Widening Participation and Linguistic Engagement in Australian Higher Education: Exploring Academics' Perceptions and Practices

Language practices represent significant barriers to engagement in higher education for many learners from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. In Australia, such students may be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners, students from rural and remote locations, learners who are the first in their family to access higher education, from non-English speaking backgrounds, learners with interrupted schooling due to refugee or asylum seeker experiences, or first language speakers of English dialects that vary from the dominant forms privileged in the academy. While subject-specialist language and engagement with text can present ongoing challenges for many learners, such linguistic barriers--and the practical implications for academics engaged in teaching--often receive limited attention in institutional policy. This article reports on research that sought to critically examine how ten academics from different disciplines and university contexts perceive their role in the linguistically diversified academy, particularly but not exclusively, in relation to students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. The experiences of the ten academics who contributed to this research offer a useful vantage point from which to consider the various ways in which language may be conceptualized in higher education, the possibilities for embedding linguistic support in content area instruction, and the need to ensure tailored and responsive language assistance for learners throughout their studies.