Remediating the Remedial: Transforming Academic Language and Learning Practices to Advance Student Equity

Abstract

This article explores student equity in higher education through the lens of academic language and learning (ALL) and argues that ALL remains a significant barrier to participation and success for students from equity backgrounds. This article aims to provide a critical, equity-focused examination of the discourses evident in the literature that shape contemporary ALL-advising practice. I then draw on data collected in a larger case study into the first-year student experience, to explore how these discourses are evident in ALL advisers’ accounts of their practice. Findings indicate that the learning and teaching of ALL continues to be marginalised, despite progress made to embed ALL into core first year units. I argue that remedial models of support continue to disadvantage students from equity backgrounds and ALL advisers need to advocate for a critical space to transform practice that better serves diverse student cohorts.