Tackling Language Barriers in the Social Work Seminar

The paper focuses on the findings of a university-funded learning enhancement study and follow up study carried out in 2011 and 2012. The project, undertaken by two lecturers in social work and English/academic writing aimed to ascertain the nature of academic support needed by undergraduate social work students having English as a second language. A social work degree requires a high level of spoken and written English in order for students to engage with the complex and frequently sensitive issues under discussions in seminars. Indeed as Harrison (2006, p405) notes 'social work is essentially a language-centred activity'. In this context it was of concern to the researchers that language barriers emerged as a key theme. The paper argues that in pursuit of curriculum openness, greater awareness is needed about the challenges for students who do not have English as a first language in the social work seminar