We Need to Talk about AL: Has Academic Literacies Designed the Pedagogy out of Learning Development?
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| Title: | We Need to Talk about AL: Has Academic Literacies Designed the Pedagogy out of Learning Development? |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Steven White, Sunny Dhillon |
| Source: | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. 2024 (31). |
| Availability: | Association for Learning Development in Higher Education. 33 Lower Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 9NB, UK. e-mail: admin@aldinhe.ac.uk; Web site: https://jldhe.aldinhe.ac.uk/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 22 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Evaluative |
| Descriptors: | Multiple Literacies, Academic Language, Writing Instruction, English for Academic Purposes, Social Influences, Models, Study Skills, Socialization, Behavior Standards, Transformative Learning, Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Instructional Effectiveness |
| ISSN: | 1759-667X |
| Abstract: | Academic literacies (AL) research has made significant contributions to understandings of student writing and literacy across higher education and particularly learning development. However, researchers and practitioners both within and external to the AL movement have struggled to clarify the relationship between AL and pedagogy. English for Academic Purposes researchers have highlighted the lack of a workable AL pedagogy, whilst AL researchers maintain that the model represents a design space or heuristic for thinking about practice in context, rather than a source of pedagogic prescriptions. This theoretical discussion elaborates concerns with the structural coherence of the AL model, its broadly social constructivist underpinnings and evidence base, and the impact of its ideological orientation on the pedagogy we derive from it. Underpinning these critiques is a suspicion that the interpretation of social constructivist epistemology on which AL relies to pinpoint weaknesses in the models of literacy/writing which it subsumes cannot generate a practical pedagogy. We argue that these structural and ideological tensions in the AL model help to explain confusion over its interpretation and implementation. We speculate that this singular focus on social constructivist-derived theory, though well-intentioned, does more to reinforce a particular ideological commitment than to enhance student learning. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1447074 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Academic literacies (AL) research has made significant contributions to understandings of student writing and literacy across higher education and particularly learning development. However, researchers and practitioners both within and external to the AL movement have struggled to clarify the relationship between AL and pedagogy. English for Academic Purposes researchers have highlighted the lack of a workable AL pedagogy, whilst AL researchers maintain that the model represents a design space or heuristic for thinking about practice in context, rather than a source of pedagogic prescriptions. This theoretical discussion elaborates concerns with the structural coherence of the AL model, its broadly social constructivist underpinnings and evidence base, and the impact of its ideological orientation on the pedagogy we derive from it. Underpinning these critiques is a suspicion that the interpretation of social constructivist epistemology on which AL relies to pinpoint weaknesses in the models of literacy/writing which it subsumes cannot generate a practical pedagogy. We argue that these structural and ideological tensions in the AL model help to explain confusion over its interpretation and implementation. We speculate that this singular focus on social constructivist-derived theory, though well-intentioned, does more to reinforce a particular ideological commitment than to enhance student learning. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-667X |
