The purpose of this study was to examine the role that the use of subtitling can play as an aid in academic literacy (AL) programmes, particularly against the background of insufficient AL levels at the University of Buea (UB) and elsewhere. Essentially, the study wanted to investigate whether the AL levels of freshmen at UB would improve significantly if they were to be exposed to subtitled popular television programmes (dramas and documentaries) over a period of one academic semester, compared to the AL levels of students who were not exposed to these programmes. The literature survey provided an overview of the field of AL at tertiary level as well as of the use of subtitling in an educational context, clarifying the relevant terminology related to AL, and also investigating other studies that have been done on the benefits of the mode. The survey also investigated the language policy in Cameroon and specifically at UB. Apart from determining whether exposure to subtitled programmes has a positive effect on AL levels, the study also sought to establish which specific areas of AL are improved by exposure to subtitling (if any), and whether the choice of genre (drama or documentary) or the medium of prior learning of participants (English or French) has an impact on AL levels in English. In order to determine the above, the study exposed four test groups enrolled for the UB AL course to popular television programmes over a period of 12 weeks or one academic semester. Two of these groups saw dramas (one with subtitles and the other without) and two saw documentaries (one with subtitles and the other without). A fifth group was used as control group and did not watch any film. The data used was collected from the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) used as pre-test and post-test, questionnaires, interviews and observations. The study concluded that: 1. In terms of overall improvement, even though there was statistically significant improvement in all test groups (in the case of the weighted data), the improvement of the groups that saw subtitled films was statistically highly significant and had large practical significance. This indicates that the AL levels of the two groups that saw subtitled film improved more than those of the two other groups when compared to the control group. 2. Specific areas of statistically significant AL improvement revealed by the experiment were academic vocabulary, text comprehension and text editing abilities, as a result of exposure to subtitled film (and in certain cases exposure to film without subtitles). 3. The study found no statistically significant difference between the improvement of the two groups that saw subtitled film, indicating that either genre could be used for this purpose. 4. It would also seem that Anglophone and Francophone students benefited equally from exposure to subtitled film. On the basis of these findings, a model was designed for the implementation of subtitling as an integrated aid in AL programmes at tertiary institutions. This model provides for a general and specific integration of subtitled audiovisual material. The former has been used successfully in this study at UB, and it should be possible to make use of the general application of this model with similar levels of success at other tertiary institutions. The use of the latter (applying the model for specific integration) focuses on institutions with discipline-based AL interventions or specific AL purposes. It is important, however, that the model proposed in this study is further refined by ongoing research on its implementation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Lanuage Practice))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Iniciada em 2008, a ampliação do acesso ao ensino superior por meio de cotas realizado na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) ocorre concomitantemente ao desenvolvimento de ações de políticas de permanência. Este trabalho discute as ações de ensino de língua e letramento integrantes das iniciativas pedagógicas da política de permanência para os universitários indígenas: o Curso de Inglês para Estudantes Indígenas e, especialmente, o Curso de Leitura e Escrita na Universidade para Estudantes Indígenas. O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir a abordagem pedagógica e teórica fundamentada no campo dos Estudos de Letramento Acadêmico (LEA; STREET, 1998, 2006; LILLIS, 2001; LEA, 2004) dessas ações de permanência, de modo a oferecer subsídios para a construção e o desenvolvimento de ações de permanência que visam a fomentar a diplomação de estudantes de grupos minoritários, principalmente de estudantes indígenas, nas universidades públicas brasileiras, em processo de adequação à Lei de Cotas nacional (nº 12.711/2012). Esses subsídios se contrapõem ao discurso deficitário em relação às práticas letradas de estudantes minoritários e à prática historicamente constituída de socialização acadêmica embasada na suposta transparência das expectativas institucionais em relação à escrita e numa compreensão do letramento como habilidades cognitivas adquiridas pelos sujeitos e transferíveis para quaisquer contextos. A abordagem de letramento acadêmico adotada aqui orienta-se para a diversidade das práticas letradas e para o dialogismo (BAKHTIN, 2003), fomentando-os nos espaços pedagógicos da ciência em favor da legitimação de novas vozes nas universidades e entende letramento como múltiplas práticas sociais que envolvem a escrita em discursos inscritos ideologicamente, situados histórica e socialmente. O estudo