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Developing a Conceptual Definition of Academic Talk
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Developing a Conceptual Definition of Academic Talk

Marion Heron, Sally Baker and Kieran Balloo
Academic Talk for Higher Education: In Support of Equity and Academic Preparedness
Great Debates in Higher Education, Emerald Publishing Limited, 1st
05/05/2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-860-820261003

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Abstract

Higher education Higher education
With this book sitting at the intersection of language, higher education, equity and academic preparedness, we are interested in how talk links to and underpins learning opportunities in higher education. In particular, we argue that purposeful use of academic talk is key to supporting students – especially those from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds – to prepare academically for future study and the workplace. In this chapter, we critically engage with key concepts that underpin the idea of academic talk, including oracy, educational dialogue, dialogic teaching and threshold concepts/practices. These ideas will be critically examined to build the key concept used throughout this book – academic talk. Firstly, we offer an overview of work that has looked at the concept of oracy, most of which focuses on the primary schooling context (Mercer & Dawes, 2014; Mercer et al., 2017), identifying how this work has clearly identified strong learning gains for students who experience educational disadvantage (Knight, 2024; Millard & Menzies, 2016). From there, we move to examine (educational) dialogue (Hennessy et al., 2016) and dialogic pedagogy (Alexander, 2020), examining the connections between oracy and dialogic teaching. We then turn to the theory of threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2003) and threshold practices (Gourlay, 2009) to explore the transitions that students experience as they adapt to new learning levels and contexts. We end this chapter with a definition of academic talk that is fit for the higher education context, offering a clear positioning of academic talk as a way of preparing students to access and participate fully in academic and professional opportunities/contexts.

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