Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour – (ALICE) Page 1 of 21
Implementation of a proposed intervention (ALICE) in
the developing academic literacy of tertiary level learners
from Pacific Islands and other ethnic origin.
Wilfred Kurukulasuriya MBA, GradDipCom (Econ), BSc (Chem).
Manukau Business School
Manukau Institute of Technology - Auckland
Issues in Adult Education
20 October 2005
Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour – (ALICE) Page 2 of 21
Abstract:
This paper outlines an intervention proposal for developing academic literacy of adult tertiary learners from PI and other ethnic
origin. The Literacy for adult learners is an area which receives a high degree of commitment from the Tertiary Education
Commission (TEC). First key performance area given in the fifth Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities (STEP 5) viz. Increased
participation by Pacific Peoples in tertiary education, particularly in academic education (TEC, 2004, p.24) is the most important
one (see Appendix 2). The other four performance areas such as increased completion rates, graduate learning and employment
outcomes, positive labour market trends, and employment in the tertiary sector mostly depend on the success in the first area. The
dominant ideology that academic literacy needs to be a pre-requisite for tertiary education above level 4 is being challenged by the
proposed intervention to integrate academic literacy into the tertiary curriculum at higher levels.
Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour (ALICE) can be described as an intervention programme where critical literacy
skills are ‘threaded’ throughout the subject matter covered in each NZDipBus paper taught during the first year of study. The
objective of this study is to verify whether there would be an improvement in academic literacy skills of the Level 4 tertiary learners
enrolled at the institute (after they were subject to one year of ALICE) by determining whether there was any significant difference
in the academic writing skills. The sample consisted of 14 learners from both years (four from 2003 batch and ten from 2004
batch) who have completed two years of study. There was a clear positive correlation of the INA (Initial Needs Assessment) results
with ALICE Score at the beginning of the first year of study. The score before and after ALICE showed a statistically significant
result showing that there had been a remarkable improvement in academic literacy among the learners in the sample. The
integration of academic literacy strategies with assignments involving problem solving has been found to cause the improvement in
critical literacy. This is in keeping with the accepted principles of adult education.
2
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Outline of the Research:
The proposed intervention assumes that most learners (consisting of PI and overseas learners) who
enrol at the Institute start their tertiary studies at level 4 and above without adequate academic literacy
skills (see Appendix 1), even though they may have fulfilled the entry requirements set for the NZDipBus
programme.
This study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention by the use of Academic Literacy
Integrated Curriculum Endeavours (ALICE) in the first year of NZDipBus studies. ALICE can be described
as an intervention programme where critical literacy skills are ‘threaded’ throughout the subject matter
covered in each NZDipBus paper taught during the first year of study.
ALICE may also help to assess for common skills and concepts that overlap the subject area with
academic literacy. The notable features of this academic literacy integrated curriculum are:

It requires common planning and teaching time;

Subject matter in the course becomes integrated with academic literacy skills development;

