Summary: | <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; line-height: normal; margin: 6pt -2.3pt 6pt 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-AU">In 2009, the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) published the Good practice principles for English language proficiency for international students in Australian universities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the sector has generally welcomed these Good Practice Principles (GPPs), universities have been somewhat slow in implementing them and the literature has remained relatively silent in response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One important article—Murray (2010), published in The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education—discusses several problems inherent in the report in order to recommend a coherent approach to implementing the guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This paper challenges aspects of Murray’s article and extends his critique of the AUQA GPPs by focussing on three key points of tension: the group of students the report discusses; its definition of English language proficiency, and its conflicting discourses of inclusion and exclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aim here is to offer universities points for discussion as they work to translate this complex report into practice.</span></em></p>
|