Now I feel like I am at university”: using a community of enquiry approach to promote engagement and academic literacy amongst undergraduate students'.

This paper describes a project which supported students in taking responsibility for their learning by encouraging them to pose and interrogate their own questions during seminar discussions. The work spanned a variety of undergraduate courses related to Early Childhood and Education, including professional courses for trainee teachers and early years professionals. Feedback from students and tutors had highlighted a lack of engagement by some students in the academic dimensions of these courses and drawn attention to the significance of social and cultural contexts to the nature and quality of seminar discussions. In order to address possible barriers to participation, the team decided to support the development of academic literacy initially through promoting engagement, confidence and critical thinking through oral work. Using a community of enquiry approach, tutors worked alongside students to support them in pursuing enquiry and critical thinking. The project evaluation has suggested that participants are becoming increasingly confident in generating their own questions, influencing and shaping discussions and reflecting upon the development of their own thinking. Moreover, tutors have begun to question and adapt their teaching styles in order to promote student‐led dialogue more effectively. This paper will provide a detailed overview of the approaches used and report on the evaluation of the student and staff experience. The work will be used to prompt consideration of the value of oral work in developing academic literacy.