apresenta um panorama, no plano nacional, da formação dos programas de ações afirmativas e da participação política dos povos indígenas na construção da demanda para si por ensino superior e descreve as ações de acesso e de permanência da UFRGS, no âmbito das quais são oferecidos os cursos de leitura e escrita acadêmica focalizados. Possibilidades e demandas para o desenvolvimento das políticas afirmativas no ensino superior brasileiro são fornecidas pela discussão teórica na área do letramento acadêmico e das ações afirmativas, contemplando perspectivas de intelectuais indígenas e não indígenas. / The expansion of access to higher education through quotas initiated at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2008, in the same year a public policy of permanence actions was developed. The aim of this study is to analyze the literacy and language actions which are part of the educational initiatives of this policy aimed at indigenous students: the English Course for Indigenous Students and the Academic Reading and Writing Course at the University for Indigenous Students. The theoretical and pedagogical basis for the courses, namely the Academic Literacy Studies (LEA; STREET, 1998, 2006; LILLIS, 2001; LEA, 2004) (ACLITS), is presented, and its implications for the development of permanence actions aimed at assisting minority students in their undergraduate courses, mainly those actions targeting Indigenous students. Indigenous students have recently had access to Brazilian public universities, which are currently adjusting their admission systems to the national Quota Act (No. 12.711/2012). The contributions of ACLITS oppose language deficit approaches concerning minority students’ literacy practices and historically held practices of academic socialization, which are grounded in supposedly transparent institutional expectations and in a perspective of literacy as cognitive skills acquired by individuals and transferable to any contexts. The academic literacy approach adopted here is oriented towards the diversity of literacy practices and dialogism (BAKHTIN, 2003), which should be fostered in pedagogical spaces for building science and to legitimate new voices in the academy. Literacy is defined as multiple social practices that involve writing in ideologically inscribed discourses, and which are situated socially and historically. The study presents an overview of the development of affirmative action programs in Brazil and of the political participation of Indigenous peoples in organizing their demands for higher education. Moreover, the access and permanence actions developed at UFRGS are described in order to contextualize the academic reading and writing courses offered to Indigenous students. Possibilities and demands for the development of affirmative action policies in higher education in Brazil are discussed based on the current theoretical debates on academic literacy and affirmative actions held by indigenous and non-indigenous researchers.

Iniciada em 2008, a ampliação do acesso ao ensino superior por meio de cotas realizado na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) ocorre concomitantemente ao desenvolvimento de ações de políticas de permanência. Este trabalho discute as ações de ensino de língua e letramento integrantes das iniciativas pedagógicas da política de permanência para os universitários indígenas: o Curso de Inglês para Estudantes Indígenas e, especialmente, o Curso de Leitura e Escrita na Universidade para Estudantes Indígenas. O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir a abordagem pedagógica e teórica fundamentada no campo dos Estudos de Letramento Acadêmico (LEA; STREET, 1998, 2006; LILLIS, 2001; LEA, 2004) dessas ações de permanência, de modo a oferecer subsídios para a construção e o desenvolvimento de ações de permanência que visam a fomentar a diplomação de estudantes de grupos minoritários, principalmente de estudantes indígenas, nas universidades públicas brasileiras, em processo de adequação à Lei de Cotas nacional (nº 12.711/2012). Esses subsídios se contrapõem ao discurso deficitário em relação às práticas letradas de estudantes minoritários e à prática historicamente constituída de socialização acadêmica embasada na suposta transparência das expectativas institucionais em relação à escrita e numa compreensão do letramento como habilidades cognitivas adquiridas pelos sujeitos e transferíveis para quaisquer contextos. A abordagem de letramento acadêmico adotada aqui orienta-se para a diversidade das práticas letradas e para o dialogismo (BAKHTIN, 2003), fomentando-os nos espaços pedagógicos da ciência em favor da legitimação de novas vozes nas universidades e entende letramento como múltiplas práticas sociais que envolvem a escrita em discursos inscritos ideologicamente, situados histórica e socialmente. O estudo apresenta um panorama, no plano nacional, da formação dos programas de ações afirmativas e da participação política dos povos indígenas na construção da demanda para si por ensino superior e descreve as ações de acesso e de permanência da UFRGS, no âmbito das quais são oferecidos os cursos de leitura e escrita acadêmica focalizados. Possibilidades e demandas para o desenvolvimento das políticas afirmativas no ensino superior brasileiro são fornecidas pela discussão teórica na área do letramento acadêmico e das ações afirmativas, contemplando perspectivas de intelectuais indígenas e não indígenas. / The expansion of access to higher education through quotas initiated at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2008, in