Teaching academic writing at the University of Wollongong

Initiatives for the development of literacy at the University of Wollongong are growing within an Australian national commitment to increase overall tertiary enrollment, provide access to students from less-advantaged groups, and enroll more international students. While this essay describes successful programs within the Academic Services Division at Wollongong built to support student literacy, especially academic writing, it primarily emphasizes the work of a problemsolving task force on English language proficiency aimed at building consensus for a collaborative, cross-disciplinary paradigm of literacy growth that moves away from the traditional idea of separable services. The essay profiles a new initiative in the Master of Science program that exemplifies uses of technology to make literacy growth integral to every aspect of student learning and success, including the design of mainstream courses. This initiative and others like it depend on the collaboration of language teachers and researchers with teachers in the target disciplines.