Academic literacy (sometimes referred to in the plural as academic literacies) can be defined as the ability to use language logically and analytically in an academic context. In this context we use language to gather information, to process that information, and to create new information.

Our skills-neutral definition of academic literacy allows us to steer clear of the controversy of whether writing is more important than reading, or reading more important than speaking, or speaking more important than listening. We think that these ‘skills’ are difficult to separate, anyway, and in a sense trying to do so obscures the point. The point is, to use language for academic purposes we need to

• gather information (perhaps by listening, but also by writing, or reading up, or speaking with others)
• process that information (either by thinking how to write it up in summary form, for example by tabulating it or presenting it graphically), and finally to
• produce it (which we can do by speaking, or presenting it for discussion, or writing it).

The components of academic literacy

For the sake of developing and assessing academic literacy, we can break it down into components. Then we can further define academic literacy as the ability to:

• understand a range of academic vocabulary in context;
• interpret and use metaphor and idiom, and perceive connotation, word play and ambiguity;
• understand relations between different parts of a text;
• be aware of the logical development of (an academic) text, via introductions to conclusions, and know how to use language that serves to make the different parts of a text hang together;
• interpret different kinds of text type (genre), and show sensitivity for the meaning that they convey, and the audience that they are aimed at;
• interpret, use and produce information presented in graphic or visual format;
• make distinctions between essential and non-essential information, fact and opinion, propositions and arguments; distinguish between cause and effect, classify, categorise and handle data that make comparisons;
• see sequence and order, do simple numerical estimations and computations that are relevant to academic information, that allow comparisons to be made, and can be applied for the purposes of an argument;
• know what counts as evidence for an argument, extrapolate from information by making inferences, and apply the information or its implications to other cases than the one at hand;
• understand the communicative function of various ways of expression in academic language (such as defining, providing examples, arguing); and
• make meaning (e.g. of an academic text) beyond the level of the sentence.

SOURCE
Weideman, Albert. 2018. Academic literacy: why is it important?  [Introduction]. Academic literacy: Five new tests. Bloemfontein: Geronimo, p. ii-x.

We are always investigating ways of improving on this widely accepted definition, but it provides a good starting point, offering a rationale for what gets tested. For a further refinement of the above definition of academic literacy see:

Patterson, Rebecca & Weideman, Albert. 2013. The typicality of academic discourse and its relevance for constructs of academic literacy. Journal for Language Teaching, 47(1): 107-123.

Why is it so important?

Education is mediated through language

Those who are in their last years at school, Grade 11 and 12, have of late become acutely aware of the challenges they will face once they enter higher education or the world of work. A sizeable chunk of that challenge concerns the ability of these learners to cope with the demands of language in those new contexts. Language ability will be critical for their learning, either in a course of study at university or at a university of technology, or in their new work environment. This is so because education is mediated through language.

Though language is not everything, it is important enough to become a stumbling block for those who cannot cope as a result of too low a level of ability.

Even for pre-schoolers …

One’s ability to use academic language does not begin at university, but long before that. In fact, even at pre-school level teachers specifically plan activities for young learners that enable them to seek solutions to problems by making inferences, reaching conclusions, and coming up with rational plans. Even at that level, every cognitive process that those young learners go through is mediated through language.

The ability to make an argument

What these novices to the world of education are learning is that using academic language lies at the heart of the ability to make an argument. Academic arguments are built on analyses. It goes without saying, then, that the language one needs in the academic context is a kind of language that enables one to make distinctions. That is the same as saying that language allows and helps us to sort things, by contrasting and comparing them, isolating, i.e. distinguishing, the one from the other.

It is another way of saying that analysis is the core of academic argumentation and discourse, and that the way that we articulate our academic analysis needs a specific kind of language: academic discourse.

How does one assess academic literacy levels?

If you wish to test as rich a construct as academic literacy, you need an appropriately differentiated range of subtests. The more differentiated and better the test design, the more likely it is that it will give a valid reading of ability. The more care one puts into the design of a test, the more probable it is that it will yield meaningful results that can be interpreted with a view to assisting learners and their teachers. A typical test of academic literacy may contain the following subtests. Click the image to see a sample test.

In South Africa and elsewhere, tests of academic and quantitative literacy (AQL) are increasingly used for university admission. It is possible to prepare for such tests! Learn more at: NBT AQL preparation.

Scholarly literature on tests of academic literacy

• Network of Expertise of Language Assessment (NExLA) bibliography
• Albert Weideman’s bibliography on language testing

How to develop academic literacy?

Though writing a test of academic literacy determines one’s level of competence in using and handling academic language, it goes without saying that one does not develop one’s ability to use academic language merely by writing tests.

The main challenge lies in discovering how to develop one’s ability to handle academic language while one is doing the special, non-language subjects. How does my ability to use language appropriately affect my competence in making and articulating distinctions in Accountancy, in Biology, in Chemistry, Mathematics, or History? The answer is: more than you would expect.

For the sake of being successful at higher levels of study, it pays to be much more attentive to developing the language we use in education.

The book Academic literacy: prepare to learn may be a good starting point. It is also available as an eBook.