Cross-disciplinary synergy: First-year students’ experiences of learning academic writing through integrated writing support at a University of Technology

Nonhlanhla P Khumalo,Sarasvathie Reddy

doi:10.4102/td.v17i1.1038

Abstract

An important role in socialising first-year students into universities is initiating them into different conventions of academic writing. Support programmes, such as writing centres, have been established in several South African universities to help students with this objective and the broader issue of academic literacy. The assumption is that such interventions bridge the articulation gap between basic and higher education phases and expedite academic success. This article draws from a larger PhD study that explored nursing students’ experiences of developing their academic writing skills at the writing centre. The focus of this article is on understanding first-year nursing students’ experiences of learning academic writing through the integrated writing interventions of language and discipline practices at a writing centre based at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). These students were regarded as relevant because their curriculum incorporates a more structured academic writing component with the writing centre. The study adopted the Academic Literacies Model (ALM), which fosters a social view of academic writing and advocates for integrated support to the teaching and learning of academic writing. Guided by the qualitative constructivist paradigm, phenomenography was adopted as a research methodology. Data were analysed according to phenomenographic categories. Whilst the study uncovered various factors influencing the development of academic writing amongst the target population, there was a clear need for shifting from interdisciplinary (at least two disciplines) to a transdisciplinary (more than two disciplines) academic literacy approach to students’ learning experiences. As such, the article recommends the intentional inclusion of various stakeholders (writing centre practitioners, discipline lecturers, clinical and academic support staff) to mitigate students’ writing challenges and develop sustainable and relevant academic literacy practices.

Highlights

The importance of sound academic writing practices for university students can hardly be overstated, considering that success in higher education has been intrinsically tied to academic literacy.[1,2,3] most students in South African tertiary institutions, especially in universities of technology, struggle with learning and maintaining the required academic writing practices.[4]
Given the extent that such high levels of attrition are attributable to poor academic literacy, there is a need to create effective academic support programmes to mitigate the challenges experienced by first-year students.[6,7]
Locating this study within an interpretivist paradigm is important because the writing centre, which provides the context for the study, adopts policies of teaching and learning of academic writing that should be informed by the contextual realities of the students

Summary

Introduction

The importance of sound academic writing practices for university students can hardly be overstated, considering that success in higher education has been intrinsically tied to academic literacy.[1,2,3] most students in South African tertiary institutions, especially in universities of technology, struggle with learning and maintaining the required academic writing practices.[4]. According to the Council of Higher Education (CHE),[5] approximately 55% of students who enrol for undergraduate programmes in South African universities never graduate and most drop out in their first year. Leibowitz and Bozalek have asserted the need to transform learning and teaching strategies in higher education institutions.[8] This includes, but is not limited to, exposing first-year students to both discipline-specific (curricular) and general academic literacy support structures.[9] Whilst, traditionally, academic support structures for first-year university students tended to focus mainly on ‘underprepared’ students,[10] recent development has indicated the shortfalls of such approaches, the need to expand support to all students.[11] This need has been shown to transcend national borders. These transformation imperatives manifest as part of the response to the need to accommodate student diversity and globalisation.[12] http://www.td-sa.net

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion