PhD (English) / Department of English / It has been established, through research, that some first-entering science students display levels of under-preparedness for tertiary studies. One area in which this is seen is in students’ lack of academic reading ability. Although, some of these students read fluently they do not display competencies in other reading areas, such as to understand, interpret, infer or critique ideas expressed in science academic texts. This low academic reading proficiency has a negative effect on their studies. The aim of this study was to identify, through the National Benchmarking Tests (NBT), the reading competencies of all (100) students registered in the Science Foundation Programme (SFP) in the University of Venda. SFP 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. A NBT was used to identify students’ reading competencies and based on these results, a reading profile of the students was drawn up and was used to design an intervention strategy to enhance existing competencies and to remedy any shortcomings. To achieve the study’s aim, a mixedmethod approach was used. The method was predominantly quantitative, because of the statistical aspects of the data from NBT, however, it had some elements of qualitative approach through the use of a case study and the designing of an intervention strategy in response to the profile. The results of the study indicated that the majority of students performed at the basic and lower-intermediate levels. This kind of reading profile means that students on SFP do not possess the academic reading skills needed for them to succeed with their required academic reading activities, without some kind of structured intervention. The design of such a tool (appendix 5) forms the second part of this study

The low literacy levels of the majority of first-year students at tertiary institutions in South Africa have been a major cause of concern. Various attempts have been made to assist students to develop their academic literacy levels – especially academic reading. However, most of these attempts are solely cognitive-oriented, even though there has been increasing acknowledgement of the relationship between socio-affective factors and students’ academic reading abilities. The purpose of this research was to explore a socio-affective approach to improving the reading abilities of first-year students at the University of Pretoria (UP). The following questions guided the research: (1) Is there a significant relationship between socio-affective factors and students’ academic reading abilities? (2) Which socio-affective factors best predict tertiary students’ academic reading abilities? (3) How can knowledge of socio-affective factors be used to design a more effective reading intervention? (4) How effective is a reading intervention programme that incorporates socio-affective factors? A mixed methods design was used for the study which was conducted in four phases. The first phase consisted of an exploratory study in the form of a questionnaire survey that elicited information on first-year UP students’ reading background, socio-affective reading levels and the use of reading strategies in relation to their reading proficiency levels, as determined by the Test for Academic Literacy Levels (TALL). ANOVA tests were used for the analysis of TALL results while a Cumulative Logit (regression) analysis was conducted to determine the socio-affective factors that best predict these students’ reading ability. ANOVA tests showed a robust relationship between students’ social and affective reading background on one hand, and their reading proficiency levels on the other. The regression analysis showed that self-efficacy was the best predictor of students’ reading ability, followed by intrinsic motivation. Based on the empirical results, and an adapted model of Guthrie and Wigfield (2000), an intervention programme that served as enrichment to the existing Academic Reading module, and aimed at improving the reading abilities of students by focussing on socio-affective issues in particular, was designed (as phase 2) and implemented (as phase 3) of the study. Two control groups and two intervention groups of At Risk and Low Risk students were used for the study. Questionnaires on affective reading levels and strategy use were administered before and after the intervention. In phase four, quantitative analysis using t-tests (independent and paired t-tests) with effect sizes were performed on the pre- and post-intervention questionnaire responses. Results showed significant improvements in affective levels for reading in the intervention groups compared to the control groups. In addition, qualitative data were collected via interviews on the socio-affective teaching techniques used for the intervention, and analysed qualitatively using content analysis. The results of the qualitative study were used to support the quantitative findings in terms of the measure in which the teaching approach contributed to the improvement in students’ socio-affective levels in reading, which according to research, correlates with students’ reading ability. Based on the findings, recommendations are made at the classroom and institutional levels. The significance of the study in terms of enriching theory and designing innovative support to improve students’ reading ability serve as a conclusion to the thesis. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Unit for Academic Literacy / Unrestricted

The purpose of this dissertation was to implement a needs analysis and on the basis of the findings come up with a framework consisting of practical stages and processes, for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees of English, at Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (hereafter, ISCED-Huíla), a higher teacher training institution in Lubango, in southern Angola. The investigation was initially prompted by the lecturers’ perceptions that the academic reading level of undergraduate teacher trainees in Angola was inadequate for the demands of tertiary level study. A scientific approach to investigating the needs of these students was thus adopted. A needs analysis was undertaken in order to determine, in a systematic manner, the academic literacy levels of the students, their attitudes towards reading, the reading strategies they claimed to use when reading academic texts, their academic reading lacks and needs, and the teacher trainers’ perceptions and opinions on the students’ reading competence in specific reading sub-skills, and on university needs analysis procedures. In all, 45 first-year teacher trainees and 5 teacher trainers were involved in the main study. The teacher trainees were required to answer the Accuplacer test, an academic literacy standardized assessment. Both teacher trainees and teacher trainers completed a corresponding questionnaire survey. The findings showed that, among others, first, teacher trainees’ academic literacy levels were below expected from a tertiary level reader; second, there were certain discrepancies between what teacher trainees and teacher trainers considered to be the needs, skills and lacks of the teacher trainees; and third, academic literacy and academic reading skills should be developed in both L1/Portuguese and L2/English. Therefore, a framework for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees, for syllabus and programe development and evaluation is presented. It is hoped that the results of the study will be of assistance to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading professionals and to teacher educators, especially those in developing countries, involved in selecting, adapting and designing teacher training programmes, materials and tasks in order to improve academic literacy levels in their countries, schools and universities where English is taught as a foreign language. / English Studies / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

The purpose of this dissertation was to implement a needs analysis and on the basis of the findings come up with a framework consisting of practical stages and processes, for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees of English, at Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (hereafter, ISCED-Huíla), a higher teacher training institution in Lubango, in southern Angola. The investigation was initially prompted by the lecturers’ perceptions that the academic reading level of undergraduate teacher trainees in Angola was inadequate for the demands of tertiary level study. A scientific approach to investigating the needs of these students was thus adopted. A needs analysis was undertaken in order to determine, in a systematic manner, the academic literacy levels of the students, their attitudes towards reading, the reading strategies they claimed to use when reading academic texts, their academic reading lacks and needs, and the teacher trainers’ perceptions and opinions on the students’ reading competence in specific reading sub-skills, and on university needs analysis procedures. In all, 45 first-year teacher trainees and 5 teacher trainers were involved in the main study. The teacher trainees were required to answer the Accuplacer test, an academic literacy standardized assessment. Both teacher trainees and teacher trainers completed a corresponding questionnaire survey. The findings showed that, among others, first, teacher trainees’ academic literacy levels were below expected from a tertiary level reader; second, there were certain discrepancies between what teacher trainees and teacher trainers considered to be the needs, skills and lacks of the teacher trainees; and third, academic literacy and academic reading skills should be developed in both L1/Portuguese and L2/English. Therefore, a framework for determining the academic reading needs of teacher trainees, for syllabus and programe development and evaluation is presented. It is hoped that the results of the study will be of assistance to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading professionals and to teacher educators, especially those in developing countries, involved in selecting, adapting and designing teacher training programmes, materials and tasks in order to improve academic literacy levels in their countries, schools and universities where English is taught as a foreign language. / English Studies / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

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