UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Clarence, Sherran"

Browsing by Author "Clarence, Sherran"

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Building an evolving method and materials for teaching legal writing in large classes
(Springer, 2014) Clarence, Sherran; Mwambene, Lea; Albertus, Latiefa
In South Africa and in other parts of the world, many professions are bemoaning the poor ability of many graduates to communicate their skills and knowledge effectively once they enter the workplace. Increasingly, pressure is placed on higher education to do more in terms of equipping future professionals with the necessary critical reading, research, thinking and writing skills the workplace demands. However, in South Africa especially, the demand for access to higher education is resulting in increased admissions, and in many lecturers standing in front of larger classes filled with students from a wide range of home and educational backgrounds with ‘variable’ commands of English as a medium of instruction and communication (Greenbaum and Mbali 2002). This makes the task of equipping these students with disciplinary knowledge and skills challenge. In responding to this challenge, the Law Faculty at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), in collaboration with a writing specialist, initiated a project aimed at transforming the way in which legal writing was taught at first year level. The overall aim was to start training students, from first year, to adapt their thinking and writing to the kinds of knowledge and practice required by academic study as well as the legal profession. The project was successful in achieving its modest aims, but certain challenges remain. This paper reflects critically on the development and evolution of the model for teaching legal writing in large classes. It argues that teaching legal writing in large classes requires creative and sustainable approaches so that students can become active and critical writers, readers and thinkers over time in this, or any, field.
‘From rhetoric to practice: a critique of immigration policy in Germany through the lens of Turkish-Muslim women’s experiences of migration’
(Berghahn Journals, 2009) Clarence, Sherran
The largest group of migrants in Germany is the Turkish people, many of whom have low skills levels, are Muslim, and are slow to integrate themselves into their host communities. German immigration policy has been significantly revised since the early 1990s, and a new Immigration Act came into force in 2005, containing more inclusive stances on citizenship and integration of migrants. There is a strong rhetoric of acceptance and open doors, within certain parameters, but the gap between the rhetoric and practice is still wide enough to allow many migrants, particularly women, to fall through it. Turkish-Muslim women bear the brunt of the difficulties faced once they have arrived in Germany, and many of them are subject to domestic abuse, joblessness and poverty because of their invisibility to the German state, which is the case largely because German immigration policy does not fully realise a role and place for women migrants. The policy also does not sufficiently account for ethnic and cultural identification, or limitations faced by migrants in that while it speaks to integration, it does not fully enable this process to take place effectively. Even though it has made many advances in recent years towards a more open and inclusive immigration policy, Germany is still a ‘reluctant’ country of immigration, and this reluctance stops it from making any real strides towards integrating migrants fully into German society at large. The German government needs to take a much firmer stance on the roles of migrant women in its society, and the nature of the ethnic and religious identities of Muslim immigrants, in order to both create and implement immigration policy that truly allows immigrants to become full and contributing members to German social and economic life, and to bring it in line with the European Union’s common directives on immigration.
Making inter-disciplinary spaces for talk about and change in student writing and literacy development
(Taylor & Francis, 2012) Clarence, Sherran
This paper discusses the role of a writing centre in creating spaces for talk about and change in disciplinary writing pedagogy. It asks how collaborative partnerships between disciplinary academics and Writing Centre practitioners might be established and nurtured sustainably. Drawing on insights from two collaborations with academics in political studies and law, the article asserts that writing centre practitioners play a valuable role in talking about and changing the way academic writing and literacy is taught in the disciplines. This is shown by working consistently with the understanding that critical reading, thinking and writing are literacy acts rather than generic skills and must therefore be learned and practiced in the disciplines. By supporting disciplinary academics in re-examining course outcomes, materials and assessments, and moving away from a ‘skills approach’ to writing, it is shown that building discipline-specific spaces for writing and literacy development is possible through these collaborative partnerships.
