Since late 2023, staff in the Linguistics program have been working on the cross-College project ‘Strengthening foundations and connections in Linguistics learning and teaching’. The project was supported by a Strategic Learning and Teaching Grant and received invaluable input from CLT colleagues.
The project has focused on revising the overall structure of the program and redeveloping courses within it, particularly the foundational first-year courses. Specific consideration has been given to strategies for developing student awareness of the many applications of their Linguistics-specific expertise and their broader transferable skills, both within the curriculum and through extracurricular offerings.
In August, staff from the Linguistics program and Careers and Employability ran four events as part of a ‘Pathways in Linguistics’ series for current or prospective Linguistics students interested in thinking about possible future directions for work or study. The series included:
- Honours in Linguistics information session
- Pathways in Linguistics panel discussion
- Workshop – Find your ideal job: aligning values, interests and skills
- Workshop – How to see yourself in a job ad
While the Honours in Linguistics information session for students considering a thesis year is regularly run, the other sessions were conducted for the first time. The panel discussion invited Linguistics graduates – whose career paths had led them to sectors such as government, education, defence and cultural institutions – to share their career journeys and advice, and to engage directly with current students.
The two workshops focused on how students could identify their values, interests and skills, and accordingly target their job search. Students were also taught how to decode job advertisements and understand how their experience aligns with the requirements of potential employers. This skill is particularly important for Linguistics graduates who go on to work in a range of roles that are not necessarily advertised with mention of ‘linguistics’, such as data analyst, cross-cultural facilitator, or speech and language technologist.
The sessions were designed to help with student career outcomes through highlighting the diversity of career paths available to Linguistics graduates, and through helping students to more easily identify and articulate how their undergraduate (and postgraduate) skills could be applied in a range of employment contexts. Students commented that they had never approached their job search in this way before, and found the practical skills from the two workshops to be extremely valuable, particularly the methods for analysing job ads and reflecting on both their own personal and professional alignment with particular organisations as well as specific roles.
The sessions also strengthened the ties between ANU staff and industry partners, and offered an opportunity for students to network with industry representatives. Students appreciated the range of professionals represented in the panel discussion and the advice and insights they provided, and commented on the value of being able to learn about how linguistics skills and knowledge are applied day-to-day in real-world contexts.
For the Linguistics academics in attendance, the sessions provided new ideas for ways to more explicitly integrate career advice within their courses. However, while embedding careers education into the curriculum is considered best practice, ensuring careers and employability is accessible to all students, it can be logistically and practically challenging, especially in the current tertiary sector environment. At the same time, free-standing workshops for the university-wide student cohort may not be tailored enough to fully address the diverse curiosities and uncertainties of the Linguistics student cohort. The model we used with Linguistics proved to be particularly impactful. Therefore, for Careers and Employability professionals, a series like this offers a useful model for engaging with a broader yet targeted group of students and collaborating with academics to develop tailored suggestions that complement more general advice.
Overall, these sessions were valuable for not just Linguistics students but also the professional and academic staff who delivered the sessions, and we plan to deliver the ‘Pathways in Linguistics’ series again.
If you’re a convener, lecturer, or staff member involved in student programs and are interested in exploring how you can partner with Careers and Employability to enhance your students’ employability, please contact careers@anu.edu.au. Your college representative will get back to you to discuss potential collaborations.
If you’re an academic interested in learning more about the Linguistics SLTG project, please contact rosey.billington@anu.edu.au and ksenia.gnevsheva@anu.edu.au.
