Text, role, and context : exploring and developing academic literacies

This volume uses the concept of “academic literacy” to offer a fresh perspective on the teaching of English for academic purposes. The author argues for a “socioliterate” approach to teaching which aims to help readers and writers become part of a particular discourse community through an understanding of the rules, norms, and conventions related to that community. The author recommends that language teachers play the role of mediators between students and regular faculty, encouraging a collaborative examination of the interaction between different texts, roles, and contexts as a fundamental step towards development of academic literacy. The final chapters show how socioliterate approaches can be applied to a variety of classroom contexts. Core curricular design principles are outlined, and portfolio-based academic literacy classrooms are described.