Literature reviews,citations and intertextuality in graduate student writing

Literature reviews are a genre that many graduate students do not fully understand and find difficult to write. While the genre, language and rhetorical moves of literature reviews are widely researched, less research focuses on citation use in literature reviews. Teaching students ‘how-to’ write the literature review through explicit genre awareness is not enough. What is needed, is a focus on the discursive nature of citations since citations are a core ingredient in literature reviews. The complexity of citing, referencing and using sources is difficult to teach in university classrooms, especially in courses that focus on content knowledge. When it is taught, it is often imparted to students as conventions with particular organisational features around citation styles. Or it is taught within the discourse of morality and academic dishonesty that surrounds plagiarism. What is lacking is a pedagogy that relates citing to the more complex discursive practices that are implicit and deeply embedded in particular time-bound contexts. The purpose of this research was to explore citation patterns in 23 draft and final masters’ student literature review papers to better understand the ways in which students use sources in literature reviews with the aim of informing pedagogy. Findings indicate that the concept of intertextuality, specifically, transgressive intertextuality, intertextual engagement and discursive intertextuality can help with the teaching and learning of literature reviews and citation use.     

Negotiation of learning and identity among first-year medical students

The demand for medical schools to produce competent doctors to meet health needs in South Africa has increased. In response to this challenge, the Faculty of Health Sciences at a relatively elite university introduced a problem-based, socially relevant curriculum in 2002. The classroom environment is designed to facilitate a learning context where students from diverse backgrounds engage critically and learn from each other. This study draws on data from a larger qualitative case study to describe how a group of ‘black’ students who failed their first semester experienced the school–university transition. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, this article analyses how the students negotiated learning and identity. The argument is made that the students re-positioned themselves in deficit, outsider subject positions in order to survive their first year. This article ends with a consideration of the implications for developing a learning environment which recognises difference and fosters diversity.     

The educational use of videoconferencing in the arts faculty: shedding a new light on puppetry

It is important for learners to be exposed to the real working world during their training in order to prepare them for their professional lives. The Department of Entertainment Technology, under the leadership of Zuanda Badenhorst, conducted a very exciting project with the Handspring Puppet Company while also making use of the newest learning technologies made available by the Department of Telematic Education, with Instructional Designer Mandi Axmann and Technical Manager Anette Sadie, at the Technikon Pretoria. This article reviews the educational use of videoconferencing as well as various considerations when implementing this medium     

Poor Performance at TVET Colleges: Conceptualising a Distributed Instructional Leadership Approach as a Solution

In South Africa the challenges facing the post-school vocational education system are daunting. There is a lack of coherence, resulting in fragmentation of the system. A Training Needs Assessment Study commissioned in 2014 revealed several major academic challenges facing college leadership. The most pressing issues were poor leadership and management skills and challenges facing lecturers in various aspects of teaching and learning, amongst which were blatant shortcomings in their capabilities to meet the competencies required for effective lecturing. This realisation led the researchers to hypothesise that ineffective and fragmented leadership and management practices may be to blame for this state of affairs. The researchers wondered whether an integrated and focused leadership model aimed at distributing ownership for student achievement should be implemented to produce better results. The overarching research question was: What are the main stumbling blocks in improving National Certificate: Vocational (NC(V)) students’ performance at technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges; and how can a distributed instructional leadership approach be conceptualised to address the problems at institutional level? A qualitative research approach was used, which was mainly inductive, providing a clear understanding of the participants’ views and capturing their perceptions in their own words. A phenomenological design was used as strategy of inquiry. The findings created an awareness for considering collaboration and the distribution of powers and capabilities to bring about a shared leadership vision in the quest for challenging poor performance at institutional level in a sector that is in dire need of positive outcomes.