the same year a public policy of permanence actions was developed. The aim of this study is to analyze the literacy and language actions which are part of the educational initiatives of this policy aimed at indigenous students: the English Course for Indigenous Students and the Academic Reading and Writing Course at the University for Indigenous Students. The theoretical and pedagogical basis for the courses, namely the Academic Literacy Studies (LEA; STREET, 1998, 2006; LILLIS, 2001; LEA, 2004) (ACLITS), is presented, and its implications for the development of permanence actions aimed at assisting minority students in their undergraduate courses, mainly those actions targeting Indigenous students. Indigenous students have recently had access to Brazilian public universities, which are currently adjusting their admission systems to the national Quota Act (No. 12.711/2012). The contributions of ACLITS oppose language deficit approaches concerning minority students’ literacy practices and historically held practices of academic socialization, which are grounded in supposedly transparent institutional expectations and in a perspective of literacy as cognitive skills acquired by individuals and transferable to any contexts. The academic literacy approach adopted here is oriented towards the diversity of literacy practices and dialogism (BAKHTIN, 2003), which should be fostered in pedagogical spaces for building science and to legitimate new voices in the academy. Literacy is defined as multiple social practices that involve writing in ideologically inscribed discourses, and which are situated socially and historically. The study presents an overview of the development of affirmative action programs in Brazil and of the political participation of Indigenous peoples in organizing their demands for higher education. Moreover, the access and permanence actions developed at UFRGS are described in order to contextualize the academic reading and writing courses offered to Indigenous students. Possibilities and demands for the development of affirmative action policies in higher education in Brazil are discussed based on the current theoretical debates on academic literacy and affirmative actions held by indigenous and non-indigenous researchers.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Framed by the South African imperative of widening epistemological access to undergraduate science studies, this research takes the form of a case study to investigate the educational affordances of an extended introductory physics course. Using theoretical tools from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (Maton, 2014a) – in particular, semantic gravity and semantic density – the study characterizes the pedagogical practices and student learning in this Extended course, in relation to a Mainstream course in the same Physics Department. Data was collected through classroom observations, observations of student groups working on Mechanics physics tasks, and interviews with students. Two external languages of description were developed in order to translate between the LCT concepts of semantic gravity and semantic density and the empirical data from the physics context. The first language of description was used to characterize the semantic shifts in pedagogical practices, using a Concrete-Linking-Abstract continuum. The second language of description drew on physics education research on representations (Knight, 2007; Van Heuvelen, 1991a) tasks. Semantic profiles (Maton, 2013) were then constructed to show the semantic shifts in the pedagogical practices and in lecturers’ and students’ approaches to physics tasks. The study has shown that the extra curriculum time enabled different pedagogical practices. The Extended course showed a steady progression in pacing, initially with a less compressed semantic profile, while the Mainstream course showed a consistent compression. The Extended course showed a greater prevalence of the Linking level, with more time spent at the Concrete level and greater semantic flow. The courses also exhibited different communicative approaches, with students in the Extended course more engaged in making the semantic shifts together with the lecturer. The Extended course used more real-life illustrations as a starting point, whereas the Mainstream course tended to use verbal problem statements. Looking particularly at how problem tasks were dealt with, the study suggested that the lecturers’ pedagogical practices in dealing with physics tasks influenced the way in which the students tackled these tasks. The semantic profiles showed a more rapid shift up the semantic continuum in the Mainstream pedagogy and student work, while in the Extended pedagogy and student work, the semantic profiles indicated that more time was spent initially unpacking the concrete problem situation and explicitly shifting up and down the semantic continuum. In terms of methodological contribution, this study has demonstrated the usefulness of LCT tools for characterizing pedagogical practices and student learning in a physics context. Furthermore, the study has linked LCT to physics education literature and to research on epistemological access and academic literacies in a novel way. It has modified Maton’s form of semantic profiling, through introducing the following: a more detailed time scale, gradations of semantic strength on the semantic continuum, and coding for interactive engagement in pedagogical practices. The study thus has important implications for how curriculum and pedagogical practices might better support epistemological access to disciplinary knowledge in the field of physics, not only at the Extended course level but for introductory physics courses more generally.