop graduate competency maps. This empowers Learning Developers to draw upon their expertise and support the embedding of academic literacies and skills across the institution. This both positions and recognises the LD team as institutional experts in ‘learning to learn’ and mitigates the need for our LD Team to ‘fight against the notion that we are teaching ‘study skills’ in a deficit way’ (Hood, 2023, p.200) as often still seems to remain the case in the HE sector. I foresee (and hope) that ‘Learning Development for the future’ will see more universities introducing similar processes that facilitate and empower Learning Development teams to share their expertise. This in turn would mean the ‘third space’ (Holley and Biggins, 2023, p.84) typically occupied by Learning Developers will become increasingly expansive in the future.

Learning Developers as scholars: raising our voice

This mini-keynote encouraged attendees to consider their stance towards LD scholarship, including current enablers and barriers to engagement. Like many other third space professionals, learning developers’ participation in scholarship is somewhat constrained, due to the lack of contractual requirements to engage in such endeavours. Despite this, we view the development of LD’s pedagogical and theoretical knowledge base as a vehicle which will allow LD to disseminate its values and principles, beyond the confines of learning developers’ individual practice. Thus, this mini-keynote drew on key principles from the LD Scholarship Manifesto recently published (Bishopp-Martin and Johnson, 2023), a manifesto which has captured the voices of the LD community. The following questions acted as provocations for participants to consider what encourages or prevents them from joining the call to expand this growing field’s knowledge base: As learning developers, we are committed to student education and disseminating best practice beyond our field. How can scholarship support this commitment? Engagement with scholarship is endemic to the ALDinHE values, which have come to help us identify as a professional group. Thus, do you believe that practising according to those values, including an on-going commitment to our professional development is essential? If so, what may be holding you back? If Learning developers sit alongside students and other HE colleagues invested in academic literacies development, arguably our praxis can only be truly enacted if we are ourselves immersed in such development. To what extent is LD scholarship rooted in Academic Literacies? If not, what else underpins it and why?

‘The exciting AI adventure’: reflections on the ethical use of generative AI in academic writing

Generative AI is rapidly and radically changing reading and writing practices and compelling HEIs to adopt new strategies for promoting academic integrity and incorporating emergent literacy-enhancing technologies into curriculum delivery. In his presentation, Lee-Price critically reflected on two academic writing workshops intended to develop undergraduates’ understanding of academic integrity and demonstrate a constructive and critical use of AI in academic work. The workshops were designed with the aid of ChatGPT, with one of them incorporating a paraphrasing activity using QuillBot. Lee-Price explored how practitioners can work with AI in a way that embraces ALDinHE’s (2023) five values of Learning Development: in particular, supporting staff and students to ‘make sense of’ HE and foster ‘critical pedagogy’. In his analysis of the design and delivery of the workshops, Lee-Price adopted an academic literacies approach that encourages ‘alternative ways of meaning making in academia […] by considering the resources that (student) writers bring to the academy’ (Lillis and Scott, 2007, p.13). He also drew on the concept of ‘slow reading’, which resists an emphasis on efficiency and the associated view of reading as information extraction, promoting instead ‘an ethical relation of openness with the otherness, ambiguity and strangeness of the text, and how this openness to intensity and intimacy can be transformative’ (Walker, 2017, p.xx). Themes explored included co-creation, lived experience, and ethical responsibility. Lee-Price proposed that Learning Developers should proactively support their institutions in engaging innovatively with the practical, pedagogical, and ethical challenges (and opportunities!) arising from AI.

Translanguaging and Decolonisation in South African Higher Education: Embracing Multilingual Pedagogies

Translanguaging, a practice that recognises and utilizes multilingual students’ linguistic repertoires has emerged as a crucial approach in challenging traditional language policies, particularly in the South African educational landscape.Despite its embrace, a colonial stance still persists in teaching practices. Through a critical analysis of teaching materials used in an academic literacy course, this paper explores how translanguaging is currently being used in teaching and learning. Findings reveal a tension in the sense that even though students’ language practices are acknowledged, the materials still maintain a dominant position for English. This highlights the need to move beyond a simplistic view of multilingualism towards a more holistic embrace of translanguaging.Set against this background, this research argues that translanguaging can bridge the abyssal divide created by colonialism. It emphasizes the unifying potential of translanguaging, fostering an educational landscape that celebrates South Africa's rich linguistic diversity and cultural heritage. Ultimately, the study calls upon educators to move beyond the limitations of standardized languages and fully embrace translanguaging as a transformative force for decolonization.At the end, the paper calls for further research.

