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School of Education

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Browsing School of Education by Author "Akinmolayan, Emmanuel Seun."

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    An investigation into postgraduate students’ experiences of academic writing: a case study of a university in Nigeria.
    (2020) Akinmolayan, Emmanuel Seun.; Bengesai, Annah Vimbai.
    The process of producing academic text, especially at the postgraduate level is challenging for non-native speakers of the English Language. Although there is a robust body of literature globally which has sought to understand this phenomenon; the same cannot be said about Nigeria, as academic writing in general and postgraduate academic writing seems to be an underexplored area. The available research has tended to focus on school literacy, grammar and diction with little attention being paid to the situatedness of academic writing as a form of literacy. Thus, there remains an apparent gap in the status of knowledge in this field in Nigeria, which this study sought to fill by examining postgraduate students‟ experiences of writing as a form of academic literacy. Specifically, the study explored how academic literacy and academic writing is conceptualised in two departments within a Nigerian University. The study was framed within a socio-cultural view, which sees academic literacy, including research writing as a socially situated practice. Theoretically, Gee‟s typology of d/Discourses, Bourdieu‟s cultural capital and Lave and Wenger‟s Communities of practices were used to understand students‟ experiences. Using a multi-paradigmatic approach, and Critical Discourse Analytical frame, this study revealed that there was no systematic focus on research writing in this university. The focus was rather on thesis as a product. When the process of writing was addressed, it was mainly in a deficit mode where students‟ deficiencies were addressed. In addition, the study also found the dominance of the traditional supervision model. Even though, some students indicated that they found this to be useful, the argument made in this study is that the approach does little to move students from the disciplinary periphery to an expert status in a community of practice. Therefore, it is recommended that, in line with advancements elsewhere, newer supervision models be adopted, which move away from the focus on the thesis, to a pedagogy of training students to be competent writers.
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    On exploring the role of an academic literacy module in developing postgraduate students' academic writing practices in a school of education: a qualitative case study.
    (2015) Akinmolayan, Emmanuel Seun.; Mgqwashu, Emmanuel Mfanafuthi.; Bengesai, Annah Vimbai.
    This thesis examines the impact of the Understanding Academic Literacy (UAL) module in the development of students’ academic writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The pedagogical approach of this module and its impact are also investigated. The research project responds to three research questions: How is writing taught in the Understanding Academic Literacy module? Why is writing taught in the way it is taught in the UAL module? What impact does the way writing is taught in Understanding Academic Literacy have on students’ written work within the module? Using a qualitative case study approach, data was gathered through interviews, classroom observation and document analysis. Interviews were conducted with five students from different writing backgrounds in terms of linguistic and cultural capital. The lecturer of the module was also interviewed. In addition, three different periods of classroom observation were transcribed and analysed, along with documentary evidence, including the UAL course outlines, and students’ written tasks. All these were synthesised to describe and explain how students were initiated through scaffolding into the written discourse of postgraduates. Although perceived as a mystifying language by newcomers, academic writing remains an indispensable tool in postgraduate study. The provision of a module to inform, initiate and socialise students into this specific writing mode is therefore a matter of importance. This is the motive informing the UAL module. However, that most students continued to find academic writing difficult (Harris, Graham, and Mason, 2013) despite the existence of such modules provides the rationale for this study. The study assesses how the UAL has socialised students into academic writing, considers the reasons for the choice of this form of socialisation and its impact. The aim is to investigate whether the purpose of the UAL in respect of students’ academic writing at postgraduate level is being achieved. This study maintains that the ideological model of NLS defines an appropriate way for theorising the introduction of students to academic writing in the 21st century (Street, 2001, 2008, and Lea and Street, 2008), with emphasis on Gee’s (2007) distinctions between primary/secondary discourses and d/Discourses. But the data obtained from the various research instruments revealed that students were still initiated technically. As a result, students only develop a study-skills approach to writing. Although some aspects of the module showed elements of the ideological approach, most of the pedagogical evidence indicated that the module limited students to the intellect and product (autonomous) approach to writing. It is proposed that participation and interaction with experts and peers within the disciplinary community will enhance appropriate socialisation into academic writing, viz. secondary discourse (and Discourse). To achieve this, the academic writing tuition should be distributed across all disciplines and include tutorial sections, which will contribute to an atmosphere in which students’ academic identity can be developed appropriately.