DUT - Durban University of Technology EAL - English as an Additional Language EAP - English for Academic Purposes EFAL - English First Additional Language ESL - English as a Second Language. Unisa - University of South Africa UniZulu - University of Zululand UWC - University of the Western Cape WC - Writing Centre.
BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR STUDY
On Students’ Underpreparedness for Higher Education (HE) Studies
The issue of black students not being prepared for higher education studies is often understood as a problem within the students themselves. He argues that disadvantaged students are actually overprepared in a way of studying that is unsuitable for higher education.
Addressing Student Underpreparedness
Vilakazi and Tema (1985) state that the problem of academic deficiency is not essentially within the students but within the social structure, power structure and collective personality of the university. At that time, there were several unanimous voices in favor of merging and changing the operation of the ASP.
The Birth of Academic Development (AD)
If the purpose of introducing ADPs to HWU is to bring black students from. 1994: 49) provide commentary on the issue of LoLT experienced by African students from poor educational backgrounds.
Current discussion on AD in the HE in South Africa
The Ministry remains committed to funding academic development programs as part of the new funding formula. The provision of the foundation programs had racial overtones to marginalize the educationally disadvantaged black students from the larger mainstream university culture and environment.
Similar to the earlier issues of viewing educationally disadvantaged students as defective and in need of remediation to 'fit in' into the higher education sector, foundation programs offered at HWUs were criticized for being separate units (i.e. add- us) that were created to support or remedy Black students. the underpreparation of students. This point is further emphasized by Makura et al. 2011) who state that “the urban (former white) universities attract the crème de la crème, while the predominantly rural campuses such as Fort Hare University (FHU) have had to make do with students from low quality from surrounding areas whose second language problems and a shaky subordinate.
In addition to the foundation modules, students must attend at least 80% of the scheduled non-credit life skills workshops. 19 In 2008, a new South African qualification, the National Senior Certificate (NSC), replaced the Senior Certificate, commonly known as 'the matric'.
SCOM is a content-based language course where authentic science content is used as a medium for teaching and imparting literacy for reading, writing and speaking science. 1989) argue that in the content approach "language teaching activities are specific to the subject being taught and are aimed at encouraging students to think and learn using the target language" (2). In SCOM, grammar relevant to the science of reading, writing and speaking is specialized and integrated into the subject content depending on the stylistic conventions required for different scientific genres.
Framing the Role of SCOM in the BSc4 (Foundation) Programme
The cognitive domain categories are called Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning and range from the simplest to the most complex. 26 Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (1978b) is commonly cited as the theoretical basis of the concept of scaffolding as a teaching and learning strategy.
Rationale and Motivation for the Study
Being fully aware of the underlying program philosophy and rationale for including an academic literacy course in an undergraduate science program and knowing what happens "with" science literacies "within". Similarly, a study conducted by Selvaratnam (2011) which tested the problem solving competence of students in a BSc course showed poor performance in all related skills viz.
The Problem Focussed
As an academic literacy facilitator in the programme, my initial understanding of discipline-specific literacies in BSc4 (Foundation) was mainly conventional – ie. from this perspective of knowledge and understanding, I undertook this study to explore the discipline-specific literacies required for science and for scientific discourse in the relevant core science modules offered in the BSc4 (Foundation) program – ie.
Research Questions
What are the perceived challenges that emerge when using the language of science and discipline-specific literacy in the modules offered in the BSc4 (Foundation) programme. How do the disciplinary specialists help BSc4 (Foundation) students acquire discipline-specific literacy necessary for science discourse.
Structure of the Dissertation
The data relating to Critical Research Question 2 explored the perceived challenges that emerged in relation to the language of science and discipline-specific literacy in the modules offered in the BSs4 (Foundation) programme. Critical research question 3 focuses on the way(s) in which the disciplinary specialists assist students in the BSc4 (Foundation) program to acquire the discipline-specific literacy required for science discourse.
Students’ Entry into the Higher Education (HE) Environment
BICS is context-embedded communication where "the participants can actively negotiate meaning and the language is supported by a wide range of paralinguistic and situational cues" (136). Roberts (1995) problematizes "the surface understanding of literacy as 'the ability to read and write' as an incomplete statement simply because questions about what one reads and writes and 'how much' require ability in reading and/or writing is in order to be considered literate, is left unanswered” (143).
Institutional Support Mechanisms
The academic writing portion of the course focused on students' ability to express information and ideas clearly and logically. This enables the development of academic literacy such as reading, writing and speaking in the language of the discipline in which it is engaged.
Academic Writing
As explained by Lea and Street (1998), learning to write in academia means acquiring a repertoire of linguistic practices that are based on complex sets of discourses, identities and values. Hyland (2002a), too, argues that we need to revise the notion of specificity in the analysis and teaching of academic writing and focus on texts, tasks, linguistic features, skills and practices that are appropriate to the aims and understandings of a particular discipline. . communities.
