3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Academic writing challenges faced by first year B.Ed students at a South African university.(2013-02-15) Mbirimi, VimbaiThe purpose of the research was to investigate academic writing challenges faced by first year B.Ed. students at the University of the Witwatersrand in order to assist tutors support these students. One of the main findings is first year B.Ed. students find it challenging to move from school literacies to academic literacy, and thus they need to be ‘initiated’ into academic literacy. The findings indicate that students need assistance with reading the articles on which essays are based, with understanding what essay questions require them to do, with quoting and referencing from sources and with the ‘mechanics’ of writing. A further finding is that some students face academic writing challenges because they resist being initiated into academic conventions for several reasons. The study concludes with some recommendations to course designers and tutors including the recommendations.Item MBA students' experiences of academic writing : a case study.(2010-08-30) De Coning, Deborah JeanThis study explores MBA students’ experiences of academic writing, and endeavours to determine the difficulties experienced by MBA students during the writing of their dissertations especially in terms of academic literacy. Case study research design and mixed methods were used to generate both quantitative and qualitative data in this qualitative study. A constant comparative method of analysis was used to identify categories and themes within the data. The results of this research showed that the majority of MBA students, while at Business School X, viewed their identities primarily as business professionals as opposed to students of business in an academic setting. Findings of the study showed that MBA students’ identities as readers and writers are strongly framed by the business genres they encounter in their professional capacities. The study also revealed that MBA students writing their dissertations desire to produce a professionally relevant research document as much as one that meets the requirements of academic rigour. It is within this arena of academic research writing that a dilemma exists for MBA students with reference to the purpose, format and value of the dissertation as a vehicle for reporting research findings. Recommendations are that academic literacies and genre pedagogy are mainstreamed into the course design of the MBA programme at Business School X and that the repurposing of the dissertation as a genre be evaluated in terms of business relevance.Item 'Talk deep to write deeper': an exploration of the value of talk in developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP)(2009-04-06T10:54:03Z) Layton, DeliaABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to discover the value of ‘deep’ talk in developing Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), with primary focus on a group of ‘under-prepared’ first year university students for whom English is an additional language (EAL), who were registered for an ‘extended degree’ in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg, Kingsway campus. The method of research was qualitative and took the form of a teaching intervention in which groups of students voluntarily participated in the performance of different learning activities (such as reading, talking and writing) either as individuals of as members of a group. All of the students were given identical background texts to read. The texts provided contextual information on a topic pertaining to a gender debate. Some students read the texts prior to participating in a discussion on the topic, after which they wrote an argumentative essay. Other students talked about the topic first, and then read the texts before writing their essay. A ‘control’ group of students did not talk at all, but just read the texts and then wrote an essay on the topic. The researcher analysed transcriptions of tape-recordings of the group discussions, using limited discourse analysis to highlight various ‘speech acts’ to assess how the students used language to actively engage with each other and build their arguments. The research findings were also assisted by an analysis of the essays and reflections written by each student. The research found that the process of talk itself in which the students used language to respond to each other’s ideas, helped to cognitively challenge the students in the development of their arguments. The research also found that the cognitive development gained through the talk was helpful in assisting students to formulate their written arguments in their essay. The research found that some contextual support in the form of background readings was also helpful. The order in which this took place was also found to be important. The research found it to be particularly useful for students to be given background reading before their talk, rather than after their talk, as this gave students a more informed perspective with which to approach their group discussion. By examining the essays in relation to the transcripts of the talk, the researcher explored the extent to which a more informed perspective on the topic, coupled with the way in which students used language, helped students to develop a more balanced approach in developing their written arguments.