Learning and Teaching in Action

Having been a Visiting Scholar in the Learning and Teaching Unit at MMU for just a few weeks, and with my specialist academic literacies colleague, Alison Kirkness, not even in this country, it would be presumptuous of me to assume an understanding of the particular learning challenges that a diverse student population at MMU might create for teaching staff. Rather, this article provides an overview of the way in which Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand is addressing the concern of teachers about the English language abilities of many of their students, and the ability of such students to succeed in their course of study. We hope it may prompt readers to reflect on the learning and teaching strategies that are adopted at MMU in relation to students with diverse ethnic, linguistic and academic backgrounds.

AUT’s approach to the challenge was to develop a policy known as ALIC (the Academic Literacies and Intercultural Capabilities (Policy), which aims to integrate and promote student learning support as well as support for teachers across the university. This is a story about how ALIC was developed, implemented, and works in practice. But first, some background about the New Zealand and the AUT context for this policy.

The New Zealand Context

The past decade has seen considerable changes in the profile of the “traditional” higher education student in New Zealand , as indeed has happened in many other countries, with a widening diversity in ethnic, language and academic background among the student population. A number of factors have contributed to this change. Firstly, the massification of education in the last decade which has led to a wider range of students in age, culture and background now entering higher education, and embarking upon their studies with considerable variation in their levels of academic English competence. Secondly, the increased migration to NZ during the 90s, particularly of Polynesian and Asian families, has resulted in NZ permanent resident students having more complex language profiles than ever before. Many of these students start university study after only a few years in a New Zealand school. Thirdly, the factor that is common to English speaking countries all over the world – that of international full fee-paying students enrolling in university courses. Even though universities have internationally recognised English language entry requirements, the language demands placed on students are often beyond their level of competence (Ballard & Clanchy, 1997). And New Zealand students are no exception.

To compound this picture of a linguistically diverse student population, it is not only students from ethnically diverse backgrounds who have difficulty with academic literacy skills. Many English first language speakers in New Zealand also present with inadequate academic literacy skills, as university entrance regulations have, in recent years, allowed students to enter university without qualifications in subjects which made demands on their English writing skills.

Recognising the changing profile of students entering tertiary education, the New Zealand Government introduced a new Tertiary Education Strategy in 2002 which highlights the need for students’ academic skills (reading, writing and oracy) to be at the centre of learning and teaching and “raise foundation skills [literacy, numeracy, communication, teamwork, learning to learn, self-confidence] so that all people can participate in our knowledge society” (Ministry of Education, p.36). The particular focus of this objective was to widen the participation of Maori (NZ’s indigenous people), Pacific Islands and new migrant students in tertiary education by meeting diverse learner needs. These skills are perceived, through the Strategy, as the way in which students consolidate their understanding of subject areas, as well as the means by which teachers can learn about the extent and nature of individual students’ understanding. As a consequence, the Ministry of Education has invested heavily in the area of learning support and foundation level courses through prioritised funding and special projects.

The AUT Context

Auckland University of Technology is the eighth and newest university in the country, and the only university of technology - acquiring university status in 2000. Its distinguishing characteristics as a university are to integrate theory and practice, to produce work-ready graduates, and to have a student-centred approach to learning and teaching. Its reputation for excellent learning and teaching is widely acknowledged. When AUT became a university, its aim was to continue offering certificate and diploma level programmes, allowing students to staircase easily through to degree and postgraduate level study. Hence the ability to support students through a range of academic levels of study is crucial to its mission.

AUT draws its students from the wider Auckland region which has the largest Polynesian population in the world, and their oral tradition does not lend itself readily to the written nature of academic study. Approximately 30% of current students do not have English as their first language, including international students and those from new migrant groups. In addition, many second generation migrants whose home discourse is in the parents’ language have problems with literacy skills. In summary, there is considerable variation in the English literacy skills of AUT’s students, especially at undergraduate level. (Kirkness & O’Rourke, 2004)

Throughout the 90s, AUT (then Auckland Institute of Technology), had already been developing a range of support structures. Special introductory English courses were established through the School of Languages and through International House (AUT’s international language school) to prepare EAL (English as an Additional Language) students for mainstream study. In addition, a diagnostic language test was introduced to determine whether students’ literacy skills was adequate for certificate level study. The Student Learning Centre increased its support services for the growing student demand, and a wider range of workshops, drop-in sessions, and study guides were provided in order to help students succeed in their academic study, especially at degree and postgraduate levels. This was particularly important since the growth in postgraduate programmes was accelerating as AUT prepared to become a fully-fl edged university.

