Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning

Editorial

Nokhanyo Mdzanga — 2024-12-17

Higher Education for Good: Teaching and Learning Futures.

Najma Agherdien — 2024-12-17

Cronin, C. and Czerniewicz, L. (eds.). 2023. Higher Education for Good: Teaching and Learning Futures. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.

Sharing vulnerability: A duoethnographic enquiry into the development of digital competencies at a South African university

Kristien Andrianatos — 2024-12-17

The duoethnographic enquiry discussed in this article grapples, in a dialogical way, with our experiences of professional learning while seeking to increase our digital competencies. The process involved happened while we were learning to use Mentimeter, an interactive presentation software. The purpose of this duoethnographic enquiery is not to provide solutions or shortcuts through a sharing of our professional learning journey. Rather we share our experiences in the hope that other higher education (HE) educators will join the conversation and reflect on their digital competencies journey. In this paper, we first present the background followed by a brief discussion of the HeDiCom framework of HE educators’ digital competencies. Then we briefly discuss duoethnography as a method. Our three main findings are presented as conversations, followed by a discussion in which we weave the insights from our conversations into a critical reflection on the applicability of the HeDiCom framework.

African language-speaking plurilingual students’ writing in English: Shifting the focus from ‘error’ to ‘variation’

Msakha Mona — 2024-12-17

The study aims to address epistemological erasure by challenging the way students' knowledge is assessed in written assessments. The problem lies in assessment practices that do not consider the social and linguistic context of students' writing, particularly for plurilingual speakers of English. The study analysed a set of essays by plurilingual students to make sense of ways in which the students’ backgrounds found expression in their English writing. Using the decolonial concept of locus of enunciation, the study found that features considered "errors" in English essays are often influenced by students' plurilingual backgrounds. Thus, the study argues for a shift from framing plurilingual students’ writing as “error”, to “variation” which would be accommodated by a true translanguaging approach.

Conditions constraining the potential of Educational Development to impact on the transformation of teaching and learning

Chrissie Boughey — 2024-12-17

This paper argues that the field of Educational Development has not fulfilled its potential to contribute to the transformation of teaching and learning in South African universities because of conditions constraining the agency of practitioners. It draws on, and extends, previous work. It then draws on, and extends, previous work (Shay, 2012; Boughey, 2022) to identify these conditions using a framework drawn from Bhaskar’s (1978) critical realism and Archer’s (1995, 1996, 2000) critical realism.

Ageism and gatekeeping

Paul Maluleka — 2024-12-17

In 2019, senior black academics wrote about their experiences as members of faculty at historically white universities (see Khunou, et al., 2019). These experiences were reflective of the authors’ encounters with the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and neoliberal capitalism. However, often experiences of academics from historically black universities (HBUs), especially early career academics (ECA), are marginalised and excluded. Using intersectionality and Nat Nakasa’s ‘native of nowhere’ as theoretical lenses and an autoethnographic reflexivity approach as the methodological approach, I narrate my encounters with ageism and gatekeeping at a HBU as a New Generation of Academics Programme academic. I argue that the intersectionality between ageism and gatekeeping made me feel like a native of nowhere. I equally conclude that moving forward there is a need to foster a sense of belonging among ECAs through enacting decolonial love. This requires that senior (black) academics not to perpetuate similar violent experiences they endured. This way, ECAs can become natives of somewhere within the university.

Empowering marginalised students in access programmes: A gendered and Afrocentric approach to a decolonised academic literacy curriculum

Linda Sparks — 2024-12-17

Reading during academic literacy (AL) courses may improve academic skills and empower marginalised students’ access to education. However, reading curricula might not address the interests, cultural background, and gender context of South African students. Calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum and gender equality remain largely unaddressed. This research aims to address this gap by assessing whether students experience a decolonised, Afro/gender-centric, intensive reading curriculum as beneficial and empowering. Student interest in reading is crucial for acquiring reading skills and from these, AL skills which are key to student success in a multilingual context. A secondary objective is to explore students’ perceptions of reading skills improvement, including reading interest. An interpretivist approach embedded in critical theory was used to guide this research. A mixed-method approach measuring students’ perceptions revealed that exposure to decolonised and gender-inclusive texts was empowering and beneficial for academic skills.

Supporting first-year student academic literacy development and emotional well-being through a pedagogy of care in South African writing centres

Halima Namakula — 2024-12-17

Writing centres are often described as supportive, non-judgemental spaces that aid student academic literacy development, promote well-being, and encourage a sense of belonging and self-assurance. This paper explores how writing centre pedagogy intersects with care principles to support student academic literacy at a South African university in the Gauteng Province. Qualitative methods, such as individual and focus group interviews, were used to collect data from students and peer tutors to understand their perspectives on writing centre practices. Findings indicate that the writing centre is a familial space where friendships and emotional support coexist with academic literacy development. Additionally, peer tutors help students feel safe in potentially alienating and unfamiliar spaces, especially for first-year students. This paper emphasizes the importance of environments that support academic growth and community, suggesting that care-infused pedagogy in writing centres can empower students and enhance academic success.

Community engagement as a liminal space of translanguaging

Mazvita Thondhlana — 2024-12-17

Community engagement is, in many ways, a liminal space, in that, while it is a space of teaching and learning and sometimes of engaged research, it is neither fully academic nor ‘non-academic’. Liminal spaces can allow for upending of the hierarchies that are characteristic of more closely controlled educational settings. The participants in this study, all of whom participated in a community engagement project, known as the Engaged Citizen Programme, spoke extensively about the translanguaging affordances of liminal community engagement spaces. The data suggests that translanguaging, primarily of isiXhosa, Afrikaans, and English, was central to the community engagement activities. The participants indicated that the usual lines of linguistic privilege experienced in the university were upended in the community setting. The extent to which multilingualism is fostered in the community engagement space is an example of how lessons learned in community engagement could benefit teaching and learning in the classroom.