Conceptualising the English language needs of first year university students

  • Neil Murray University of South Australia

Abstract

Australian universities are currently re-evaluating how they address the English language needs of their students of non-English speaking backgrounds. This is, in part, a response to ten ‘Good Practice Principles’ that constitute the main thrust of a government-commissioned document released in 2009 and designed to ensure that standards of good practice are established and maintained throughout the sector in respect of English language provision. This paper argues that any attempt to uphold these principles and implement provision that is coherent, relevant and rigorous, requires clarification of the concept of ‘proficiency’. To this end, a distinction is proposed between proficiency, academic literacy and professional communication skills, and consideration is given to the implications of this distinction in terms of (a) responding to the language needs of both native speaker and non-native speaker students, and (b) the post-enrolment language assessment of newly-enrolled students with a view to identifying those at risk.

Published
Jun 17, 2010
How to Cite
MURRAY, Neil. Conceptualising the English language needs of first year university students. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 55-64, june 2010. ISSN 1838-2959. Available at: <http://fyhejournal.com/article/view/19>. Date accessed: 16 aug. 2018. doi: https://doi.org/10.5204/intjfyhe.v1i1.19.
Section
Articles

Keywords

academic literacy, at-risk, english languague competency, good practice, NESB, ESB,

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