Identifying the Issues

Staff experience surveys conducted by AUT’s Institutional Research Unit in 1999 and 2001 revealed that the teachers themselves had concerns about student literacy levels, particularly their writing ability. Staff perceived that many EAL students responded differently to our accepted student-centred teaching methods involving questioning, class discussions, and group work. Teachers working with linguistically mixed groups often encountered unease about class interaction, and communication strategies, such as the use of silence, turn-taking, respect, agreeing and disagreeing, and how opinions are shared. These issues often translated into a loss of confidence for the EAL students, particularly in class group work, and it was often perceived that they did not contribute adequately. The teachers also noted that these students were reluctant to ask questions publicly during class time, and more and more time was being spent after class, responding to individual student queries. Group assessment raised complex issues, and there was a marked increase in plagiarism. (Kirkness, 2004)

In this climate it could no longer be assumed that students knew how to write a scientific report or an expository essay, how to acknowledge and discuss sources, how to present competing voices, and where to situate their own voice. Students from different cultures of education may not have learnt to evaluate a text critically or apply appropriate reading strategies to the volume of information they needed to sift through. Today, many students do not have the necessary skills to use English appropriately for academic purposes and require more support in their literacy skills than was offered in the past.

But a picture was emerging, echoed in wider research, which showed that students from different cultural backgrounds had more than just linguistic differences. They had different values, different understandings of tertiary study, different world views (Ballard & Clanchy, 1997). If our university wanted to adopt a stronger customer focus we would need to acknowledge that “content and pedagogy must respect linguistic and cultural diversity” (Latchem & Hanna, 2001, p.18), in line with the increasing globalization of the higher education environment. Teaching staff wanted a greater understanding of the issues and strategies for their changing classroom practice. They needed support for these new demands on their teaching so that they could prepare all students with the necessary linguistic skills and intercultural understandings to interact in professional and academic settings.

Finding Solutions

In 1999 one of the senior lecturers in AIT’s staff development unit, Shona Little, recognised that the issues needed to be addressed at the level of staff development as well as student support. Staff needed a much greater understanding of the educational assumptions and expectations which lay beyond the communication and classroom difficulties that they were experiencing. Funding was secured to second an experienced ESOL teacher to the Centre for Educational and Professional Department (CEPD) to work with and support academic staff. The aim was for staff to learn to adapt their teaching so that EAL students were not silent passengers in a foreign classroom, but actively engaged with the language for their own learning. As a result, many innovative and well-received initiatives were instigated; a full programme of workshops, seminars and consultancy was offered for teaching staff centrally as well as within faculties and programme teams.

However, it was becoming clear that only by addressing issues at an organisational level and linking with the university’s quality assurance processes would the situation be fully addressed - staff development alone was not enough to make systemic changes. A working group was established to examine the current situation and resolve what answers could be found to embed the policy in the quality assurance framework, support staff, cater for student needs, and yet maintain existing standards. The group resolved to develop an institutional policy on academic literacies so that a more co-ordinated approach to linguistic diversity could evolve; staff and students’ expectations would be clear, and institutional and student responsibilities defined. These principles would then be embedded in the organisational structure of the university. The working group met with programme teams from every faculty to discuss language issues, and by the end of the year staff from a wide range of disciplines had been given an opportunity to voice their concerns and offer their suggestions.

In 2000, the working group invited Professor Ian Reid, an Australian expert in the field of academic literacies, to AUT to raise awareness of language issues; he presented seminars for staff and consulted with senior managers. His own senior university management position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University , Australia , at that time meant that he also had valuable experience in policy development and effective academic literacy initiatives.

