John Wrigglesworth presented findings from his recent work at the joint BALEAP/ ALDinHE One-day Conference on Academic Literacies and EAP: Same or different? The presentation reviewed how theories of language have informed English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Academic Literacies research in the twenty years since Lee and Street (1998). Grounded in this review, the presentation discussed two approaches to teaching academic writing to UK undergraduates. The first approach had a primary objective of teaching students to take an exploratory approach to academic genre, register, and grammar using a variety of texts. The second approach prioritised teaching content using texts taken from the students’ target discipline and developing literacy skills within particular pedagogic tasks.

The presentation concluded with a discussion of how the university system works, how students are assessed, and how students can be given control of the meaning making resources they need to succeed at university.