“English studies engage in the analysis and study of literature and texts from the Anglophone world.  The discipline incorporates study of literature, and of language in literature, and may also include ‘comparative literature and literature in translation, drama, creative writing, film and the study of non-literary texts’, including forms of popular culture, media and journalism” (Subject Benchmark Statement: English. QAA: Mansfield, UK, 2007, p. 2).  Study in English enables us to come to grips with complex forms of meaning in variant circumstances.  It underpins contemporary engagement with and production of highly developed and diverse forms of communication in all contexts. (Adapted from Learning and Teaching Standards for English: Discussion Paper by Russell, G.,  McCredden, L. and Moore, N., Australian Universities Heads of English (AUHE), p. 8.  Used by kind permission of AUHE Executive)

The project investigated how we can develop the necessary skills and knowledge of our first year students in English in order to set them on the path to graduating with the threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) required by the time they graduate with English major. The project included a workshop attended by 42 academics in English from 15 universities. The TLOs were in draft format at the time of the workshop in 2014 and these draft TLOs have been used for this website. The resources on this website were developed using the outputs from these workshops together with literature on the teaching of English.