AUT-wide ownership of the proposed policy was further enhanced by various ongoing activities which contributed to a climate of interest and debate. The Library acquired resources such as learner and bilingual dictionaries, sorely needed by a multicultural student body. A discussion forum was held on internationalisation, resources on language and culture were developed for staff. Intercultural communication was addressed at staff orientation as well as in the staff handbook. There was a growing awareness among staff of the need for materials designed for students to be very clear and accessible to all, whether in handbooks, surveys, worksheets, assignment questions or exams.

Initially it was envisaged that the policy would provide guidelines for developing academic literacy skills at all levels and in all disciplines. However, it became clear to the working party that language was just one manifestation of the complexities of cultural difference and that academic literacy standards could not be addressed without acknowledging the cultural component; languages could not be separated from the cultures they embody. Although the policy was to promote academic literacies in their discipline contexts rather than purely language skills for academic study, students needed to understand the cultural conventions of academic knowledge and specific discipline discourses, and staff needed to articulate them and develop appropriate strategies to enrich the multicultural classroom. “The key to improving student literacy lies … in exploring the fundamental relationship between the culture of knowledge and the language by which it is maintained and expressed.” (Ballard and Clanchy, 1988, p.7). As a result, the policy developed in two parts: academic literacies and intercultural capabilities.

Models of Academic Literacy Skills

In developing this policy, the work of Lea and Street (1998) on academic literacies in English was considered. The models they outline fall into three categories: Firstly the study skills model sees academic literacy as discrete skills in reading and writing for academic purposes with an emphasis on the accuracy of language at surface level, eg spelling and grammar. Their second model focuses on academic socialisation, where the student is inducted into the ways of the academy as an apprentice and learns to communicate in a manner that is acceptable to the academy (Paltridge 2002). And the third approach acknowledges that different disciplines have different ways of approaching and presenting knowledge (Lea & Street 1998, Paltridge, 2002). Academic literacies are therefore social practices within each discipline, and each focuses on specific discourses, identities and values, rather than skills or socialisation. And students may need to switch practices between one setting and another, and be familiar enough with the language of each discipline in order to do so.

The AUT working group took cognisance of each model, and used aspects of these three different approaches to inform the formulation and introduction of the ALIC policy.

The ALIC Policy and Guidelines

In December 2000, the new policy, named the Academic Literacies and Intercultural Capabilities (ALIC) Policy, was approved by Academic Board, encompassing the two areas of language and culture. The policy states that: “The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) recognises and values the diversity of social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds among its students and staff. It also recognises the importance of developing high level academic literacies as an outcome of tertiary education. AUT is therefore committed to the development of academic literacies and intercultural capabilities throughout the university: in its faculties and divisions, and within each programme.”

The policy defines academic literacy:

“… the ability to use language appropriately to achieve particular academic, professional and vocational goals. AUT acknowledges the conventional definition of literacy as the ability to read and write. However, for the purposes of this policy, that definition has been broadened to include speaking and listening because of the interdependence of all the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) in learning. Such a definition honours the oral traditions of New Zealand culture. It also reflects the ways in which disciplinary knowledge is both acquired and produced.”

It further defines intercultural capability as:

“…the ability to accept and understand other cultures and to accept different approaches and attitudes in all areas of human interaction (social, professional and recreational). Intercultural capability is an essential capability for all professionals in the 21 st century”

One of the most useful aspects of the policy is making explicit the expectations and responsibilities of faculties and divisions, as well as schools and programme teams in implementing the policy. AUT expects faculties and divisions to:

Create an inclusive learning environment for all students
Recognise the particular needs of students with English as a first language and English as an additional language (EAL)
Recognise and affirm teaching practices that enhance intercultural capabilities and the development of academic literacies.

AUT schools and programmes will therefore be expected to:

Develop graduate outcomes for academic literacies
Support all staff in their own development of intercultural capabilities by providing them with effective, timely professional development
Provide a comprehensive range of support systems for students
Provide academic staff with teaching support and teaching resources for fostering the development of academic literacies
Disseminate examples of best teaching practice

The implementation of this policy will be reviewed by the Academic Standards Committee and reported to the Academic Board.