Narratives in postgraduate studies: Stories of six master?s students who have experienced supervision-related challenges at a South African university
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Cyster, Grant Alexander; Clarence, Sherran
Postgraduate research throughput and problems associated with appropriate supervision are a key focus area for many higher education institutions around the world (Lessing & Schulze, 2012; Amehoe, 2014; Botha, 2016). Central to this challenge is the supervisory relationship, which by its very nature, is not one-sided. A productive and rewarding supervisory process requires that both student and supervisor(s) are committed to fulfilling clearly-articulated responsibilities relevant to the research project at hand (Eley & Jennings, 2005). Both student-centric and institutional factors have been found to contribute to low student throughput and to the time taken to complete postgraduate studies (Amehoe, 2014; Luescher-Mamashela, 2015). In South Africa, the higher education landscape is increasingly fraught with varied challenges, including issues of attrition and completion rates as they relate to postgraduate students. Some of the implications of the premature termination of postgraduate research are that various academic fields are deprived of potentially valuable research contributions, and there is a significant cost incurred by the affected students and supervisors (Lovitts, 2001; Lessing & Lessing, 2004), as well as the relevant faculties and institutions, and society at large. Additionally, a number of South African universities are still grappling with inequities resulting from the Apartheid era (Pillay & Karlsson, 2013). It is against this backdrop that this research, through a narrative research lens involving semi-structured interviews, explores and chronicles the stories of six Master?s students who have encountered supervision-related challenges. According to Pearson and Kayrooz (2004), a limited narrative research spotlight has been trained on the issue of postgraduate supervision from the student perspective. The primary objective of this study, therefore, is to facilitate a platform through which the six respondents are able to share the stories of their Master?s supervision experience. On a secondary level, the sharing of these student stories has the potential to enhance the postgraduate research experience, as Lovitts (2001) and Lessing and Lessing (2004) point out.
The role of questioning in writing tutorials: a critical approach to student-centered learning in peer tutorials in higher education
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Munje, Paul Nwati; Nanima, Robert Doya; Clarence, Sherran
Peer tutoring in higher education aims to enhance student learning, and confidence. In writing centres, peer writing tutors use critical questioning to make the tutorial sessions student-focused and productive. The nature of questions influences the outcomes of the tutorials, yet research has not devoted sufficient time to unpacking what form this questioning takes, and the potential value for students and tutors. This paper explores the kinds of questions asked, the challenges posed to students and tutors, and implications for the learning process. Tutors’ experiences during tutorials and their reflections in written reports are used to unpack and explore questioning in tutorials. The paper highlights questioning as relevant in writing centre spaces due to its central role in shaping student learning about writing. The findings have relevance for peer tutoring in higher education generally, and indicate the importance of peer tutors learning to use questions to engage effectively with students.
Towards inclusive, participatory peer tutor development in higher education
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Clarence, Sherran
Peer tutoring has a long history in academic support spaces in universities, such as writing centres and supplemental instruction programmes. Small group peer tutoring has moved increasingly into "mainstream" teaching and learning, and has become an academic necessity in these spaces. The nature of student-tutor engagements in these spaces is about sharing and co-constructing knowledge, and developing more independent student learners. Yet, tutor development and training tends to under-prepare peer tutors to create participatory, inclusive tutorial environments. This paper argues for tutor development itself to model participatory, inclusive, and development practices, such that tutors learn from being part of the training process how to improve their practice. Drawing on qualitative data from a three-year project at a traditional, historically black South African university, this paper shows how such an approach yields benefits for tutors that include building knowledge about tutoring that overtly includes tutors' existing knowledge and experiences. Ultimately, a more inclusive approach to tutor development has a strong likelihood of changing tutoring praxis, making tutorials more participatory, inclusive, and shared spaces for learning.
