Making Implicit Occupational Therapy Curriculum Expectations Explicit and Using Translanguaging to Navigate Literacy Practices

In practice learning, students are socialised into the occupational therapy practice discourse. The expectation is that, for successful attainment of learning outcomes, they must demonstrate mastery of literacy practices. However, these practices are often not explicitly articulated, and students are expected to decode curricular expectations, sometimes with limited knowledge of how. Students whose backgrounds are considerably different from the dominant discourse in higher education, often experience significant challenges in the process of gaining mastery of relevant literacy practices. These challenges threaten their ability to successfully attain education outcomes. This chapter draws on findings from a study that explored strategies used by African language speakers in the process of negotiating practice education in occupational therapy to explicate the literacy practices in occupational therapy practice education discourse. Findings from another study on translanguaging are drawn on to show an example of how a process of decoding an aspect of the literacy practices was facilitated. These practices include some actions, activities, knowledge and skills that are often not made explicit, even though they are key to successful attainment of learning outcomes. Identifying literacy practices is a useful step towards improving teaching and learning as curriculum requirements could be made explicit. This process is important for understanding requirements, both by educators and students. For educators, articulating practices could shed light on areas where students encounter challenges, therefore educators could develop appropriate strategies for intervention. This could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of intervention strategies aimed at improving student learning. Explicating requirements could enable equitable access to learning for all students regardless of background.