A model to support the equitable development of academic literacy in institutions of higher education

ABSTRACT

The globalisation of higher education and the resultant increase in the cultural and linguistic diversity of the student body has cast the spotlight on English language proficiency as never before. How universities best assess applicants’ linguistic suitability for their future degree studies, set appropriate proficiency thresholds, and put in place suitably structured, relevant and equitable language support post-entry is both an educational question and a moral one. This article looks specifically at English language support post-entry – widely referred to as in-sessional support – and considers a range of issues concerning the focus of that support and the nature of its delivery. It goes on to describe a decentralised model of English language provision that reflects an academic literacies perspective according to which English language development is inseparable from the acquisition of discipline knowledge. The model, implemented in Australia, rests on the idea that decentralised English language support in the form of faculty-based ‘satellite’ English language teams promotes relevance and thus engagement and learning. Furthermore, its scalability and cost-effectiveness help ensure that it is sustainable.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic literacy
• decentralised English language support
• English language gatekeeping tests
• embedding academic literacies
• student diversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Murray and Nallaya (2016) is an exception to this.

2. See de Chazal (2012) for the converse view and an argument against teaching students English for Specific Academic Purposes, and instead focusing on English for General Academic Purposes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Neil Murray

Neil Murray is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of English Language and Short Courses in the Department of Applied Linguistics, the University of Warwick. He is also an adjunct member of the Research Centre for Languages & Cultures at the University of South Australia, where he was previously Head of Language and Literacy. He has over 30 years’ experience directing and lecturing on English language education and applied linguistics programmes in Italy, Japan, the UK and Australia. His current research interests include English language policy and practice in higher education, language assessment, English for academic purposes, and English as a medium of instruction – areas in which he has presented and published widely. He is author of Standards of English in Higher Education: Issues, Challenges and Strategies (Cambridge University Press), and joint editor of Dynamic Ecologies: A Relational Perspective on Languages Education in the Asia-Pacific Region Springer).