"Writing Instruction" in Australia usually means one of two things: creative writing or TESOL, both having rich histories and traditions and usually offered as graduate courses in departments of Education or Linguistics. Academic writing, however, with few exceptions, is an all-but-invisible practice in undergraduate education. It draws…

Current research suggests that students who struggle with grammar, spelling, mechanics and other "problems of ability," as well as students who suffer from "problems of engagement," as well as those students who see reading and writing as a chore, can benefit from creative writing assignments and learn to enjoy reading and…

This paper considers the relevance and application of Writing About Writing (WAW) (Downs & Wardle, 2007; Wardle, 2009) and Threshold Concepts of Writing (TCW) (Adler-Kassner & Wardle, 2015) in the Australian higher education context. These approaches to literacy and writing curriculum development have been developed in the United States…

While a national agenda seeks to make Australian higher education more inclusive for an increasingly diverse student population, the contribution that writing instruction can make to achieving these goals has been overlooked. This article outlines the rationale, development, and growth of the Writing Hub at the University of Sydney to advocate for…

It is commonly accepted in the academy that developing a critical thinking capacity and related capabilities will make students more effective thinkers and writers, and that these are desirable traits for graduates to have no matter what path they take after graduation. While most academics agree that critical thinking is an essential component of…

Communication is widely recognised as an important capability for university graduates [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2013). "OECD skills outlook 2013: First results from the survey of adult skills." Author. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264204256-en]. Yet, research suggests that it is often not…

Bhattacharyya (1997) finds that universities must scramble to accommodate students who are Deaf-blind "because of limited literature regarding post secondary education for Deaf-blind students and the fact they have not yet experienced serving this unique population." Many Australian universities employ Academic Language and Learning…

Focused freewriting, broadly defined as writing without stopping and editing about a specific topic, has been viewed and used as a powerful tool for developing student writing in a wide spectrum of educational contexts. This study aimed to further explore the use of focused freewriting in the context of promoting students' academic skills…