Learners look at how they are learning (metacognitive skills).
Review of previous work:
The interest of researchers and writers on Academic literacy specially focused on adult learners are
found only after 1990s and therefore can be thought of as recent developments in literacy research.
According to Green (1996) academic literacy involves using language for thinking and meaning and is
helpful to understand it in three different aspects as follows:
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1. Operational literacy (Basic skills): Competency in the language, especially written language e.g.
writing in clear sentences, spelling correctly and using punctuation correctly.
2. Cultural literacy (Cultural perspective): Learning a discourse or culture so as to be able to
communicate in the language of a specific group of people or a subject. Examples of cultural
literacy involve incorporating and acknowledging ideas of others (referencing), structuring
essays and writing introductions and conclusions in an appropriate style.
3. Critical literacy: Understanding how knowledge is made and how it can be transformed. Knowing
how to look for beliefs and assumptions behind written texts and reading newspapers in an
informed and critical fashion are examples. For adult learners critical literacy is very important
e.g. analysing an assignment question, reading academic texts and reflecting critically on ideas
and experiences.
Leslie (2001) of Eastern New Mexico University explored the links between critical literacy and
developmental reading where she restructured the course curriculum to incorporate critical literacy
pedagogy and found that this led to skill improvements of the learners. She believes that critical literacy
fosters critical questioning and thinking and thus enhances learners’ comprehension skills.
Falk-Ross (2001) studied a small but significant number of first-year College learners in the USA. These
learners commenced their studies with less than adequate reading comprehension strategies and were
unprepared for academic literacy. The author assumed that there were multiple factors responsible for
these difficulties. Examples given included linguistic and cultural differences and inadequate or
inappropriate educational preparation and the author then set out to find answers to the following
research questions:
a) How can we approach these learners’ problems with effective instruction and academic support
that allows for meaningful and appropriate comprehension strategy development?
b) How do we, as teachers and facilitators, motivate self-direction and personal literacy strategy
development?
These questions directed the development of a new syllabus for the two college reading classes that the
author taught. In these classes, the author explored the changes in college learners’ reading
4
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comprehension strategies following reading/writing projects. Learner’s enrolled in the college
developmental reading class used critical literacy techniques to improve reading and writing skills.
Pantelides (1998) article describes her project in which she explored the language needs of Non-English
Speaking Background (NESB) learners of the first year undergraduate engineering programme. She
argues that an on-going language-across-the-curriculum programme, where language learning is
integrated with the discipline learning and facilitated by all teaching staff, is essential to support and
empower NESB learners in their language development.
Kirkness (2001) of AUT in her paper explored the epistemological views of academic literacy, where she
emphasised the importance of achieving greater language awareness in tertiary education through
changes recommended as below:
a) Change the way teachers look at professional identity of learners; teachers want learners to
become professionals who can communicate with others in the specialised discipline.
b) Change the curriculum so that oral and written communication in the discipline language will
underpin all content writing; teachers need content and language integrated classrooms.
c) Change the way the learners think about their learning. This involves the learners focusing on
ways of communicating the content i.e. discipline discourse.
The results of the empirical investigation carried out by Vensky, Bristow and Sabatini (1994) in their
research entitled “Measuring Change in Adult Literacy Programs: Enduring Issues and a Few Answers”
strongly support the conclusion that adult literacy programmes cannot be effectively evaluated by any
single measure. Deciding on reliable and valid assessments before and after the learners were taught
the papers integrated with academic literacy improvement activities integrated curriculum required some
consideration. Valencia and Calfee (1991) suggested that literacy portfolios provide a powerful tool for
the enhancement of instruction and assessment. They addressed educators’ concerns about authentic
assessment, documentation of academic progress, and teacher and learner involvement. They suggested
development of literacy portfolios for each paper taught in the first semester can be used as the main
academic literacy assessment tool. Validity, reliability and authenticity issues can be addressed by
5
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making the learner do an oral presentation of the portfolio in class. This will ensure that critical literacy
and metacognitive skills are evaluated at the same time.
Precise statement of the scope and aims of the investigation:
Poorer literacy was found to be concentrated within the Pacific Islands and other ethnic minority groups
and within the Maori population. Results for Pacific Islands and other ethnic minority groups were
reflected in the relatively poor English literacy skills of those for whom English was not their first
language (Coxon et al. 2002).
The Literacy for adult learners is an area which receives a high degree of commitment from the Tertiary
Education Commission (TEC). First key performance area given in STEP 5 viz. Increased participation by
Pacific Peoples in tertiary education, particularly in academic education (TEC, 2004, p.24) is the most
important one (see Appendix 2). The other four performance areas such as increased completion rates,
graduate learning and employment outcomes, positive labour market trends, and employment in the
tertiary sector mostly depend on the success in the first area.
The increased participation in academic education can only be achieved through initiatives to build
academic literacy at every level of tertiary education. Most learners of PI and other ethnic origin who
enrol with Providers for tertiary studies at level 4 and above possess the basic literacy skills. The
dominant ideology that academic literacy needs to be a pre-requisite for tertiary education above level 4
is being challenged by the proposed intervention to integrate academic literacy into the tertiary
curriculum at higher levels.
The adult learners who have the enthusiasm to gain tertiary qualifications but struggle to perform due to
poor academic literacy skills need to be provided with academic literacy and language assistance. It is
hoped that this study will enlighten us on the effectiveness of ALICE in imparting academic literacy to
needy adult learners.
6
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The hypothesis under investigation in this study can be stated as follows:
“The learners enrolled at our Institute in the NZDipBus programme exhibit some degree of deficiency in
academic literacy skills as indicated from their Initial Needs Assessment (INA) records. There exists an
academic literacy gap that needs to be bridged. PI and overseas learners who were subject to ALICE
during the first year of study have significantly improved their overall academic literacy skills.”
Description of the procedure, sample and tests of measurements used (if any):
The objective of this study is to verify whether there is an improvement in academic literacy skills of the
Level 4 tertiary learners enrolled at MHI (after they are subject to one year of ALICE) by determining
whether there is any significant difference in the academic writing skills.
Many academic literacy integration strategies were used for imparting academic literacy skills to the
learners. Some of these strategies (ALICE) have been incorporated into the delivery of six papers to be
offered during the first year of study with each new batch of learners. Five most frequently used
Academic Literacy Intervention Strategies are listed in Appendix 3.
For assessing the learners’ ability to carry out written academic assignment and the quality of their work,
an academic literacy score (ALICE Score) was used. All NZDipBus papers contain at least one written
assignment per paper and these assignments form the basis for assessing academic writing skills.
Academic literacy portfolios (ALP) prepared by incorporating selected pages from their marked written
assignments was used for working out ALICE scores of adult learners. This is somewhat similar to the
instrument (for assessment of literacy) used by Valencia and Calfee (1991) for their research at college
level. The ALPs of the first semester of the first year were assessed and scored using criteria (see
Appendix 4) developed for measuring the academic literacy skills based on Green’s (1996) definition. The
same process was repeated with the second year first semester and the new scores were compared with
previous scores to determine whether there is a significant improvement in the scores or not. The
7
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purpose of ALICE is to develop critical thinking and learning in class that will habituate self-directed
learning when doing home assignments. Additionally, the development of metacognitive skills of the
learners was also checked using their journal entries to affirm if there was a corresponding improvement
in critical literacy. A higher level of critical thinking occurs when one is aware of one's thought processes.
In the metacognitive journal, learners analysed their own thought processes following a reading or other
activity. The metacognitive journal encourages learners to reflect on their reading processes, their final
drafts, or their presentations. Therefore, higher weighting (50%) was given to the critical literacy
aspects of assessment
It was assumed that the ALICE score of written assignments and journal entries alone are sufficient to
assess the overall academic literacy of the learners. This can be considered as serious limitation of the
research instrument used for literacy assessment
The sample consisted of 14 learners from both years (four from 2003 batch and ten from 2004 batch)
who have completed two years of study. This sample was a convenience sample rather than a
representative sample and even the previous year cohorts were taken due to limited size of sample
available. It was not possible to have a control group due to limited number of learners, all in the same
class. The ethnicity in sample comprised two Maoris, one Rarotongan Maori, three Fiji-Indians, five
Samoans, one Tongan, one Indian and one Sri Lankan.
Statement of results:
Initial Needs Assessment (INA) results:
The results of the INA conducted by the Literacy Coordinator become available within 4 weeks of
enrolment. The results (see Appendix 5) of the learner sample under investigation indicated that:

