3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Academic Literacy, the pteep, and the prediction of academic success(2007-02-28T13:25:21Z) Ratangee, NavlikaHigher education and more specifically access to higher education has been a critical issue in the post-apartheid South Africa. With the aim of increasing access to higher education in order to achieve equity and redress, more students have been entering the higher education sector (73% of students are black and more than 50% are women) and a participation rate of 18% has been achieved. However, graduation rates remain low and attrition rates high, therefore the concepts of access and academic success need to be seen in the same light (Badsha, 2004). The aim of the present study is to look at a cognitive predictor of academic success, that is, the PTEEP academic literacy test. The purpose is to measure the validity of the PTEEP language proficiency test, as a predictor of academic literacy, on the University of Witwatersrand Humanity students’ academic success. The research approach for the study may be described as exploratorydescriptive in nature and was conducted within a quantitative framework. The participants comprised of 63 students from the 2004 cohort of students that gained admission to the university by means of the alternative selection procedure utilized by the Wits Faculty of Humanities. Descriptive and inferential statistics are employed to summarise and report the sample data in a meaningful way. The analysis of the present research focused on the PTEEP test, the specific PTEEP clusters, and academic success ratings in conjunction with variables such as gender and specific degrees within the Faculty of Humanities. The major findings of the present study indicate that there is no significant relationship between the PTEEP academic literacy test and academic success, and furthermore the PTEEP academic literacy test does not appear to be a good predictor of academic performance. These results are inconsistent with a large body of research indicating the predictive validity of the PTEEP test. However, the results do suggest that ‘Genre’, a subtest of the PTEEP test, demonstrates a strong relationship with academic success and is a significant predictor of academic success in this study. The results indicate the further exploration into cognitive developmental theory and the role it may play in developing admissions tests. Future research also needs to include other personal and situational variables over a longer period of time that could influence cognitive development and academic success.Item ‘How open are our doors? A comparison of academic staff transformation at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand’.(2007-02-28T11:23:05Z) Lewins, KeziaThis research report asks ‘how effective has academic staff transformation been at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)?’ This question was examined from four angles: i) the historical engagement of UCT and Wits, as employers, with race, class and gender, ii) the impact of government directive and the legislative context on the transformation of higher education workplaces, iii) the institutional role and response of UCT and Wits to the race, class and gender of their academic staff and iv) academics’ experience of UCT and Wits as workplaces. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 50 academic and senior executive staff at UCT and Wits. The results illustrate both continuity and change in the way in which academic staff experience institutions. Whilst there are progressive elements identified, there are also disconcerting expressions of prejudice, discrimination and harassment which undermine the transformation process.Item Self Evaluatation as a Method of Improving Teaching Practice at the University of the Witwatersrand(2006-11-16T12:06:56Z) Bam, BelindaThis research report investigates the relationship between critical self-evaluation and improved teaching practice. A sample of nine lecturers at the University of the Witwatersrand were identified, and, by means of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to disclose their attitudes towards performance evaluation as a practice at the University, and their personal views in relation to critical self reflection. Critical reflection involves an appraisal of that which is being reflected upon. When such appraisal involves assumption or presupposition, it “holds major potential for effecting change in one’s established frame of reference (Mezirow, 1998). This reflection leads to improved teaching practice. Lecturers at the University all support the notion of self-evaluation, but in practice only one of the nine participants actively and critically reflected upon his teaching. Most of the subjects sanction self-evaluation as a concept, do not practise critical reflection. The reasons for this are numerous as the conclusions to the study reveal, but most significant is that lecturers do not see any reason to reflect upon their own performance, nor see any benefit in doing so.