Understanding Transition: "not as all-rounded as the bureau described"

The transition from Secondary School to University requires students to operate within and take ownership of a broad range language and literacy practices that characterize the university, departments and subjects the students enter into (Crème and Lea 2003; Street and Lea 1998). These practices may differ significantly from the language and literacy practices that characterized their secondary schooling, thus posing a challenge not only for the students but their teachers and tutors as well. Drawing from a questionnaire survey with close to 1600 Year 1 students (2012 cohort) and follow-up interviews, this paper explores the ways in which students from the first 3-3-4 university cohort describe and take account of their experiences of the Secondary School English curriculum. A key goal of this paper is understanding how students arriving at university are oriented in terms of their academic practices, what additional skills, knowledge and understandings they may need in order to engage successfully in the tasks they are set, and how they connected and applied their past experiences to their first university English course.The research discussed in this paper seeks to establish an understanding of the ways in which students experienced English Language Education in secondary school and how they construct and discuss notions such as proficiency, confidence and uses of English. Such constructions, we believe, are a window onto students’ points of departure in terms of their ‘cultural capital’ as well the identities they bring with them to the University (Ivanic 1998). Through a discussion of some of our preliminary findings we hope to show how understanding the ideas and practices of the incoming students can provide a foundation upon which University curricula can be better positioned to build upon the students’ foundations.