Edinburgh Napier University

  In contrast to students in many countries, British university students are often older than the common 18–22 age range; some are ‘non-traditional’ students who may have had experience of work in industrial or professional contexts before they study. These students are unlikely to fit the ‘traditional’ mould (see Figure 7.1 below), and much has been done to support their transition to academic study. However, assumptions about the experiences and knowledge that students bring with them to university are still made. This chapter shows how such assumptions can be made with regard to assessment terms such as ‘Discuss’, ‘Analyse’ and ‘Define’. Such terms are frequently key elements in the instructions for assignments or in the wording of exam questions. Arguably, these and similar terms are part of a university culture of learning, and staff may assume that students know what they mean and can, therefore, formulate their writing to meet expected patterns of discourse. In this chapter we show how diverse assumptions are made in one university. Variant assumptions about the meanings of such key terms could also be made elsewhere, with these or other terms.