Lorna and the ELAS team offer highly individualised, responsive and learner-centred academic skills support to students with English as an additional language. The one-to-one tutorials encourage students to develop a greater degree of autonomy over their writing process.

Teaching area

Academic skills: English for Academic Purposes

Course

Optional tutorials for undergraduate, postgraduate taught and research students with English as an additional language

Description

The English Language for Academic Study (ELAS) team offers tutorials as a key part of University provision designed to support students to develop their knowledge and understanding of academic English and culture, and to address the awarding gap between international and UK students at Sussex.

ELAS tutorials are 30-minute, one-to-one sessions (in person or online) to help students work on university assignments. Pre-tutorial, students are asked to send the tutor a draft or a section of a piece of work (up to 1,000 words), specifying which areas they would like feedback on. The ELAS tutor then sends written feedback before the tutorial. During the tutorial, students are invited to ask questions based on the feedback or any aspect of their work they wish to discuss. Post-tutorial, the tutor emails a summary of points discussed and/or signposts students to further sources of academic support where necessary.

Outcomes

Academic skills and student support

One-to-one tutorials offer highly individualised, responsive and learner-centred academic support. They can also encourage students to develop a greater degree of autonomy over their writing process. As highlighted, in the ELAS pre-tutorial stage, tutors ask students to identify aspects of their work for feedback (for example language and academic style, structure, argument, use of sources and referencing). This enables students to take control and set the agenda for their tutorial from the outset (as recommended by Jakonen and Duran 2024).

Tutors can then respond to student questions during the tutorial, encouraging and ‘scaffolding’ learning ‘rather than imposing knowledge’ (Wingate 2019: 25). Mackiewicz and Thomson (2018: 121) highlight the importance of ‘motivational scaffolding’ within writing tutorials in terms of praising, showing concern, expressing empathy, being optimistic and ‘reinforcing the student writer’s ownership and control’. Asking open questions – such as ‘Can you tell me about your argument here?’ or ‘How does point A relate to point B?’ – and encouraging students to find their own solutions is key in an academic context where students are expected to think critically and engage in self-directed learning.

Comments

Case study: Diana

Diana is a PhD student in Development Studies at the Institute of Development Studies who came to several ELAS tutorials to discuss sections of her thesis over the summer and autumn of 2025. Highly motivated and self-aware, she was able to articulate clear tutorial goals. Diana was confident in her dissertation research and able to structure her written argument clearly and logically. Initially, she was less confident with her written academic style and expression in English. Her language contained some informality and repetition as well as a few minor grammatical issues, which we were able to identify and discuss. With feedback and encouragement, Diana was able to address the language issues in her work, extending her range of academic language and making her writing more concise. As a result, she grew in confidence in writing her thesis chapters over the months leading up to her PhD submission.

Diana’s feedback:

I have attended several ELAS tutorials to improve the academic writing of my PhD thesis, as I did not feel completely confident about my grammar and the way I articulated my ideas. In particular, I found Lorna’s tutorials very helpful, as she provided detailed and thoughtful feedback and discussed it with me to ensure that I understood the suggested improvements. Lorna was always very kind and encouraging, which I found extremely helpful in strengthening the learning process and building confidence in my skills and potential. I am truly grateful for the ELAS programme, and especially for Lorna, as it reduces the challenges we face as international students and non-native English speakers.

References

Jakonen, T. and Duran, D. (2024) ‘Learner-Centered EAP Practices: Managing Agenda in Tutorial Interaction’, Journal of English for Academic Purposes 67: 1–15

Mackiewicz, J. and Thompson, I. (2018) Talk about Writing: The Tutoring Strategies of Experienced Writing Center Tutors, 2nd edition, New York: Routledge

Wingate, U. (2019) ‘“Can You Talk Me Through Your Argument?” Features of Dialogic Interaction in Academic Writing Tutorials’, Journal of English for Academic Purposes 38: 25–35