In 2013, as a strategy to enhance academic performance, the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) published several English Across the Curriculum (EAC) manuals to guide in-service teachers who did not have prior knowledge of how to integrate the teaching of content subjects with language learning. The DBE introduced the EAC strategy as…

This paper provides a critical reflection on the academic writing ability of English second-language students in a South African university. Acquiring proficiency in academic writing is one of the essential skills that students at the tertiary level are expected to acquire. One challenge that has emerged after the outbreak of COVID-19 is that…

The purpose of this study is to seek blended learning as an intervention programme in first year's students' English language academic writing. The 21st century's focus on technology presents an ideal opportunity to use the digital platform as a space for students to learn. This is believed to work well particularly with students who might be…

Background: The Eastern Cape province in South Africa is a multilingual province where isiXhosa is the most widely spoken indigenous language. Learners seldom use English at home, and it remains, largely, the language of learning and teaching used at school. With the advent of dynamic technology, learners are widely exposed to social media, and…

Background: English Second Language (ESL) learners have difficulty constructing sentences due to internalising information in their home language and thereafter translating it into English. Learners who have difficulty speaking English generally encounter problems writing it, which hampers their creative writing ability. Objectives: The purpose of…

Academic writing in higher education involves acculturation of discourse characterised by new and unfamiliar social, cultural and academic conventions which remain a huge challenge for instructors and students worldwide. This study aimed at investigating the use of Blackboard Collaborated-Based Instruction to improve academic writing skills of…

In South Africa, inequalities endemic to HE systems worldwide are further compounded by apartheid legacies. Despite an intensive focus for over twenty years on how pedagogic intervention could be harnessed to address these inequalities, black students' participation and success rates in South African HE remain stubbornly low, suggesting a need for…

The new language curriculum in South Africa recommends that extended writing be taught through a combination of text-based (or genre) and process approaches. This article reports on a study of the teaching and assessment of narrative writing in English as a first additional language (FAL) at a time of curriculum change. The setting is a Cape Flats…

Background: The teaching of writing in English First Additional Language (EFAL) classrooms remains less explored in the Further Education and Training Phase (FET) in South Africa. This is so despite research showing a decline in the writing skills of second language learners, especially at the FET phase, calling attention to how writing is taught.…

The current learning environment is substantially different than what existed for most of the 20th century. Learners and teachers today must navigate in perpetually changing contexts where education is influenced by technological advancement and obsolescence, economic barriers, a changing employment landscape, and even international politics.…

We argue that opening a space for dialogic, imaginative writing in the classroom can create entry points for a culturally responsive writing pedagogy (CRWP). We explore how collaborative writing for a pre-existing community digital platform (FundZa) and audience aids the implementation of CRWP in a creative writing course for South African…

Using Design Research as methodology and research design type, this article reports on a research proposal writing workshop conducted with Education postgraduate students, with the aim of ascertaining the roles that conversation, collaboration and feedback play in constructing meaning and supporting writing. It was found that through conversation,…

This edited volume brings together large-scale research as well as case studies from a range of geographical contexts and represents a variety of educational settings involving second language learners and users. Its aim is to explore the interrelated issues of psychology and technology use in second language learning settings as well as in more…

This book explores the idea of "intercultural competence", which, despite its current popularity across various discourses, has remained a vague and oscillating concept. Interculture lacks a universal definition and "competence" is not only a cognitive construct but also includes psychological traits such as attitudes,…

Acquisition of academic literacy is often a difficult process for students, and in South Africa this is compounded by the fact that education for most secondary school pupils takes place in a second language at under-resourced schools. This article describes the scaffolding of an academic literacy course designed for South African students from…