What is it about?
This paper is about how Academic Literacies approaches have traditionally been purely focused on text and the written word. Even where other angles are incorporated, these have traditionally been incorporated specifically to serve the production of text. The paper argues that to become stronger and more effective Academic Literacies approaches should incorporate more non-textual elements, both in understanding what is required in text production for certain subjects, and also in terms of understanding what tasks learners are required to do to succeed in certain subjects.
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Why is it important?
It is important because by adopting such modified approaches to Academic Literacies approaches they can be made more effective in helping students, and thus optimize support.
Perspectives
It was a surprise to discover how text focused Academic Literacies has traditionally been, and also somewhat worrying to see it becoming increasingly text focused, particularly through closer alignment with English for Academic Purposes. I hope this paper will encourage Academic Literacies to focus more on the specific subject the learners are studying and attune itself to help these, and understand where non-textual elements are key.
Dr Nick Pilcher
Edinburgh Napier University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Academic literacies: the word is not enough, Teaching in Higher Education, August 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2017.1360270.
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