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Caught between two stools? Academic writing in ‘new’ vocational disciplines in higher education

ABSTRACT ‘New’ vocational disciplines often struggle for acceptance in the academy. The marginalising of these disciplines impacts on their teaching and learning environment often to the detriment of staff and students. This study focuses both on the role academic writing plays in this marginalisation and how the teaching of such writing is affected by the positioning of these disciplines. Using semi-structured interviews the perceptions of 27 lecturers teaching postgraduate hospitality programmes in the UK were explored. While lecturers expressed concern that traditional academic writing requirements do not serve the best interests of the discipline or the students, they feel they are powerless to make changes to improve the situation. The academic enculturation process appears to be a one-sided affair, where the discipline adopts practices simply because they are part of long-standing academic traditions and not because they serve the needs of the discipline.