Skip to search boxSkip to navigationSkip to main content

Identifying typical academic language and learning development practitioner roles and specialisms: an international taxonomy

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

Although the higher education ‘third space’ has become more widely recognised, there is still a prevailing lack of specificity in terms of many associated job roles. In contrast to librarians (CILIP, 2025), there is no formally recognised classification of types of Academic Language and/or Learning Development (ALLD) job roles. In practice, this means that ALLD practitioners with similar job titles often undertake different roles. In the absence of clearly defined job roles, the valuable contributions made by ALLD practitioners and the associated specialist skills and knowledge required are not always widely understood (Bickle, Johnson and White, 2024). This led Briggs (2025a) to propose the need to develop an ALLD role taxonomy. The current article reports results from an international study (primarily comprising of practitioners from UK, Canada, and New Zealand) that sought to establish the principal job responsibilities and specialisms synonymous with working in ALLD. Based on data from 92 respondents, it was possible to develop an ALLD practitioner taxonomy that details the most frequent area(s) of work and specialism(s) reported by ALLD practitioners. Implications for applying the taxonomy are considered from the perspectives of international and national associations, institutions, and individual practitioners.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (Volume 2025, Issue 38)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 30/09/2025
  • Published - 11/12/2025

Publication status

Published - 11/12/2025

ISSN

1759-667X

External Publication IDs

  • Scopus: 105033386647

Access to documents

Publication metrics

Metrics

Download statistics
Download count
1