Programme Partnerships

Successful participation in their programme requires students to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing. Working closely in partnership with you, we bring our language expertise to create discipline specific provisions to develop the contextualised academic language and literacies your students need for study. Our courses are for all students, undergraduate or postgraduate, and regardless of whether English is their first or an additional language. 

Integrated flexibly into your Programme, and mapped to their learning journey, our learning materials guide students to analyse and practise the language needed for effective academic communication. 

Focus areas are negotiated with you but may include: 

Communicating Criticality 

• Developing language for constructing and developing a clear argument across a text
• Writing strong purpose statements or thesis statements (e.g. This paper argues that…)
• Using sources to strengthen student claims
• Balancing certainty and caution (e.g. This shows v This suggests)
• Incorporating and engaging critically with counter arguments  

Structuring Texts Coherently and Fluently 

• Effectively structuring a text
• Writing in different styles and conventions for different genres (e.g. lit. review, lab report)
• Crafting well-structured sentences and paragraphs
• Linking ideas logically and smoothly
• Managing information flow 

  Integrating Source Material 

• Paraphrasing and summarising sources 
• Synthesising sources effectively (e.g. comparing and contrasting sources)
• Using author vs idea-led citation styles: Sato (2021) argues / (Sato, 2022)
• Using and understanding referencing systems and styles
• Maintaining academic integrity 

Understanding the Language of Assessment and Feedback  

• Unpacking assignment briefs
• Recognising and understanding key instruction words (e.g. compare, evaluate, discuss)
• Understanding and then using marking criteria to guide writing and language choices
• Understanding common feedback terms and instructions in your academic field
• Recognising how marker feedback corresponds to assessment criteria

Successful Academic Oral Communication 

• Developing language to confidently participate in academic discussions (e.g., asking critical questions, asking for clarification, integrating the contributions of others into a response)
• Structuring an oral presentation effectively (e.g. using signposting language to guide your audience)
• Effectively answering questions (e.g. in a seminar, presentation or viva)
• Communicating appropriately in intercultural contexts

Provision can be delivered through an online learning platform or face-to-face.

For example, we can provide: 

• Lectures (one-off or a series throughout the academic year)
• Small-group workshops (up to 20 students per class)
• Workshops delivered in collaboration with discipline tutors
• Tailored self-study digital writing resources combined with opportunities for individual writing feedback
• 20-30 minute 1-1 sessions to focus on formative feedback, language needs, or other needs.

We will work together with you to develop the academic language and literacies provision. This is best done with the assistance of both: 

• An academic liaison (for information about programmes and expectations)
• A professional services liaison (for scheduling and recruitment)

In order to fully contextualise ALL courses we may require access to:

• Marking schemes
• (Example) assignment titles
• Samples of student assignment submissions with tutor feedback
• Programme handbooks
• Schedule of assignments and submission dates

Course development is linked to the annual programme planning timeline as it takes time to fully contextualise, embed and map ALL provision. However, we can normally offer a pilot within the same academic year as the request, if our staffing arrangements allow for it. 

Stage 1: Noting interest and discussion

• Initial expression of interest
• Initial meeting
• Needs analysis/ further discussion

Stage 2: Materials development

• Sharing of materials (assignment questions, programme handbooks etc.)
• Design of overall learning outcomes
• Design of scheme of work with delivery weeks and dates
• Creation of course with further meetings with Schools and feedback iterations with Schools

Stage 3: Promotion and delivery

• School and ELE, in partnership, promote and communicate provision
• School recruits students
• Delivery of course
• Evaluation and planning for next cycle 

For further information please contact: 

Lindsay Knox (for MHSES) lindsay.knox@ed.ac.uk

Rowan Murray (For CSE and CMVM) rowan.murray@ed.ac.uk 

Jill Northcott (for Business, Law, Economics, HCA, and other CAHSS enquiries) jill.northcott@ed.ac.uk  

Faith Dillon-Lee (for LLC, SPS, ECA, and other CAHSS enquiries) f.dillon-lee@ed.ac.uk