Exploring the literacy and language practices of student-teachers at a South African university: a stance-taking analysis
Literacy and language practices are central to any educational context, and many positive educational outcomes rely on students mastering the challenges associated with academic reading and writing. The overriding aim of this project is to explore the literacy and language practices of the student-teachers, lecturers and former students (now teachers) at a selected tertiary institution, referred to as ‘the University of the Future’, in the Western Cape, South Africa. Guided by a qualitative approach, this study makes use of a questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussions to collect data. As a result of the social restrictions imposed due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the data collection process had to adapt to online interaction. The research participants include both students currently registered at the University of the Future, and those who had received their education there some years before and who are now practising teachers. The rationale for including this second cohort of participants was to draw on both their memories of their own language and literacy practices while students 40 years ago, and to draw on their experiences of their current high school students’ language and literacy needs and challenges. A third group of participants, namely current lecturers and a mentor at the University of the Future were also interviewed. These three groups of participants (the entry-level students, their current lecturers, and a group of ex-students, now teachers) were active participants in the face to face interviews and the focus group discussions which continued online during and after the pandemic.
Literacy practices, Higher Education, Multilingual, Repertoires, Practice teaching
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