Changing Identities: LAS advisers

Language and Academic Skills (LAS) advising in Australia has, in the last ten years, emerged as an identifiable profession within the tertiary education sector. That emergence has been the result of intense research and reflection, not only in terms of advisers ’ roles and status, but also in terms of understanding the students with whom we work and their LAS needs. The resultant changes have challenged and extended our fundamental conceptions of the roles and status of LAS advisers, their practice and profession. However, such changes have been largely undocumented, and, arguably, little attention has been given to developing a comprehensive framework for LAS pedagogy. In tracing the emergence of the LAS profession and evaluating the changing identity of LAS advisers in terms of their roles and status, we attempt to reconceptualise the LAS profession with a view to emphasising its multidisciplinary nature. We also take the preliminary step of outlining, in this discussion paper, a framework for LAS pedagogy