5 learners were fluent (c+) and would need little or no assistance in their Literacy, Numeracy and
Language (LNL) requirements.

8 learners were fluent (c0) and would need some assistance in a few specific areas of LNL.
8
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
1 learner was fluent (c-) and would need assistance in several areas from the Literacy
coordinator/tutors.
ALICE scores:
There was a clear positive correlation of the INA results with ALICE Score at the beginning of the first
year of study. The score (before ALICE) had a mean of 46.00 (out of 100) and a standard deviation of ±
6.04. The score (after ALICE) had improved significantly to 79.07 (out of 100) with a standard deviation
of ± 6.56. This is a statistically significant result showing that there has been a remarkable development
in academic literacy among the learners in the sample.
Metacognitive abilities:
The metacognitive abilities of the learners were to be checked from the journal entries of the learners.
This analysis would enlighten the development of critical literacy aspects. However, there was no
incentive for the learners to complete the metacognitive journal assigned to them. Only a few learners
were able to produce some journal entries which were inadequate for worthwhile analysis. Analysis of
critical literacy for the ALICE score was based on the written material on problem solving activities in the
assignments
Observations and Interviews:
Observations of the use of academic vocabulary during oral presentations and day to day interaction
indicated that the learners have in fact improved in their use of appropriate management and business
jargon. Some unstructured interviews were conducted with students to ascertain the effectiveness of the
ALICE and positive feedback has been obtained.
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Discussion:
Individual learners have their own preferred learning needs and styles and therefore initial
understanding of their learning needs and styles have to be assessed. This has been institutionalised by
the Literacy Coordinator of the institute and the INA report helps to understand individual learner’s
requirements.
The general guidelines for INA are as follows:

INA should be undertaken early in the programme (1-3 weeks of starting)

INA establishes a baseline for measuring improvement in literacy skills.

