The globalisation of higher education and the resultant increase in the cultural and linguistic diversity of the student body has cast the spotlight on English language proficiency as never before. How universities best assess applicants' linguistic suitability for their future degree studies, set appropriate proficiency thresholds, and put in…

Embedding academic literacies in higher education courses has been a major focus of the work of learning advisers. A number of studies present the results of embedding in specific courses without discussing the processes of negotiation or the different people involved. This paper is about embedding academic literacies in the Business faculty as…

The Intercultural Competency (ICC) Program is a structured program that has been developed at the University of Adelaide's English Language Centre (ELC) to create opportunities for students to connect in a global context. This stand-alone and easily transferable program aims to create meaningful opportunities for mixed-language-ability learners to…

This paper argues for the re-integration of academic development (AD) and a academic language and learning (ALL) practitioners in Australian higher education. This argument is made as universities aim to develop internationally recognised, inter-disciplinary and standards-based curricula against the backdrop of international comparative education…

This paper examines the curricula for English language teacher education in two universities, one in Australia and the other in Vietnam. Specifically, it analyses the structures of the two curricula, compares and contrasts them, and examines how the development of the curricula was shaped by distinctive contextual factors. Sources of data include…

The Victorian ESL (English as a Second Language) Framework is currently undergoing renewal as part of the reaccreditation process. This ESL curriculum framework, developed in Victoria, Australia, is currently used in TAFE Institutes and private and community adult ESL programs. It provides a framework for 10 certificate courses across three…

The use of language proficiency rating scales in Australian school language programs is discussed, focusing primarily on the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR), the only direct instrument developed in Australia that is in widespread use and that has been extensively tested. It is also the only one developed for use with a…

While a broad range of tests is available for second language testing, two of the basic approaches are developmental and non-developmental testing. The former is based on psycholinguistic evidence that language development is systematic, with all learners progressing through the same stages. The latter includes content selected in an ad hoc…