What lies beneath tutors' feedback? Examining the role of feedback in developing 'knowers' in English studies
(The University of the Western Cape, 2017) van Heerden, Martina; Clarence, Sherran; Bharuthram, Sharita
Feedback plays an important role in student learning and development in higher education. However, for various reasons, it is often not as effective as it should be. Many studies have attempted to �solve� the feedback situation by finding new ways to give feedback, or by exploring the various perceptions around feedback to see where the problem lies. In many of these studies, however, the purpose of feedback within disciplines are taken for granted or not actively made visible. This study therefore explores how (or whether) the practice of feedback aligns with the often hidden, taken for granted purpose of feedback in a discipline. The study focused specifically on English Studies, an undergraduate first year literature course at the University of the Western Cape. As the nature of the discipline is often invisible, even to those who are familiar with the course, the study drew on Legitimation Code Theory, and specifically the dimensions of Specialisation and Semantics, to make the invisible purpose of the discipline more visible. In so doing, it sought to enable a clearer understanding of what the purpose of feedback should be; namely, consistent with the underlying purpose of the discipline. English Studies was classified as a rhizomatic knower code, which means that what is valued in the discipline is not possessing knowledge as a study-able concept, but rather possessing the required aptitudes, attitudes, and dispositions. Feedback plays an important role in developing these knower attributes. The study took a qualitative case study approach to obtain a full, detailed account of tutors� feedback-giving practices. Data was collected from a small group of participant tutors, via questionnaires, focus group meetings, individualised interviews, and written feedback on sample essays provided by the tutors. 962 comments, spread over 65 essays, were analysed. The study found that, in terms of Specialisation, there was a misalignment between the purpose and the practice of feedback: feedback did not predominantly and/or progressively focus more on making the knower code more visible. Instead, the feedback was largely focused on a relativist code and a knowledge code. This indicates that students may be being misled about what is valued in the discipline. Additionally, in terms of Semantics, it was found that the feedback, given on single-draft submissions, would be more useful in a drafting cycle and that learning from the feedback was made difficult by the context-dependent comments that were either too complex to be enacted, or would be more appropriate in a drafting cycle. Ultimately, it was found that if there is not a careful consideration of what feedback should focus on, students may be misled about what is valued in the discipline. This could have effects beyond merely passing or failing the course.
What lies beneath: exploring the deeper purposes of feedback on student writing through considering disciplinary knowledge and knowers
(Taylor & Francis, 2017) van Heerden, Martina; Clarence, Sherran; Bharuthram, Sharita
Feedback plays an integral role in students� learning and development, as it is often the only personal communication that students have with tutors or lecturers about their own work. Yet, in spite of its integral role in student learning, there is disagreement between how students and tutors or lecturers perceive the pedagogic purpose of feedback. Central to this disagreement is the role that feedback has to play in ensuring that students produce the �right� kinds of knowledge, and become the �right� kinds of knowers within their disciplines. This paper argues that, in order to find common ground between students and tutors or lecturers on what feedback is for, and how to both give and use it effectively, we need to conceptualise disciplinary knowledge and knowers anew. We offer, as a useful starting point, the Specialisation dimension of Legitimation Code Theory as both practical theory and methodological tool for exploring knowledge and knowers in English Studies and Law as two illustrative cases. The paper concludes that this analysis offers lecturers and tutors a fresh understanding of the disciplinary knowledge and knower structures they work within and, relatedly, a clearer view of the work their feedback needs to do within these.
Writing in and for the academy: collaborative writing development with students and lecturers at the UWC Writing Centre
(SUN Media, 2011) Clarence, Sherran
Writing and reading critically are core academic practices that many South African tertiary students struggle with throughout undergraduate study. This is partly due to a lack of competency in English as a first language, and partly due to a lack of preparation at primary and secondary school level. Critical reading and writing practices need to be developed simultaneously, and contextually. The Writing Centre at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is currently exploring ways to make itself a more relevant and focused part of the University’s teaching and learning interventions and strategies, and to make it more responsive to the multiple reading, writing and language needs of students. Influenced theoretically and practically by New Literacy Studies and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) approaches, the Writing Centre is working to position itself as part of a teaching and learning environment that develops and supports both student writers and disciplinary lecturers. We aim to do this by foregrounding, theorising, researching and building a culture of writing intensive teaching that imagines and uses writing as a tool for learning, thinking and evaluation, as well as for assessment. In order to become a significant part of teaching and learning in higher education more generally, Writing Centres will need to work increasingly with lecturers to address the writing and reading needs of students in a supportive, critical and collaborative space that better serves the needs of both parties.

Browsing by Author "Clarence, Sherran"

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