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The purpose of this study is to investigate the writing identities constructed in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase and the ways in which these identities either strengthen or impede academic writing at university. Success at university is predominantly dependent on students' ability to express their ideas through writing academic essays or assignments in most faculties. However, studies over the past decade highlight the inability of many South African learners, especially those for whom English is not a home language, to succeed at universities. The poor performance of such students is often linked to the lack of adequate preparation in the FET Phase, which is grades 10 to 12, the grades prior to entering first year undergraduate programmes. The significance of this study is that it sheds light on the discourse features of policy, texts, pedagogy and assessment in the FET Phase and the consequences of these for the construction of writers' identities. Further, it foregrounds the ways that policy positions teachers, learners and learning despite diversity in school cultures, identities and histories, and more importantly the ways that unique local pedagogical contexts construct writer identities as a bridge towards engagement in academic essays and the discourses valued at higher institutions. The intention was thus twofold: on the one hand to understand the writer identities constructed in the FET phase and secondly to shed light on the ways that these identities intersect with academic writing, in an attempt to inform first year writing programmes at universities. This was an ethnographic study that included participant observation, interviews with teachers and document analysis of national curriculum policies, grade 12 English Additional language external question papers and first year student texts. The participants were two grade 10 English classes from two schools with different profiles in terms of learner background, linguistic repertoire, and socio-economic circumstances. The rationale for focusing on grade 10 is that it is the first initiation point into the FET Phase and as such an important site to investigate the ways in which writing identities are activated. I thus ‘shadowed’ these learners for two years, up to the end of grade 11. Finally, I analysed first year student texts produced by learners from these two schools in their first year of study at a Cape Town university. In order to engage with my data, I first drew on Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and capital, to illuminate the ways in which national policies constructed theories and pedagogies of language teaching and learning, and positioned teachers, as well as the consequences of these policies and positionings for constructing sound writer identities. I then focused on the different organizing practices at the two schools, in order to foreground positionings enacted in local contexts. As a result, the study sheds light on the ways that writer identities were activated at two secondary schools in Cape Town, both of which served a previously disadvantaged population but with one classified as poorly resourced while the other enjoyed the status of a well-resourced school. My study centred on the visible and invisible curricula, the differing kinds of cultural capital they produce and the conversion of this capital into other forms of cultural and symbolic capital (such as access to university) which may eventually be converted to economic capital in the form of access to well-paid kinds of employment. Secondly, I drew on Systemic Functional Linguistics, with its conception of language as socially produced and politically situated and its development by the 'Sydney school' into genre-based pedagogy, as an analytical lens to unpack the language learning and teaching theories underpinning policy documents. This lens was also useful for evaluating the extent to which curriculum, pedagogy and assessment tools inducted learners into the key 'genres of schooling' (such as information report, explanation, and argument) that are necessary for success across the curriculum at school and university. Most importantly, it allowed for a rigorous linguistic analysis of first year student scripts and the extent to which writers managed the three metafunctions, ideational, interpersonal and textual. These metafunctions are the basis for coherent, well-structured, genreappropriate writing. The study found that mismatches between policy framing and the way that writing was taught and assessed in the FET Phase resulted in massive gaps between the writer identities constructed in the FET Phase and the first year writer identities valued at universities. Findings help to pinpoint some of the reasons why particular learners manage to make the transition into tertiary study and why a large number of learners studying through English as an additional language either fail to gain access into university or fail during their first year of study. Finally, findings pointed out the effects of post democracy curriculum shifts and national examinations on classroom discourse and pedagogy, especially in relation to constructing enabling writer identities, and more importantly on the ability of learners making the transition into university to produce academically valued texts in their first year of study.

