Why not academic literacy for all? A case for integration.

Research Seminar

Presenter: Ursula McGowan, PhD Canditate

Abstract: There is general agreement across the Australian higher education sector that undergraduate study should enable learners to graduate with good communication skills (Arkoudis 2014; Barrie et al 2009). However, while there are now many instances in Australian universities of successful collaborations between language and learning specialists and discipline content specialists, there is little evidence of institution-wide and sustainable  strategies that are inclusive of all members of the current diversity of tertiary students. My research project is a case study that illustrates possibilities and challenges for the integration of an academic literacy development approach into the learning, teaching and assessment of a mainstream STEM curriculum. In this presentation I introduce a theory, a framework and a pedagogy that, together, were instrumental in overcoming the initial challenges to curriculum-integration.