The Academic English Programme helps students whose first language is not English to reach their full potential on their Reading degree programmes. Each department at Reading has a dedicated Academic Language and Literacy Liaison contact. We can offer advice and support on matters related to international/EU students and any student whose first language is not English. If you have any questions about the Academic English Programme, please contact your Liaison using the contact details on the web pages.

The provision has a number of strands:

  • You can refer your international and EU students to our online courses for self-enrolment, which offer academic skills and literacy development with an integral English-language dimension. We currently offer the following courses: Academic Grammar; Core Academic Writing Skills; Dissertation & Thesis Writing; Essays: Criticality, Argumentation and Structure; Presentation Skills These courses are designed for independent learning and contain a mix of short video input and guided independent tasks, which students can work through at their own pace. Lecturers are also available to answer questions via weekly live slots.
  • You can also refer students to Academic Language Webinars designed to help students with the language needed in a range of academic communication contexts. Topics include: Language for Writing reflectively;  Writing critically- focus on language; Noun phrases: the building blocks of academic texts; Improve your academic vocabulary (1): Growing your Academic vocabulary size; Language for Academic Integrity: paraphrasing and summarising; Dissertations: Language for the Literature Review
  • For individualised support, you can refer your students to 1-to-1 Consultations for Writing and Presentations: All international/EU students can book three 30-minute consultations per semester and can, for example, receive feedback on aspects of their academic writing such as structure, language and style, rehearse and get feedback on oral presentations, or receive advice on pronunciation or strategies to develop speaking and listening fluency.
  • Embedded academic language & literacy courses: In collaboration with Schools and Departments, discipline-specific Academic English courses are offered currently for more than 30 different degree-programme cohorts. If you feel your programme would benefit from this kind of Academic English provision, please contact your Academic Language and Literacy Liaison.
  • In collaboration with the Doctoral and Researcher College, we provide a series of ‘Language for Research’ sessions for doctoral students whose first language is not English. These include: Writing clearly: Coherence, flow & cohesion; Voice, stance & criticality; The Literature Review; Describing and rationalising methods; Reporting results; Discussion; Writing for difference audiences. For more information about these courses and how to refer your doctoral students to them, see the Doctoral and Researcher College’s Training and Development web pages.