Abstract:
A lack of transfer of academic literacy
competencies was identified by academic
literacy and Statistics lecturers involved
in an extended programme course.
This paper reports on one attempt
at a workable collaborative solution
to this challenge. The collaborative
attempt is situated within the academic
literacies framework, and is described.
Thereafter, student feedback as well as
critical self-reflections from participating
lecturers are qualitatively analysed in an
interpretative framework, to determine
how key stakeholders experienced
the collaborative intervention. The
collaborative attempt was found to be
valuable in more effectively achieving the
outcomes of both courses, and in helping
students see the relevance of academic literacy in content subjects – this is in line
with an academic literacies framework
which holds that academic literacy
cannot be divorced from the contexts in
which it is practiced. The primary factors
that led to a successful collaboration
were a willingness of all partners to
participate in the project and regular
communication between collaborators.
Main problems encountered revolved
around miscommunication between
lecturers and students, and an
insufficiently detailed timetable that
resulted in pressure at certain stages.
