Bolted on or Surgically Implanted: the Teaching of Academic Literacy

Academic Skills Tutor:Deliver workshops (essay writing,

dissertation writing, critical thinking, etc.)

Offer one-to-one and group tutorials

Tailor make sessions at the request of lecturers

Write materials for website and publish learning guides

Thesis: Academic literacy is not a set of

generic skills that can or should be taught in isolation. These skills should be taught within disciplines because they are discipline specific.

It follows that libraries or student writing centres or student study centres should not be the primary sites of teaching such skills.

The purpose of a university:Primary concern should be with

the dissemination of knowledge.This knowledge pertains to a

discipline or area of study.What should be taught is the

discourse and epistemology of a discipline.

Student support:All students need support to

succeed at university, not just students deemed ‘at risk’.

The leap from whatever came before ( A Levels, a less traditional route) to university will be great. Few, if any, students are really prepared.

Assumptions of the bolted-on approach:A selected deficit model – some

students lack the necessary skills to succeed.

Academic skills are a set of atomised skills that can be taught in themselves.

Once taught and learned they can be transferred to any discipline and provide the foundation for a student to succeed.

Faults of the bolted-on approach:Separates method from content.Encourages surface learning as

opposed to deep learning.At its worst, it can appear to offer

a set of tricks or strategies to get a student through.

Rarely answers the question ‘why’ and tends to deal with ‘how’.

Let’s consider referencing:Tends to be taught as an

atomised, mechanical skill which is transferable to any discipline.

Focus largely on the ‘how’ and not the ‘why’ and not the complexities inherent in any system of referencing.

Referencing better taught within a discipline:Why reference?What constitutes a known fact?What constitutes a lesser know

fact?What constitutes an opinion as

opposed to a fact?How is an argument made/woven

combining secondary sources and your own opinion?

Let’s take an essay topic:Discuss the following statement

by Twigg (1998, p. 227):“The boundary between the

medical and the social is a shifting one, constructed in complex ways that reflect both institutional and ideological factors.”

Student comment:“ The thing I’m finding most

difficult in my first term here is moving from subject to subject and knowing how you’re meant to write in each one. I’m really aware of writing for a particular tutor as well as for a particular subject. Everybody seems to want something different.

Paradigm shift:Academic literacy is best taught

within disciplines and not as a set of discreet skills separate from a discipline.

Embedded within disciplines and taught to all students such skills would be better received by students and be seen as relevant.

Paradigm shift required on behalf of administrators, course and programme leaders.

A new dawn:

Useful reading:Lea, M., and Street, B. (1998) Student

Writing in Higher Education. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2) pp.157-172.

Northedge, A. (2003) Enabling Participation in Academic Discourse. Teaching in Higher Education, 8(2) pp.169-180.

Wingate, U. (2006) Doing away with ‘study skills’. Teaching in Higher Education, 11(4) pp.457-469.