Sustainable embedded academic literacy development: the gradual handover of literacy teaching

Abstract

This study reports on a four-year project to embed academic literacy within one core course of a Bachelor of Education program. It involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between learning advisors, as literacy specialists, and lecturers, as subject specialists. It examines their roles and responsibilities and lecturers' perspectives when handing over the teaching of academic literacy to them. Data encompasses interviews with lecturers, meeting notes, and cohort statistics about assessment grades. Discourse analysis with theory from Systemic Functional Linguistics identifies the shifting contributions of the collaborators and how lecturers evaluate their experiences. Findings suggest that handover is smooth when it is done gradually and involves intensive prior collaboration. However, the contrasting views of the lecturers raise questions about what is optimal for students. Although limited, data indicates that reductions in resubmission rates and students achieving in the minimal passing range cooccur with the addition of mini videos about reading and writing critically.

‘I don’t know the hierarchy’

“…These observations align with a well-established body of literature that advocates for in-context e-learning resources that combine services from across the university if they meet similar needs (e.g., Russell, 2016). Likewise, our students' preferences align with research that shows embedding literacy development at point of need makes a positive impact on academic performance(Macnaught et al, 2022).…”

Information Literacy in Learning Academic Writing

“…Nowadays a growing number of investigators claim that teaching IL should be shifted from librarians or literacy experts to lecturers within their courses and embedded into the curriculum (DaCosta, 2010;Macnaught et al, 2022). Others feel the necessity of librarians to support educators with the tools to teach IL to their students (Cowan, Eva, 2016) and to collaborate, offering a "librarian-as consultant-model"-in which a librarian becomes involved in curriculum planning, crafting assignments, and assessments, and, in some cases, teaching; "an expert-lecturer model" (Harris, Ashton, 2011), and "librarian-instructor co-teaching" (Powers, Powers, 2019).…”

Does online engagement matter? The impact of interactive learning modules and synchronous class attendance on student achievement in an immersive delivery model

“…The aim of these first-year units is to develop academic practices in relation to and beyond the discipline's subject material (Macnaught et al, 2022). As the titles suggest, the units drew inspiration from the work of Bruner (1996) in The Culture of Education and their approach to developing the way students perceive and carry out academic discourse.…”