A further two documents accompany the policy. The first, “ALIC Policy: Historical Background and Rationale”, includes statements about issues in implementation (valuing diversity, and teaching and learning responsibilities), and includes good practice guidelines covering: assessment, bridging programmes, curriculum and teaching, induction of new staff, student support and Identifying students with particular literacy needs. The second, entitled “Guidelines for Integrating ALIC Policy into New Programmes”, is to help programme teams build aspects of the ALIC policy into the design of any new or revised curriculum. Exemplars of programme outcomes and examples are also available from the CEPD website.

The policy itself and these accompanying documents are downloadable from the CEPD website.

ALIC Policy Implementation Action Group

When the ALIC policy was approved, an ALIC Policy Implementation Action Group with university-wide representation was established, reporting to Academic Board. The Group’s aims are to promote the development of academic literacies in English by sourcing, sharing and disseminating examples of good practice, and exploring issues in language and culture learning across the University. As well as supporting staff, the Group was to support all students – local and international, first language speakers of English, as well as EAL students. Although it has had a fl uctuating membership, this Group has in fact continued meeting now for four years, achieving worthwhile results, at institutional and faculty levels, as well as at the teacher/student interface.

Over this time the Group has set in place and sanctioned numerous initiatives to support staff and students which are detailed in the next sections. In addition, it has identified some important issues which have either been addressed or are being currently worked on, for example:

• If EAL students are in the majority in a class, various problems can develop. For example, international students do not get the exposure to English language that they expect as part of their overseas learning experience. In addition, group dynamics in a programme of study can develop along ethnic lines with the result that international students, in particular, can feel dissatisfied with the lack of interaction with local students at their chosen place of study.

• If content teachers are aware of how to support academic literacy needs, they are in a stronger position to assist students through their course of study, be it at undergraduate or postgraduate level. In particular, content teachers at all levels could benefit from having an understanding and guidance on how to foster improvement of second language writing, and also how to assess it as part of the overall grading.

• Most content teachers are aware that they need to make it clear to students when their English language is below standard, and some programme teams ensure that support is available both from within and outside the programme. Ideally a mechanism or test would enable teachers to identify the language needs of their students at an early stage, so that they could be referred to support services in time to receive appropriate assistance.

• Both students and employers would benefit from an assessment of students’ language abilities which could be available in a language profi le at the point of graduation. Employers would then have a clearer picture of the applicants’ abilities, and the skills of bilingual and multilingual speakers would be appropriately acknowledged.

• Models from other universities indicate that significant changes in institutional practice can be achieved as an outcome of collaborative research into academic literacy development between discipline expert and language specialist (Emerson, 2000).

• Models of curriculum and assessment issues for intercultural capability-building need to be explored so that guidelines can be drawn up to assist staff to implement these aspects of the ALIC policy. A list of cultural competencies and intercultural capabilities produced in Australia by the Transcultural Mental Health Centre in 1997 was used as a starting point by the ALIC Implementation Action Group, but needs further development for the AUT context .

Initiatives to support staff

The following initiatives to support staff have arisen from the implementation of the ALIC Policy.

• CEPD . The Centre for Educational and Professional Development has a specialist academic staff member working specifically on implementing the ALIC policy. She provides an extensive range of resources, guides, and consultancy for staff, including a special “helpline service” for staff queries. In addition to the initiatives listed below, an example of the many useful resources she has introduced is a concise language needs analysis which teachers distribute to students early in their course. The student responses guide the teacher in adapting his/her teaching to specific learning needs or difficulties of the group/individuals.

• Workshops. A wide selection of regular workshops and consultancies are offered for teaching staff which address issues of language and culture and the support of student writing, listed on the CEPD website. These often lead to requests for specially designed sessions at faculty and programme team levels. Each month we hold an orientation programme for all new staff which now includes an overview of the ALIC Policy and its workings in practice.

• Seminar series. For the last three years a successful seminar series on Cultures of Education has been mounted through CEPD, where invited speakers from a range of ethnic backgrounds (eg Maori, Pasific Islands , Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern), explain the values that their culture places on education, and the expectations that their culture has of the learning experience. These seminars have been published in-house, and also placed on the CEPD website as a staff resource.

