Academic language and learning (ALL) practice is remarkably diverse, we work:
- on-shore and off-shore and both on-line and off-line;
- at pre-tertiary, undergraduate and postgraduate levels;
- in centralised units, or as lone practitioners attached to a Department/Faculty;
- independently and with academic staff within the disciplines;
- with other academic staff in centres;
- with tertiary administrators and other professionals.
We provide a range of services, from generic to discipline-specific embedded academic and professional skills, and we provide these at different levels of the system: institutional, centre, disciplinary, and at the individual. From this, we contribute to policy relating to student learning, performance and progress.
Students’ academics skills needs are also diverse they may arrive at our doors, or be referred to us, because of one or more of a huge range of issues, including:
- academic expectations (i.e. what do ‘they’ want?);
- academic processes and procedures (e.g. time management, search and research strategies);
- producing different academic genres (e.g. essays, reports, book reviews, theses, sub-theses, research proposals); or
- participating in the intellectual life of the institution (e.g., giving tutorial, seminar or conference presentations).
Our role is to assist students in understanding academic expectations, processes and products.
The objective of teaching students how to take control of their academic writing and learning is fundamental to our pedagogic philosophy.