Admissions pathways and international undergraduates’ academic achievement

ABSTRACT Background There are a number of pathways available for international students to gain admission into universities in English-speaking countries. While many international students for whom English is not their first language succeed academically, there is concern that some do not cope with the demands of university which can affect their retention and academic success. This study considers the effects of different admissions pathways on international undergraduate students’ academic success in one New Zealand university. Purpose Findings from the first phase of this research revealed that international students who entered university with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) gained at high school in New Zealand performed significantly worse academically than their peers who entered through three other admissions pathways. This study aimed to ascertain whether there were salient features of students’ prior education and undergraduate experiences which contributed to this outcome. Method In-depth interviews were conducted with nine students who entered a university in New Zealand via two admissions pathways: NCEA or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The data generated through these interviews was analysed to enable qualitative comparisons between the two groups. Findings Results suggest that the IELTS group outperformed their NCEA peers due to maturity and prior education in their home countries. While the NCEA students had spent some years at high school in the host country, they did not, in general, demonstrate the same level of academic literacy as their IELTS peers. Conclusion International students’ outcomes appear to differ due to previous educational experiences. Students who enter via NCEA are potentially more likely to need support, as they may still be dealing with language proficiency issues, whereas those who enter via IELTS with prior higher-level education in their home country may be more academically prepared. It is important that institutions promote learning support opportunities for all international students, to ensure they experience a positive social and learning experience, which can ultimately contribute to their retention in learning, and their academic success.

O desenvolvimento das capacidades de linguagem no processo de escrita dos estudantes universitários: o Projeto de Pesquisa para Iniciação Científica em foco

This article aims to demonstrate the role that the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo (LLAC) plays in improving students' textual production in the genre of Research Project for Scientific Initiation. This article is part of a master's research project that aims to go beyond a merely descriptive analysis, seeking to illustrate the interaction between theories of texts and genres and teaching practices. Based on the analysis of LLAC's impact on the textual production of genres in the university context, the article tracks the development of language capacities: action capacity, discursive capacity, and linguistic-discursive capacity (Dolz, Pasquier, Bronckart, 1993) of university students. In this sense, the article provides analyses of the development of written production in Portuguese, as a mother tongue, aiming to identify how students develop their language capacities based on the teachable characteristics of the Research Project genre. Through the analysis of various excerpts, it was observed that the interventions during the sessions played the role of a mediating tool in students' language actions, highlighting the importance of the monitor-tutor's role in the reformulation of texts.

We need to talk about AL: has academic literacies designed the pedagogy out of Learning Development?

Academic literacies (AL) research has made significant contributions to understandings of student writing and literacy across higher education and particularly learning development. However, researchers and practitioners both within and external to the AL movement have struggled to clarify the relationship between AL and pedagogy. English for Academic Purposes researchers have highlighted the lack of a workable AL pedagogy, whilst AL researchers maintain that the model represents a design space or heuristic for thinking about practice in context, rather than a source of pedagogic prescriptions. This theoretical discussion elaborates concerns with the structural coherence of the AL model, its broadly social constructivist underpinnings and evidence base, and the impact of its ideological orientation on the pedagogy we derive from it. Underpinning these critiques is a suspicion that the interpretation of social constructivist epistemology on which AL relies to pinpoint weaknesses in the models of literacy/writing which it subsumes cannot generate a practical pedagogy. We argue that these structural and ideological tensions in the AL model help to explain confusion over its interpretation and implementation. We speculate that this singular focus on social constructivist-derived theory, though well-intentioned, does more to reinforce a particular ideological commitment than to enhance student learning.