• Grants. This year, special university-wide contestable grants have been offered for staff interested in studying for the pre-service language teacher training course, the Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults, a course run by the School of Languages . On completion of the Certificate, staff will then become support experts for colleagues within their own School or Faculty, assisting with peer coaching, materials writing, curriculum design, or initiating tutorial support. Each grant recipient will submit a report indicating how they have applied ESOL principles to their teaching programme, and will form part of a Special Interest Group convened by CEPD that generates ideas for developing academic literacies in discipline areas, and possibly undertakes interdisciplinary research related to these ideas.

• Pronunciation Support. Another increasingly sought-after initiative has been a pronunciation support programme for international staff, offered by CEPD in conjunction with the School of Languages . Staff who have completed the 10-week programme note improvements in pronunciation and greater confidence in communication. Where there is clearly an issue of pronunciation clarity that affects student learning, a diagnostic process is carried out and a programme of remediation is put into place. Components of this programme are now being offered in an online mode. Workshop sessions are also held to assist staff with the pronunciation of Chinese, Korean, Maori and Pasifika names.

• New Programme approvals. AUT’s quality assurance process now requires that any new programme of study going forward for approval and validation will have integrated elements of the ALIC Policy during the curriculum design stage. This involves developing programme outcomes for both academic literacies and for intercultural capabilities. The final programme documentation is checked and signed off by one of the approved ALIC signatories. Guidelines have been written, including examples, to assist the programme development team and curriculum designers during this process.

There will be further streamlining in 2005 so that existing programmes coming up for review will be required to demonstrate how they implement the ALIC policy.

Initiatives to support students

• Language Courses . The School of Languages has widened its range of foundation courses in English, particularly English for Academic Purposes, so that EAL students can undertake additional study prior to embarking on a mainstream course. Some of these have been tailored for particular disciplines and integrated into the courses, such as Hospitality, and Art and Design.

• Self-Access Learning Laboratory (SALL). AUT’s Student Learning Centre has poured extensive resources into expanding support for EAL students. They created a Self Access Learning Laboratory (SALL) in the main Library on each of the two campuses, where students can access a range of reference materials, resources and activities to assist their study, such as specialist dictionaries, tapes, CDs, study skills guides, and other specialised support. One example is the availability of a Learning Styles Questionnaire (based on the Felder-Silverman model) that students can complete and self-score; another example is a glossary of mathematical terms supplied by the School of Mathematical Sciences .

• Workshops. A wide range of short workshops continues to be offered through the Student Learning Centre on topics such as Efficient Reading , Exam Skills, Essay Writing, Academic Theories, Enhancing Memory, Proof-reading, Referencing Skills, Study Skills for Maths, Time Management.

• Keys for Success. A suite of short courses called “Keys for Success”, which attract Government funding, provides additional study skills and learning support on topics such as academic English, academic writing, oral presentations, postgraduate writing, study success.

• Peer Tutoring Scheme . The Student Learning Centre has set up a peer tutoring scheme, using advanced students to assist first year students understand the content area of their programme of study and adjust to the demands of academic learning. This has proved particularly successful when EAL students can be matched with tutors of similar language and cultural backgrounds.

• Postgraduate student support. A staff member with particular responsibility for supporting postgraduate students was recently appointed to the Student Learning Centre, since many international students seek to further their study at postgraduate level.

• Library support. The Library has a number of specialist Librarians to assist students, and tours to induct them into Library use, as the Library is now the chief provider of information literacy skills for students.

ALIC-related research Projects

Two major research projects were conducted at AUT in 2004 as a result of implementing the ALIC policy and have informed teaching practice in areas beyond the disciplines that were involved in the research.

1. The first project was entitled “Academic Literacy Skills in Certificate Programmes: A Survey of Teachers’ and Students’ Experiences at AUT”. This project was conducted in collaboration with AUT’s Institutional Research Unit. Parallel questionnaires were used to survey teachers and students in certificate programmes in Health, Business, Science and Engineering, Art and Design, Social Sciences, and Communication Studies, to identify importance ratings and areas of difficulty for a range of academic literacy skills. Some of the recommendations indicate to teachers ways in which literacy skills can be enhanced, in particular relating to oral skills, writing, reading and use of vocabulary. A two page summary Research Information Report is available online.