See the attached abstract below

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This dissertation explores the apparent mismatch between the expectations of first year students in the English department at the University of the Western Cape, and those who teach them. By exploring the perceptions of some of the students, lecturers and tutors in the department, I investigate how meaning within the discipline of English studies is negotiated and to what extent the learning experiences in the department contribute to the facilitation of "epistemological access" (Morrow, 1993). An important aspect of meaning negotiation is the redefining and rethinking of concepts such as "academic literacy" and "critical literacy

Magister Educationis - MEd / Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.

Magister Artium - MA / The transition from high school to university for many students all over the world has never been very easy and this is also true in the South African context. At the University of the Western Cape the majority of students, particularly part-time students, come from previously disadvantaged institutions of learning. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that most tertiary institutions in South Africa, including The University of the Western Cape, use English as the official language of instruction even though more than three quarters of students entering into institutions of higher learning in South Africa are second or even third language English speakers who do not have the language competence level required in the medium of instruction to successfully negotiate academic curricula.

Current scholarship in literacy education underscores the inefficacy of standardized education in public schools, particularly for minority students. At the same time, a longstanding lack of understanding between the various culture groups that live in the United States often results in minority groups that are either stereotyped, misunderstood, or viewed as Other. Both of these issues can be traced to the literature that students read in school, which focuses on "classic" literature—often synonymous with "white" literature—that excludes minority narratives. While minorities struggle more with "academic literacy" (the ability to read and write in an active, reflective manner), there is also a pressing need to educate all students in "cultural literacy," or a knowledge of and appreciation for difference in worldview, culture, and opinion. One possible solution is a more effective implementation of multiethnic young adult literature in the classroom. Careful consideration of specific cultural texts can help minority students connect positively with literature, increasing student engagement with academics. Providing educators, librarians, and parents with a framework for selecting literature that begins to address this issue is a critical first step in empowering minority students with emotional and intellectual development as well as providing mainstream students with alternative perspectives that establish common ground, develop social awareness, and reduce stereotyping across groups. This thesis examines literacy and education studies to develop criteria and rationales for selecting books that appeal not only to minorities, but to readers from outside those groups. These criteria provide useful guidelines for educators and librarians in selecting multicultural novels for young adults that (1) act as "mirrors" of relatability to boost self-esteem and foster a love of reading in minority youth, and (2) provide "windows" into other cultures that promote greater cross-cultural respect and understanding. After setting up a theoretical framework that lays out the challenges and benefits to this approach as well as criteria for selecting these novels, this paper provides analyses of several books that meet these criteria as well as a booklist of additional titles. Addressing these issues within the context of young adult literature is crucial to the development of self-assertive, productive adults who value themselves and the different individuals that they interact with on a daily basis; on the other hand, failure to address these issues early perpetuates a cycle of marginalization and distrust that is difficult to break in the adult world.