Enhancing academic and professional literacy in Swedish specialist nurse and other professional education programmes: a teacher’s perspective

This opinion piece focuses on the vital integration of academic and professional literacies in specialist nurse education and other professional education programmes within higher education in Sweden. In this opinion piece, we argue that extended learning, practise, and support can enhance the academic and professional literacy competence of specialist nurse students and other students in professional educations. To offer student specific and targeted support, educators, researchers, and policymakers can engage in collaboration, as well as inspire and empower their teachers through ongoing professional development. We also argue that the relationship between these two literacies should be highlighted in higher education to clarify the importance of academic skills within specialist nursing and other professions. We therefore suggest higher education could be more active in implementing and visualising intended learning outcomes with progression and learning activities regarding academic literacy as well as professional literacy curricula in professional educations. This approach, with an emphasis on systematic monitoring and research, ensures proficiency in effective communication, evidence-based practice, ethical responsibility, continuous learning, and quality assurance.

Collaborative approaches to embedding academic literacy instruction in the curriculum: examples from UK universities

ABSTRACT The development of academic literacy is fundamental to student success in higher education. Universities offer various types of student support, ranging from generic courses to discipline-specific academic literacy instruction. The approach that has been advocated as the most inclusive and systematic is the embedding of academic literacy instruction into subject curricula. Embedding is best facilitated when English for academic purposes (EAP) specialists, with their linguistic and pedagogical expertise, work in collaboration with subject lecturers. Whilst there are several published examples of embedded academic literacy instruction led by EAP practitioners, there is still little evidence of collaborations in which subject lecturers assume some responsibility for students’ academic literacy development. Although there has been a growing trend towards collaborative and embedded activities, they remain largely invisible(Tibbetts and Chapman 2023. A guide to in-sessional English for academic purposes: Paradigms and practices. London: Routledge). This study aimed to offer detailed insights into current initiatives in UK universities and to identify factors that facilitate or constrain collaborations and institution-wide provision of embedded academic literacy support. For this purpose, we conducted open interviews with EAP leaders at fifteen universities. The findings indicate that the type of institution as well as the representation of EAP staff in departmental committees are important factors for the implementation and sustainability of collaborative and embedded academic literacy provision. Based on the findings, we propose some steps that EAP leaders can take to reduce the structural and perceptual barriers preventing the expansion of this provision across institutions.

Conceptual divergence and its causes in English for academic purposes abroad from the perspective of legitimation code theory

The reform of English for academic purposes (EAP) teaching requires clear understanding of its conceptual connotation. Based on the legitimation code theory, this study analysed the development of EAP in major English-speaking countries and the debates on the concept of EAP in the academic community. The study finds that EAP has evolved from a knowledge code, a knower code to an elite code. The core elements of EAP are embodied in a hierarchical knowledge structure, a systematic curriculum framework, and the integration of knowledge and knower in teaching. Therefore, in response to the current debates and problems in China’s EAP teaching and research, it is suggested that EAP teaching should focus on the dialectical unity of language knowledge and disciplinary knowledge, academic skills and academic literacies, knowledge creation and personal development, so as to achieve the resonance of talent cultivation and national development. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .

Academic Literacy Support During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Peer Tutors’ Resilience at the Wits School of Education Writing Centre

Academic Literacy Support During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Peer Tutors’ Resilience at the Wits School of Education Writing Centre

A new model for enhancing graduate students' academic literacy from the perspective of categorized education

A new model for enhancing graduate students' academic literacy from the perspective of categorized education

Freedom and constraints: English learners’ investment in writing through digital multimodal composing

In the field of teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL), digital multimodal composing (DMC) has been increasingly used as a pedagogical approach to support students' writing. While literature highlights DMC has the potential to encourage EAL learners' investment in writing afforded by digital tools, few studies have explored what contextual factors may shape EAL learners' identities in DMC and how they can impact their investment in English writing. This article reports on a qualitative study that investigates the contextual factors that come into play in EAL students' social identity and investment in English writing through DMC in an academic literacy course in China. Through thematic analysis, this study identifies that students' investment in English writing through the DMC project interacted with two major forces in the literacy classroom setting contextualized in the Chinese education system: freedom and constraints. Under such influence, students took on two conflicting identities: free composers and disciplined language learners. Further, I argue that they experienced tensions in these identities. However, the negotiation of the tensions tended to be productive in terms of students’ investment in English writing, which ultimately fostered an enriched understanding of writing.