Embedding Academic Literacy and Communication Skills in the

Embedding Academic Literacy and Communication Skills in the Curriculum Julie King, Julie Hartill, Liz Chiu, Brett Harmony

Overview - The work of the Centre for Academic English - Academic literacy - Impact of not embedding academic literacy - Embedding academic literacy to improve student performance in assessment - Ideas to embed academic literacy in your curriculum - Links to next workshop by the Library: Developing and embedding information skills in the curriculum 2

What we do: …help students, academic staff and researchers participate effectively and successfully in the academic community by developing their academic literacy, language and communication skills 3

Why we do it: International students Home students ‘Academic language is no-one’s mother tongue’ Home staff International staff 4

What is academic literacy? ‘refers to the critical thinking, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills learned within academic society’ 5

What is academic literacy? Academic literacy is a complex concept encompassing the attributes and practical skills characteristic of academics and the research community. These include: academic integrity; criticality; personal identity; self-efficacy; information literacy; team-work and leadership – all underpinned by excellent language and communication skills. Example: Critical Reading • • • • interpret different text types understand relations between different parts of a text understand the writer’s voice and purpose identify fact, interpretation, opinion make distinctions between essential and non-essential information understand what counts as evidence for an argument identify the logical development of a text make meaning beyond the level of the sentence extrapolate from information and make inferences identify the audience the text is aimed at examine the evidence or arguments presented check out any influences on the evidence or arguments check out the limitations of study design or focus examine the interpretations made decide to what extent to accept the authors’ arguments, opinions, or conclusions ……and…. . 6

Academic literacy issues • What aspects of academic literacy do you find your students struggle with lack need active support with have no problems with? 7

Academic literacy, language and content Content Academic literacy and language to access content and demonstrate understanding Text : structure Sentence : function Word : meaning 8

Why is academic literacy important? Learning and Teaching Strategy: Our aim for our graduates is that they will: • Demonstrate deep conceptual understanding of their chosen discipline • Work effectively in multi-cultural, international teams and across disciplinary boundaries • Approach challenges with curiosity, critical thinking and creativity • Innovatively apply their skills to tackling complex real-world problems • Understand value different cultures and perspectives • Have developed into independent learners with high self-efficacy • Display a strong sense of personal and professional identity 9

Wingate & Tribble (2012) “learning to write in an academic discipline is not purely a linguistic matter that can be fixed outside the discipline, but involves an understanding of how knowledge in the discipline is presented, debated and constructed” Current situation / Cf. AE provision 10

Limitations of the bolt-on approach to academic literacy: • Provision is unequally distributed and not inclusive • It reinforces the idea of the ‘deficient’ student and falling academic standards • It places the burden of responsibility entirely on the student • Students see content and language as separate and mutually exclusive entities • It can create more work for academic staff • When the importance of academic literacy is realised it is often too late 11

Way forward: Built-in/embedded approach to academic literacy for assessment Help sought in 1 -1 consultations • Student found the term "give justification for conclusions" confusing • Student had a beautiful table he stuck at the end [of his paper] which needed to be at the beginning to be exploited to identify the types of risk his report was discussing • Student’s experimental report had issues with tenses in the discussion section • None of the student’s images were referred to in the text and a few were superfluous. • Text had a lack of logical flow and no clear narrative • We talked about relative clauses to replace her brackets which she overused/misused • Action verbs for ILOs 12

Staff expectations and student interpretations Remember Understand Apply Analyse Describe Evaluate Create Describe Change Explain Illustrate Outline Select Contrast 13

The evidence: Skinner, I, & Mort, P, (2009) Embedding Academic Literacy Support Within the Electrical Engineering Curriculum: A Case Study. IEEE Transactions on Education Vol 52: 4 pp 547 -554 Scaffolding not spoon-feeding • Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative • Problem Solving Like a Physicist – Peter Newbury 14

Peter Newbury: Spoonfeeding Scaffolding • First, find the relationship between A and B. • Then, calculate B for the given value of A. • Next, substitute A and B into C and solve for C in terms of A…” • Determine what the problem is asking What is this problem about? There’s A and B and their relationship to C. We’re asked to determine D in a particular situation. • Identify relevant physics A, B, C and D? That sounds like a problem about concept X. • Build a physics model Identify relevant mathematical relationships. Recognize assumptions, specific cases. Select the mathematical formula that will begin to solve the problem. • Execute the math Carry out the algebra and other manipulations and calculations. (This is where the instructor has been starting his presentation of the solutions. ) • Sense-making Sure, we ended up with an expression or a number. Does it make sense? How does it compare the known cases when A=0 and B goes to infinity? How does the order of magnitude of the answer compare to other scenarios? In other words, a few quick tests which will tell us our solution is incorrect. 15

Example assignment brief Compare and contrast two X models and discuss how they are used in Y. Identify two examples to support your findings. • What do you think this assignment asking students to do? • How do you know? • What are the possible academic literacy issues with this assignment? • How could the tutor scaffold the students into the task in terms of academic literacy? 16

Your assignment brief • Are there any possible academic literacy issues with this assignment? • How could students be scaffolded better into the assignment in terms of academic literacy? 17

Benefits of embedding academic literacy • Enhances not compromises core academic content • Fits in easily with active learning – students are better able to discuss in groups, problem-solve, work in teams • Students have a better understanding of academic content • Students understand what coursework and course assessments demand of them – and have the language tools to do them • Students’ output is improved 18

Embedding academic literacy in the curriculum Possible levels of embedding: • The subject lecturer provides texts/materials for the Cf. AE to teach relevant aspect(s) of academic literacy as either integrated or embedded input • The subject lecturer and the Cf. AE plan the academic literacy content together as either integrated or embedded input • The subject lecturer and the Cf. AE team teach • The subject lecturer and the Cf. AE plan the academic literacy content for delivery by the subject lecturer 19

Any questions? • http: //www. imperial. ac. uk/academic-english/ • Email: Julie. King@imperial. ac. uk 20