Lunchtime research discussion, Simon Green, Language across the University

This brief presentation is not a report of completed research, nor research in progress. It is  intended as a way of (a) delineating what I see as the scope of a broad, multi-faceted research programme,  focusing on language and literacy issues within UK Higher Education, and (b) reaching out to possible collaborators interested in developing fundable projects within this programme. What I propose to do in my presentation is to outline the research area, briefly highlighting existing research and suggesting avenues for future research, as a way of framing a general discussion amongst participants, with a view to taking matters forward. In brief, the programme  I wish to outline would explore English Language and literacies in UK Higher Education, focusing on the dynamic inter-connections between two areas: (1) the language and literacies of UK Higher Education and (2) the language and literacies  UK and international students bring with them when they enter UK Higher Education. Focal issues would include:  the emergence and transformation of university literacy practices in response to  disciplinary, institutional, participatory and technological motivators; those literacies as sites of conflict, negotiation and learning; the ‘institutional practice of mystery’ and the ways novices strive to demystify literacy practices;  and vernacular and UK/international school/college literacy practices  and their interaction with university literacy practices. Such a research programme,  generating larger-scale inter-disciplinary projects, at research sites across UK universities could have significant impacts on understandings of student learning in UK Higher Education, and contribute to the shaping of policy.