Problematizing Students' Experiences in Academic Literacy Courses: A Case for the Recognition of Student Agency

• In Event: Alternative Notions of Student Access and Engagement in Universities in Postcolonial/Less-Developed Areas in China

Abstract

The post – 1994 university classrooms in South Africa became increasingly diverse given the demand for access to higher education (Seepe 2000). Having access to higher education presumes that students will have access to knowledge and skills. Academic literacy courses and other interventions have been introduced in most faculties to address the linguistic and academic development that students from historically underdeveloped backgrounds are experiencing. While students may find that the teaching of Academic Literacy and interventions might have contributed towards their development, little is known how they put to use the knowledge they acquired in their everyday academic encounters. This article investigates the experiences of students involved in academic development programmes to respond to the research question: what are the academic literacies that students learn in the context of lecturing and how are these knowledges cultivated to become part of their being which is constitutive of their competencies and skills. This question will be addressed across three different classroom contexts to gain deeper insight into what and how students learn. Exploring notions of space, place and materiality, a case is developed to recognize the limitations of formal and epistemological access as the dominant mode of thinking that informs teacher education programmes. To prepare student teachers for a 21st century educational environment, learning approaches need to be flexible and take cognizance of the unknown possibilities that may produce student learning

Authors

• Noor Davids, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

• Mohammad Faaiz Gierdien, Stellenbosch University

• Omar Esau, Stellenbosch University