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al. 1956)
Each successive level in this hierarchy requires mastery of all lower-level categories (Bloom et al. 1956). Accompanying each category of Bloom's (Bloom et al. 1956) cognitive domain (in Table 1 below) is a list of task words (or action verbs) also referred to as "question marks".
Transfer of Skills or Literacies
In a new context, the student is unlikely to search the mental box for knowledge already acquired, unless the course instructor prompts him to do so (Bassok and Holyoak, 1993). When students compartmentalize their learning, it means they are unable to successfully transfer the science literacies they have acquired in the AL classroom to their science learning contexts.
Facilitating Discourse Literacies
As students have difficulty transferring specific strategies to the specific academic literacy demands of each course, Nel et al. 2004) recommends that "lecturers provide experiences that immerse students in the 'language of the academy' and the specialized languages of the disciplines" (100). Having stated this, I would like to draw attention to the issue of resistance to the incorporation of literacy into content area disciplines that has been raised by several researchers (Stewart and O'Brien, 1989; Muth, 1993; O'Brien et al. 1995; Draper, 2002; Barton et al. 2002).
Epistemological Access in the HE Environment
One of the major issues that this chapter has addressed is the provision of academic skills in the tertiary sector. An understanding of disciplinary literacy is essential in light of the issue of discipline-specific literacies in this study.
Interpreting the New Literacy Studies (NLS) (Street, 1984) and Gee (1990)
For Barton and Hamilton (2000), "the notion of literacy practices offers a powerful way of conceptualizing the relationship between reading and writing activities and the social structures in which they are embedded and which they help to shape" (7). Street's (1995) ideological view of literacy, which falls under NLS is the basis for the theoretical framework of this study.
Literacy as Discourse
Gee (1990) distinguishes between “the use of discourse (with a lowercase “d”) and discourse (with a capital “D”); the first (discourse) is used in connected parts of language that have meaning, such as conversations, stories, reports, arguments, essays, while the second (discourse) is always more than just language; it is about combinations of saying-writing-doing-being-valuing-believing” (142). For Gee (1987), “primary discourse is the oral mode that develops in the primary process of enculturation” (5).
Distinguishing between Bernstein’s (1971) Language Codes
Speakers of the developed code use longer, more complex and more grammatical sentences and a more varied vocabulary. Given that produced code is generally viewed as complete and detailed, students registered in FP in science should understand the explicit language used to teach science content.
An Understanding of Bourdieu’s (1977) “Cultural Capital”
The concept of cultural capital is important in this study, especially since the students in FP, as EAL speakers, are forced to acquire knowledge at the research site of this study (a university in South Africa) in a language that is not their own. ', i.e. debates about language policy in the tertiary sector are not within the scope of this research, but the responses of both the DSs and the ALSs in this study serve to show how pedagogical practices implemented in FP help to address challenges created through language barriers on the research site chosen for this study.
The Purpose of Discourse
The possession of cultural capital varies by social class, but the education system is based on the possession of cultural capital. Thus, where socialization patterns of home language and literacy differ, there is the potential for emerging challenges in the use and understanding of the language which in this study is the language of scientific discourse, an issue addressed in this study through critical research question 2. .
Academic Discourses
Entering the academic arena means that students must be part of the discourse community. 1991) indicate that “discourse communities are not physical entities, but are derived from the discourse through which community members communicate” (191). Evidence from this research thus far suggests that “literacy is a social practice” (Street, 1984); and students must apprentice in the discourse community of science.
Academic Literacies
The academic socialization model is concerned with students' acculturation in disciplinary and subject-based discourses and genres. The academic socialization model is pertinent in this study because it is "concerned with students' acculturation into disciplinary and subject-based discourses and genres" and.
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday, 1978)
One of the main tenets of SFL is that language is a resource for making meaning. Depending on the trend of the situation, certain choices will be made by the interpersonal system.
Explaining ‘Construal’
In the above expressions, both evoke the same conceptual concept, yet they differ semantically due to the different constructions they verbalize. It is thus through Halliday's (1985a) grammatical metaphor that everyday meanings are interpreted in new ways.
Grammatical Metaphor (GM) (Halliday and Martin, 1993)
Similarly, Halliday (1994) writes that the experience of the phenomenal world is constructed through language; in other words, experience is transformed into meaning; the transformation is carried out by the grammar [of the language] – the grammatical systems of the [language] and the words and structures through which these systems are realized (9). In the example above, there are nine lexical items (in bold) and three clauses (marked with a slash, / ), giving a ratio of nine out of three.
Genres
Martin and Rose's (2007) discussion of the genre approach to reading analysis of academic texts is relevant to this study. This is in line with one of the strengths of genre pedagogy listed in Table 3 above, that it is “systematic in that it provides a coherent framework for focusing on language and contexts” (Hyland.
Pedagogic Practices
ZPD is defined as "the distance between the actual level of development as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under the guidance of adults or in collaboration with more capable peers." However, this does not mean that "performance is fully developed or automated" (Gallimore and Tharp.
