Department of Linguistics, Language and Communication

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10566/183

Browse

Browsing by Subject "Academic literacy"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Alternative perspectives on orality, literacy and education: a view from South Africa.
    (Routledge, 2001) Bock, Zannie; Gough, David H.
    The question of the 'great divide' between orality and literacy has been critically addressed by various scholars of literacy, including social literacy theorists. This paper uses the notions of primary and secondary discourse across both oral and literate contexts to examine this 'divide'. Using evidence from the oral tradition of the Xhosa, it is shown that 'traditional' societies have well-established primary and secondary discourse types. Against this understanding, the issue of 'access' to Western academic literacy is examined. It is argued that within the changing context of South African society and as a direct result of former apartheid policies, individuals may have failed to acquire the cultural capital of both oral secondary and literate secondary discourse types. The literate secondary discourse practices of Xhosa-speaking students at univer�sity are explored through an analysis of student writing. This paper then reports on several projects which attempt to address some of the concerns of academic staff with respect to student writing. In particular, this section argues for a broadening of the notion of 'academic literacy' and suggests some ways in which texts derived from the oral tradition may be used to develop awareness of secondary discourse types.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Applying linguistics: Developing cognitive skills through multimedia
    (Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand, 2003) Gough, David H.; Bock, Zannie
    This paper examines the effectiveness of linguistic analysis in developing scientific thinking skills and scientific attitudes. It reports on a project established at a South Africa university in South Africa which engaged students in the analysis of code-mixed data. Students who participated in the project showed gains in being able to analyze linguistic data using problem solving skills. While transfer of such skills to mainstream science teaching was not investigated, the study confirms the effectiveness of linguistic analysis in engaging students in the activities associated with the development of skills for science.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A cross-linguistic analysis of the writing of prospective first year students in Xhosa and English.
    (University of Stellenbosch, 2002) Bock, Zannie; Dadlana, Phakamani
    This article aims to characterize typical linguistic and discourse features of academic writing in Xhosa and English among prospective Xhosa-speaking students at the University of the Western Cape so as to account for strengths and weaknesses in the writing and provide possible �points� for pedagogic intervention. It presents an analysis of a sample of entrance essays written by these students in English and Xhosa. The analysis is in terms of a framework which considers aspects of argument, register and syntax. It aims to highlight strengths and weaknesses in student writing and to ascertain the extent to which these characteristics are language-specific or cross-linguistic. The results of the analysis suggest that the ability to argue coherently in an appropriate register is the defining mark of good writing in any language, and that control over the syntax of the language is particularly important for these students when writing in English. The ability to write well, like certain aspects of style, seems to be a generic ability and affects students� performance in both languages.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Problematising the construct of 'definitions' within academic literacy: An analysis of students' knowledge of definitions in isiXhosa and English language textbooks at the University of the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Cl�mence, Ingabire; Antia, Bassey E.
    Instructional verbs (such as analyse, summarise, apply, evaluate) have been referred to as performatives and have become the object of initiatives around developing and assessing students' academic literacy competencies. Although there are extensive studies on developing and evaluating performatives such as analyse, apply, create, there is one instructional verb that has not received much attention. It is the verb 'define'. The neglect of 'defining' as a performative in the relevant research on academic literacies may be explained by the low value attributed to this performative in different taxonomies of educational outcomes where it is placed along with verbs such as 'list', 'identify', 'recall' identified as lower-order thinking skills. As a result of the dearth of studies of definition in academic literacy contexts, there are a number of questions that have not been addressed. We do not know the extent to which definitional knowledge may be central to efforts at developing the overall academic literacy of students. We do not know if the language in which students read academic texts (home language or second/third language) affects their ability to differentiate definitions from non-definitions, or to formulate definitions of concepts. This point is especially important as it is all too often assumed that (even without attention to relevant academic literacy development) the use of the home language of students necessarily enhances academic performance. Also, our knowledge is rather limited with respect to how different definitional structures affect the ability of students to recognize definitions in their study materials. It is also not clear how to intervene in order to make it explicit to students what may be expected of them in terms of defining in their academic work. Given the foregoing, this research analyses the notion of �definition� as an integral component of the academic literacy of university students, with the focus being on determining the knowledge around definitions possessed by students in the Linguistics and Xhosa departments of the University of the Western Cape. Specifically, the study assesses the following: the structure of definitions in selected textbooks; students' awareness of the existence of different definitional structures in their textbooks; their ability to identify the concepts being defined in specific passages; their ability to define concepts; their ability to distinguish definitions from non-definitions; and their awareness of how definitions may be introduced. The study also investigates how the language of the textbook (home language versus second/third language of the students) may impact on the performance of students in assessments of definitional knowledge. In terms of theoretical framing, the study is informed by an approach to definitions taken in the field of terminology and by the academic literacy framework which stipulates that students' academic literacy practices are inextricably shaped by different factors such as basic skills possessed by them, institutional ideologies, contexts and issues of power. The research uses a mixed-method paradigm. A total of 100 definitions excerpted from English and isiXhosa textbooks were analysed qualitatively to describe the structure of definitions (in the textbooks), using as parameters the following: definiendum (item to be defined), definiens (meaning) and definitor (link between definiendum and definiens). Quantitative data on students' knowledge of different aspects of the notion 'definition' were collected by means of questionnaires completed by 50 students from each of the Linguistics and Xhosa departments of the University of the Western Cape. While the former have English as their major language of academic literacy, the latter have isiXhosa. Chi-square tests were administered to examine whether or not there was a significant relationship between the language of the questionnaire and students' performance. Overall, the research findings suggest that definition writing is not an autonomous phenomenon; rather, it is socioculturally (e.g. language, discipline) shaped. In this respect, the way definitions are structured in English (in a linguistics textbook) is in many respects different from the way they are constructed in isiXhosa (in books on cultural studies). With regard to students' performance on a range of definition tasks in the questionnaires administered, the findings reveal that the major language of academic literacy (also home language in the case of Xhosa students) may have a positive impact on how students perform tasks requiring them to, for instance, identify definienda (concepts being defined) and definientia (meanings), and/or to spot a definition within a passage. Unlike with these datasets, other findings show that the main language of academic literacy is not a significant explanation of students' underperformance in tasks requiring them to identify a definition that is wrongly introduced and also to produce definitions of their own. The findings underscore the need for explicit teaching as recommended by the academic literacies model. A pedagogical guide outlining how a course on definition could be structured is proposed.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Scaffolding reading comprehension for engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology � A translanguaging framework
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Rodrigues, Theodore Ronald; Antia, Bassey
    The study examines the cognitive affordances of translanguaging as a resource for scaffolding Engineering texts written in English for English Additional Language (EAL) students in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DEECE) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. It focuses mainly on the reading and task-related experiences and performances of students working with academic English and multilingually scaffolded (translanguaged) Engineering text settings. With this, the study consists of three phases guided by a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, i.e., an exploratory phase and two experimental phases. These phases were constituted by focus-group discussions with interviews, questionnaires, and reading comprehension tests.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Study groups and peer roles in mediated academic literacy events in multilingual educational contexts in South Africa
    (SUN Journals, 2007) Banda, Felix
    This paper explores the role of study groups in mediating academic writing, particularly among multilingual black students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Using data from questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews, as well as academic texts generated by study groups, the paper focuses on the efficacy of study groups in mediating literacy events in multilingual educational contexts. Of particular interest here is the composition, i.e. the roles each member plays in the preparation and discussion of a particular topic.