2. The second project was within the Business Faculty: “What are your language difficulties? - A language needs analysis for students in the First Year Integrated Programme of the Bachelor of Business”.

This project was conducted in the Business Faculty’s First Year Integrated Programme with the aim of identifying students’ difficulties in ten language functions: understanding lectures, note-taking, writing, arguing a point, using formal and informal language, asking and answering questions, giving oral presentations, contributing to group work, reading, and discussing work with a teacher. The results were delivered as a report to the programme teaching team and posted on the Faculty’s website. A summary report is available online.

Future challenges

Examples of good practice in improving students’ academic literacies are too many to document in this article, but the fact that discipline experts and language specialists are increasingly working together - either in researching students’ needs or in designing papers with an academic literacies component - is a very healthy sign.

The major challenge for ALIC is that there is considerable work still to be done in the area of developing intercultural capabilities. Inevitably there are political sensitivities about culture and race, and about who might best-placed to take the initiative with regard to diversity and intercultural capability development, both at faculty and institutional level.

There is also a need for more centralised data about how different disciplines and programmes have “internationalised” the curriculum, and what the implications are for curriculum designers and teaching staff.

ALIC could be more widely adopted if staff had increased time and funding to create more online resources and website enhancements, as greater uptake of flexible learning might ease some of the difficulties that EAL students have indicated. Language in written form, especially when it is electronically generated, can be more readily absorbed, reflected upon, and revisited without the student having to be physically on campus. However, the practical strengthening of oral and listening skills and the development of intercultural capabilities will be more effectively acquired through active participation in the learning process and interaction with peers.

In summary, we believe we have made strong beginnings at AUT with ALIC, and as wider access to higher education is achieved, this policy and its implementation will be seen as a vital contribution to AUT’s progress to meet the learning challenges of its linguistically and culturally diverse student population.

References

Auckland University of Technology. (2000). Academic Literacies and Intercultural Capabilities Policy and Guidelines

Ballard, B. and Clanchy, J. (1997). Teaching international students: A brief guide for lecturers and supervisors. Deakin, ACT: IDP Education Australia .

Ballard, B. and Clanchy, J.(1988). Literacy in the University: An ‘Anthropological’ Approach. In G. Taylor, B. Ballard, V. Beasley, H. Bock, J. Clanchy and P. Nightingale (Eds.), Literacy by Degrees . Milton Keynes : The Society for Research into Higher Education.

Emerson, L. (2000). The WAC Matrix: Institutional requirements for the nurturing of tertiary level WAC programmes. Paper presented at the Tertiary Writing Network Colloquium, Hamilton, NZ.

Kirkness, A. (2005). Developing a policy to promote academic literacies in English at tertiary level: A case study.

Kirkness, A. and O’Rourke, S. (2004). Listening to the student voice: Students’ language needs in mainstream courses. Proceedings of the Communication Skills in University Education Conference, 2004.

Latchem, C. and Hanna, D.E. (2001). ‘Changes, Challenges and Choices’, in Leadership for 21 st Century Learning, st eds C. Latchem and D.E. Hanna, Kogan Page, London .

Lea, M. and Street, B. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education , 23(2), 157-172.

Ministry of Education. (2002). Tertiary Education Strategy, 2002- 2007. Tertiary Education Commission; Wellington , NZ.

Newall, M.and Daldy, R. (2001). Institutional Research Office. AUT Staff Experience Survey. Auckland University of Technology: Auckland .

Paltridge, B. (2002). Academic Literacies and Changing University Communities. Revista Canaria de Estudios Engleses , 44, 15-28. Reid, A.and Meiklejohn, R. (1999). Institutional Research Offi ce. AIT Staff Experience Survey, Auckland Institute of Technology, Auckland .

Transcultural Mental Health Centre. (1997). Enhancing Cultural Competency . Video and Training package, p.17. New South Wales : Transcultural Mental Health Centre.

Winter 2006
ISSN 1477-1241

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