CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.9. DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
described as both valid and reliable. It is applied in most of the universities. There are about 17 universities in the country that are using the NBT for admission purposes.
1.8.4 Delimitations
Only one section of academic literacy was studied, which is academic reading. The study also only involved first-year students admitted in SFP.
1.9. DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
CALP
This is an acronym which stands for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. It is the type of language students are exposed to and supposed to produce when reading academic texts. They are the skills needed for students to succeed in content areas such as reading, writing, mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences and business (Ralenala, 2003, p.109). Cummins (2009) describes CALP as involving the application of higher order thinking skills.
Discourse
Van Schalkwyk (2008, p.25) refers to discourse as the discourse knowledge (concepts) of the area of specific discipline. It is the ability to understand the text structure and the cues that knit discourse and signal sequences in texts (van Wyk and Greyling, 2008, p.3).
Genre
Cheng (2006, p.77) defines ‘genre’ as “the abstract, goal–oriented, staged and socially recognized ways of using language delimited by communicative purposes, performed social interactions within rhetorical contexts, and formal properties” (Negretti & Kuteeva, 2011,p.96). Genre can then be described as structured communicative events engaged in by specific discourse communities whose members share broad communicative purposes (Cheng, 2006, p.77). Tertiary students should be exposed to different genres, especially science genres to acquaint themselves with them.
Metacognition
Metacognition is described as one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive process and outcomes or anything related to them. These cognitive processes involve thinking or conscious experience and may include thoughts, ideas and convictions, understanding and knowledge (Pammu, Amira & Maasum, 2014, p.2; Iwai, 2011, p.2).
Carrel, Gajdusek & Wise (1998, p.100) view metacognition as the utilization of strategies which involve thinking about the learning process, planning for learning and monitoring of comprehension or production while it is taking place. It may also include
self-evaluation of learning after the learning activity. The above explanation means that students should be aware of their reading processes and when they should apply their thinking strategies for meaningful academic reading to take place.
New literacies
This is a multiplicity of practices that are embedded in particular social circumstances and whose acquisition take place in specific to particular cultural contexts (Jackson, Meyer & Parkinson, 2006, p.261).
National Benchmarking Test (NBT)
This is a test administered to students to determine their academic readiness. It was formulated by the lecturers from the University of Cape Town and were commissioned by Higher Education South Africa (HESA). The NBT reflects almost ten years of research and collaboration among leading content specialists and researchers from Institutions of Higher Education across South Africa. The NBT Project is managed by the Alternative Admissions Research Project in the Centre for Higher Education Development at the University of Cape Town.
The NBT is an assessment of prospective first year applicants into Higher Education.
The assessments are designed to measure a writer’s levels of proficiency in Academic Literacy, Quantitative Literacy and Mathematics as related to the demands of tertiary study. The NBT also provides information to assist in the placement of students in appropriate curricular routes (for example, regular, augmented, extended, bridging or foundation programmes). It also helps with the development of curriculum for Higher Education programmes and assists Higher Education to interpret school-leaving results, such as those of the National Senior Certificate (NSC).
Reading
Reading is the construction of meaning from a printed or written message. It is also described as a psycholinguistic process. It is a psycholinguistic process as it involves language and thought (Goodman, 1997). It is an interactive process between a reader
and the text .Reading is an interactive process which includes a complex interplay between local level bottom-up strategies and more global levels of top-down, higher order mental process and background knowledge (Grabe 1991; Solak & Altayi, 2014).
Scaffolding
This is the assistance that adults and more competent peers provide during learning episodes. It can take place in the form of clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking down the problem into steps, providing examples, or anything else that allows the student to grow independently as a learner.
Schema
This is the students’ background knowledge related to what they read. It depends on whether students use the bottom up reading strategies or the top down reading strategies.
Science Foundation Programme (SFP)
This refers to the foundation programme offered to some first-entering students who are registered for science degrees at the University of Venda. The Science Foundation Program (SFP) in the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at the University of Venda (Univen) caters for students who did not attain the required scores in Mathematics and Physical Science. These students’ overall scoring, including English competency, is less than the required (26) points, even though they obtained university entrance scores in their Matric Examination.
Theory
Tracey and Morrow (2006, p.20) refer to a theory as “a set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted”. The above definition refers to the theories of reading which were reviewed in this study.
Top-down reading strategies
These are the strategies students use by making use of their background knowledge stored in their memories to relate with a text. The students ‘background knowledge is brought into the text to make sense of the text.
Under-preparedness
This describes students who are entering the tertiary institutions without some requirements for their chosen field of study. It is argued that students in South Africa enter higher education without a wide range of competencies which are due to the disparities of secondary education provision in the country. These students, it is believed will encounter challenges with their academic studies during their transition period from high school to university (Strydom, Mentz & Kuh, 2010). Evens (2002) also allude to the fact that most of the students entering tertiary institutions are underprepared.
1.10 CHAPTER OUTLINES
Chapter 1: Introduction and background
This chapter outlines the whole research proposal from the introduction to the conclusion. It also gives a brief background to the problem in the study. In addition, it articulates the problem statement, literature review, research design, research methodology, data collection instruments, data analysis and limitations to the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
Chapter 2 outlines different concepts related to reading and academic literacy. The theoretical framework which serves as the backbone to the study is explored in this chapter as well. Finally, different reading theories like the schema theory, the metacognitive process of reading, the nature of reading, and the link between academic reading and academic success are also explored.
Chapter 3: Research methodology
The chapter focuses on the methodology that was adopted in the study. The mixed- method approach was deemed to be effective to get both quantitative data on the profile of the students and use a case study (qualitative) to design an intervention activities based on the identified profile.
Chapter 4: Data analysis and presentations
This is the data presentation and analysis chapter. In this chapter, the results of the NBT were analyzed based on the themes on academic literacy competencies as outlined in the literature review in chapter 2. The analysis of the results informed the design of an intervention or a reading programme for the SFP.
Chapter 5: Discussion of findings
This chapter discussed the results from the study based on the literature reviewed in chapter two, the NBT results and reading subdomains.
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations
In this chapter, conclusions and recommendations are drawn from the data discussed in chapter 5. Recommendations for further studies are also suggested for future researchers. In the conclusion section, the chapter summarized the literature behind academic reading and studies conducted previously on academic literacy. It also gave the implications of the results, outlined the intervention strategy the chapter ends with recommendations for future studies, limitations and a summary.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW