Designing embedded courses to support international students' cultural and academic adjustment in the UK

Abstract

In this article we discuss some challenges confronting teachers in higher education when responding to the needs of international students. It is argued that curriculum design within mainstream courses is a key tool to embed language and learning skills in course content, and so foreground those elements that can promote students' familiarisation with, and adjustment to, study in the UK. Such an approach to curriculum design, we contend, arises out of revisiting and emphasising teaching and learning as social constructions. The experience of working with one specific course is used to illustrate our case, and to particularly illustrate the specific ways in which the conceptualisation of teaching and learning can shape practice.