Established in 2012, the Centre is dedicated to empowering students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a dynamic university environment and beyond. We provide tailored support to help students build confidence, organise their thoughts, and develop effective communication strategies that promote academic and professional success.
By understanding the complexity of the interaction between the mental space which our students inhabit and the demands of the academic and professional world, we have reviewed and adjusted our approach to more faithfully reflect students’ needs. Insights gained from past projects, research and student feedback have guided us toward a process-oriented, targeted methodology. Our primary focus is on assisting undergraduate students during their first two years at UM, helping them transition smoothly into their disciplines by enhancing their academic and communication skills.
While staying true to the Centre’s founding mission, we embrace reflective practices and ongoing assessments of students’ written and oral communication. By staying updated with international research in applied linguistics, academic literacies, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and English-Medium Instruction (EMI), we adapt to the local and global demands of higher education. Additionally, our involvement with English language testing ensures that international students planning to join UM are well-prepared to commence their academic journey. Understanding students’ linguistic and communication skills allows us to refine our teaching methods, ensuring we are responsive to changes in student cohorts.
CALECS also caters for the needs of English Language Teaching professionals working in international education contexts. Through close collaboration with industry stakeholders, it offers the M.A. in Applied Linguistics and TESOL programme on both full-time and part-time bases. The programme prepares students for a wide variety of academic and leadership positions.
The Centre has adopted an integrated model that facilitates the scaffolding of academic literacy. This approach increases in-class opportunities for students to work on writing and oral presentations, providing real-time support and practice. Guided by intercultural rhetoric, we address the unique bilingual context of our students, merging local cultural perspectives with the English rhetorical conventions of their disciplines.
We recognise that students come to university with varying levels of writing ability and diverse educational backgrounds. Through our innovative approaches – including ESP and EMI – we bridge these gaps by aligning cultural thought with the rhetorical structures of academic disciplines, all facilitated through the linguistic medium of English.
Our efforts are guided by the following objectives:
At the Centre, we aim to reflect the unique discourse of each discipline and help students adopt its academic conventions. Whether they are navigating discipline-specific genre features or engaging in English-medium instruction, our mission is to empower them to confidently excel in their academic and professional aspirations.