Gaining leverage: Multiple approaches to embedding academic literacies within a tertiary context

Abstract

The embedding of literacies has become a national venture within tertiary contexts in New Zealand (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008). From the literature it is evident that within such contexts literacies issues come under varied banners; Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN); Functional and life skills; critical and cultural literacy; and academic literacies (Ministry of Education, 2010). Such literacies discourses are further compounded by the way in which the process of embedding is considered. In response to the calls for embedding of academic literacies, an Institute of Technology and Polytechnic in Auckland created four faculty level academic literacies advisory positions. As these faculty advisory roles have progressed it has became evident that the demands for responding to academic literacies issues are as complex as the discourses of academic literacies and embedding themselves. This paper will describe the role and strategies taken by these academic literacies advisors in responding to the teaching and learning of academic literacies in a number of discipline areas. Exemplars of practice will be presented from the disciplines of Applied Technologies, Nursing, and Business. Through the exemplars, attention will be given to outlining the process involved in developing responsive teaching and learning practices towards academic literacies, and the significance played by contextual factors. Use of the exemplars will also serve to highlight the challenge of the multiple literacies demands within tertiary learning environments including operational definitions of academic literacies from the perspectives of the faculty academic literacies advisors.