Developing Academic Literacies
This open Learning Circle is led by Laura Gelhaus and Romain Chenet.
Please note any Staff or Students who are not a WIHEA Fellow, Alumni or current WIHEA Member who wish to join an Open Learning Circle, are required to become a WIHEA Member. This will enable you to be kept informed of WIHEA activities and progress on a range of Learning Circles and Projects, so that understanding of WIHEA’s strategic aims and links to other similar work in this area can be made more easily. Please see further information on our WIHEA Membership.
Reading and writing are fundamental to academic practice. The aim of the Academic Literacies Learning Circle is to investigate and challenge the ways staff and students think about reading and writing in academia. The Learning Circle hopes to:
- Cultivate an understanding amongst students and staff that academic writing is negotiable and creative.
- Challenge the ways we think about reading and writing in academia.
- Offer a space for rethinking how we teach, assess, and produce writing.
- Rekindle joy and passion in reading and writing.
The goals of this Learning Circle include:
- Making explicit and critically evaluating the academic literacies we wish to nurture at Warwick.
- Identifying (systemic) barriers to success in academia through a critical examination of academic reading and writing requirements.
- Connectedly, removing barriers related to academic literacies, and considering how a re-evaluation of academic literacies could foster belonging.
- Establishing pedagogical practices and research developed through a reimagining of academic reading and writing.
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Steering the direction of academic literacies at Warwick
For 2025/26 our aims are to:
- Focus our work on academic reading:
- How, if at all, is academic reading explicitly taught or discussed across Warwick?
- What are the implicit assumptions in academic reading, and are these appropriate?
- How is academic reading inclusive or exclusive?
- How can we navigate feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that arise through academic reading?
- How can we foster joy and belonging in reading?
- Continue our work on professional development through projects and talks about academic literacies in different settings, and topics such as language and academic literacies
- Work towards projects, conference panels, and eventual publications that can help shape academic literacies practice at Warwick and beyond.
Meeting dates
Members of this Circle include:
- Bhushan Atote
- Deborah Biggerstaff
- Andrew Calvert
- Juliana Carneiro
- Romain Chenet (co-lead)
- Susie Cowley-Haselden
- Ethan Dommett
- Fiona Farnsworth
- Laura Gelhaus (co-lead)
- Reece Goodall
- Karen Jackson
- Harriet Richmond
- Sanchia Rodrigues
- Alexander Smith
- Cleo Tilley
- Matthew Voice
- Chelsea Wood