In relation to this, NPHE (2001) is explicit that the issue is not only about increasing enrollment in specialist courses, but whether "the higher education system is geared to the skills and competences required of all graduates in the modern world" (27 ). For this reason, this study explores the discipline-specific skills required for academic understanding and success in the science disciplines offered in FP.
Students’ Entry into the Academic Arena
For example, students entering the discipline of science must become participants in the discourse of science. The interpretation of meaning of any form of communication requires some skill in the language of communication.
Science Discourse
The definition of scientific literacy cited below emphasizes the acquisition of intellectual abilities in science through the learning and application of scientific knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts, principles and phenomena. The definitions of scientific literacy also frame science as a social practice of relevance to the world, beyond the classroom, as outlined in the C definition.
Language used in Science and language needed for Science
This study addresses through critical research question 2 whether any of the perceived challenges with using discipline-specific literacies are a consequence of the ability to use the science register. One of the elements unique to science is genre pedagogy (Hyland, 2002) (discussed in the previous chapter).
Communicating Science
Quantitative literacy is the ability to identify, understand and use quantitative arguments in everyday contexts. Christie and Derewianka (2008) describe the characteristics of seven genres that students are expected to write in science classrooms: genres that record student observations such as procedural recounts, demonstrations, research articles, and field studies; and genres that interpret natural phenomena, such as reports, explanations, and discussions.
Science Practical and Laboratory Activities
These functions should be used for scientific experimental activities as well as for scientific oral and written communication. Use lots of new and big words with new meanings, many of which are nominalizations, such as condensation, refraction, induction.
Literacies across Science Disciplines
In this study, the LoLT at a South African university, the research site of this study, is English and the students speak in FP EAL. Critical Research Question 3 then seeks to identify the mechanisms used by DSs to assist FP students in acquiring such discipline-specific literacy in science.
The Impact of Educational Disadvantage on the Learning of Science
This point is evidenced by what is contained in the country's NPHE (2001), which claims that "the school system was then unable to produce large numbers of graduates who have the necessary skills in mathematics" (26). On the subject of LoLT, Dempster and Reddy (2007) state that “the official language policy in South Africa is that the home language should be the medium of instruction for the first three years of schooling.
Underpreparedness for University Science
The outline of AL as a support structure of the university was discussed in Chapter 2 of this study. As a result, one of the main topics set for discussion by the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) body, the ASSAf Standing Committee, was "STEM at the interface between school and higher education".
Research highlighting challenges with discipline-specific literacies in science
The results of the study indicate that although the students showed better performance in the practical part of biology. This chapter commented on the need for the HE sector in South Africa to produce more skilled graduates in the scientific fields.
The Choice of the Interpretive Paradigm
Therefore, the interpretive paradigm provided an opportunity for the voices, concerns, perceptions, attitudes and practices of the RPs in this study to be heard. We achieved this through the process of conducting semi-structured interviews with each of the participants in this study.
Qualitative Research Approach underpinning this study
Thus, triangulation not only helped in the consistency and accuracy of the data collected, but also allowed me to gain a holistic view and understanding of the research focus in this study. This included field research at the campus site (UKZN) and an excursion to the Rocky Coasts and the Ushaka Marine World46, undertaken in the discipline of the fundamental biology module offered in the FP.
Case Study Research
This strategy allowed me to grasp a holistic understanding of the phenomenon under study (Creswell, 1998; Eisenhardt, 1989). In this study, the “dissection” involved fragmenting the data (eg, in the case of the transcripts of the interviews) into lines, paragraphs and sentences.
Research Context and Research Participants
All these RPs were selected because of their involvement in teaching the core modules offered in FP. Of these, eight studied SCOM while twenty took one of the following basic science modules offered in FP: biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics.
Research Instruments
In this study, I looked at the module course manuals in the FP to determine how the course content of the modules was modified. In doing so, I also had to investigate the nature of the responses of DSs in relation to the students' use of the discipline-specific literacy needed to learn science.
How the theory informs the method in this study
It is from this understanding of literacy that this study seeks to understand if (and how) students in FP are socialized into their scientific disciplines. By accessing documentary evidence in the form of course manuals, this study explored the way in which PE students engaged with these specific resources.
Ethical Considerations
In writing up the study, pseudonyms were therefore used to protect the identity of the RPs. In writing up the study, pseudonyms were used for transcripts of the data collection instruments involving students.
Research Participants’ (RPs’) perceptions of the changing students
In light of the transformation at universities in South Africa (discussed in Chapter 2); the research that supports the inclusion in the HE sector of those who have been traditionally excluded (Akoojee and Nkomo; 2011); and the numerous references to the diverse student population at South African universities (Fraser and Killen, 2003; Frick, 2008; Smit, 2010), Kenneth's statement is flawed. Answers regarding the type of students who enter the tertiary institution are more specifically addressed to FP.
Changes to the Foundation Modules in Science
Another notable problem to take into account here is that the students in FP are forced to read texts that are in a language that is 'non-native' to them. An examination of the contents of the manuals of basic chemistry courses over a certain period (from 2008 to 2011) has shown no indications that the level has declined.