INA is an initial indicator and starting point to identify learner’s literacy needs. A fuller accurate
profile of learner’s abilities is to be revealed after regular reviews.
Most importantly, the INA report helps us to work out strategies to influence each learner to ‘stretch’
his/her learning styles to match the desired learning style for imparting academic literacy skills. This may
pull many learners out of their comfort zones (e.g. switching from oral learning to self-directed learning),
but it is a purposeful attempt to change the learner behaviour towards the traditional university style of
learning.
In typical academic textbooks, one out of every twelve words, or roughly 8 percent of the words in the
textbook sample, was an academic word. This proportion confirmed the importance of this area of word
knowledge in academic reading, particularly in the light of research indicating that readers often struggle
to read independently when more than two percent of the words in a text are unknown (Carver, 1994).
"The textbooks especially with some difficult words, if I don't understand one word, then I wouldn't
understand the whole sentence... that would make me stop reading further "
This is what one first year PI learner said when asked what he found most challenging about reading
academic textbooks. His frustration with the vocabulary demands of his textbook reading is likely shared
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by many PI and overseas learners. While the meanings of technical words (jargon) are often reinforced
by class lectures and discussions, learners may be expected to already know the meanings of academic
words (Farrell, 1990).
The learners had very appreciative comments on the University Word List: The most frequently and
widely used 150 words. They promised to master the usage of these words when writing assignments.
Majority of PI learners have expressed their aversion to reading academic textbooks at home in
preparation for assignments/exams mainly because they feel it is a waste of time if they do not get the
meaning. ALICE strategy # 5 (Appendix 3) takes into account a culturally relevant way of learning to
read academic text in class (most PI learners readily volunteer to read!) giving them an opportunity to
discuss, critically analyse and understand the text. Adult education programs should reflect a critical
pedagogy, providing services that are culturally relevant, participant driven, and socially empowering
(Auerbach, 1989; Freire, 1993). Most learners showed a remarkable improvement in their phonemic
awareness, pronunciation and phonetic skills over a period of time. By the end of the year self-directed
learning through reading academic text has already been inculcated in them.
When asked whether you have any concerns about taking turns to read the academic text in class, no
one had any adverse comments. Different learners gave following answers:
“It is good opportunity for us; the truth is we never read at home; if you do not read you are considered
dumb” – by a Samoan learner.
“In Fiji, only the smart students are asked to read in class” – by a Fiji-Indian leaner.
When asked whether you can think of benefits that accrue to you due to reading and discussion with the
tutor, these comments were received.

“It increases participation of all the students;

“it builds confidence in me”

“we read in class and therefore learn to do the same at home”
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The other objective of ALICE is to promote metacognitive abilities of the learner where learning to learn
occurs. Acquisition of such metacognitive abilities as relating new information to existing knowledge,
reading for meaning, anticipating, and hypothesising represents a developmental process within the
individual and transactions with others – parents, teachers, and co-learners (Smith, 1991).
ALICE strategy # 2 (Appendix 3) is frequently employed to promote critical thinking and learning. Use of
models/concepts/theories
(they
always
contain
academic
jargon)
for
analysing
workplace
issues/situations relating the learners’ knowledge and experience is the key strategy employed when
classroom discussions based on textbook readings are conducted. Many learners make use of the
opportunities to relate their own experience and the classroom becomes an interactive place.
What is adult education? Adult education is all responsibly organised opportunities to enable men and
women to enlarge and interpret their own living experiences (Hutchinson, 1963). Adult education is any
process by which individuals, groups, or institutions try to help men and women improve by increasing
their skill, knowledge or sensitiveness (Houle, 1972).
Knowles emphasised on the ‘self’ (something that adult educators agree wholeheartedly) and it is the
main objective of ALICE to try and help dependent adult learners to discover some independence.
Groombridge (1983) suggested that all forms of adult education conform to one of three modes (1)
Prescriptive mode (2) Popular mode and (3) Partnership mode. Literacy policy of the TEC falls within
prescriptive mode whilst the proposed intervention falls more within partnership mode since learners’
INA suggest the areas that need improvement. In the partnership mode adult education has to be
flexibly designed for open access and more generally as a significant contribution to a good quality of life
which means that the frequent use of problem solving that involves academic literacy activities in the
adult learning process becomes important. Problem solving is the highest order of learning in Gagne’s
hierarchy and the academic concepts learned would be assimilated into the adult learners’ metacognition
and this reinforces academic literacy learning (Jarvis, 1983).
An Open Learning System is one in which the restrictions placed on learners are under constant review
and removed wherever possible. It incorporates the widest range of teaching strategies, in particular
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Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour – (ALICE) Page 13 of 21
those using independent and individualised learning (Lewis, 1986). Effective application of ALICE can
pave the way for open learning opportunities for adult PI learners (defined as those learners over the
age of 21 years with basic literacy skills) and encourages participation in academic education which is
one key result area of STEP 5 of TEC strategy.
It is the writer’s personal philosophy to work with learners to arm them with the analytical skills required
for problem solving which is facilitated through learning of academic concepts that occurs when ALICE
are regularly applied to their learning. Concepts learnt through definitions of technical terms (jargon) are
the units of analysis required to be grasped in order to become competent in analytical skills.
The idea that education is political is certainly the central theme within which there are several additional
assumptions about education put forth by critical educators:

Dominant ideologies and culture dictates educational practices.

Students must be actively involved in their education.

Language is ideological and serves to construct norms within classrooms.
Closely tied to this idea are the ideas that the structure of schools, the way in which teachers are
educated in teacher preparation programs in official curricula, and the methodologies that teachers
implement are all influenced by those who currently hold power, including government, religious, and
private sector leaders (Degener, 2001).
Conclusion:
PI learners and other overseas learners are marginalised by the requirements of the language policy
currently recommended by the ITO’s and other dominant power bases for entry to academic
programmes. Intervention schemes similar to ALICE at organisational level need to be promoted to
obtain legitimacy. The proposed intervention can be concluded by emphasising the following points:
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Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour – (ALICE) Page 14 of 21

The use of INA ensures that learner participation with adult learners being provided with an adult
education conforming to partnership mode.

ALICE has been found to be effective with adult learners of PI and other ethnic origin. This would
form a basis to promote open learning system for learners over 21 years of age possessing basic
literacy skills.

The integration of academic literacy strategies with assignments involving problem solving is found
to cause improvement in critical literacy. This is in keeping with the accepted principles of adult
education.

The findings of this action research need to be verified with further research in similar educational
situations. There are several limitations that need to be taken into consideration, e.g. small sample
size; reliability and validity of the literacy assessment instrument used; lack of control group; lack of
time for fulltime research etc.

This intervention provides a new basis for assistance for learners of PI and overseas ethnic origins
during the entry year in NZDipBus programme.

It may be used as the basis for revising the institute’s English language policy to lower the entry
requirements for adult learners over 21 years of age.

This study will be presented in the form of a formal report to the members of MHI institute.
(Word count = 3597)
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Reference:
1. Greene, B (1999). ‘The new literacy challenge’, Literacy Learning: Secondary Thoughts, Vol. 7, no. 1,
pp. 36-46.
2. Leslie, Mellinee. (2001). Exploring links between critical literacy and developmental reading, Journal
of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 45, 2001.
3. Vensky, Richard L., Bristow, Page S., and Sabatini, John P. (1994). Measuring change in adult
literacy programs: Enduring issues and a few answers, Educational assessment, Vol. 2, 1994.
4. Anae, M., Anderson, H., Benseman, J. & Coxon, E. (2002).Pacific Peoples and Tertiary Education:
Issues of Participation. Auckland Uni-Services Ltd, Auckland.
5. Falk-Ross, Francine C. (2001). Towards the new literacy: Changes in college learners’ reading and
comprehension strategies following reading/writing projects, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,
vol.45, 2001.
6. Pantelides, U. (1998). Meeting the language needs of tertiary NESB learners. Curtin University of
Technology, Perth.
7. Kirkness, Alison. (2001). Putting language at the centre of learning, Research symposium 31
October, 2001
8. Valencia, Sheila and W, Calfee, R (1991). The development and use of literacy portfolios for
learners, classes and teachers, Applied Measurement in Education, 4(4), 333-345, Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc.
15
Academic Literacy Integrated Curriculum Endeavour – (ALICE) Page 16 of 21
9. TEC (2004). Statement of Intent 2004/05 – 2006/07, Wellington: Tertiary Education Catalogue
number TE 108, September, 2004.
10. Coxon, Eve., Anae, Melani., Mara, Diane., Wendt-Samu, Tanya., Finau, Christine. (2002). Literature
review on Pacific Education Issues. Auckland Uni-Services Ltd, Auckland.
11. Jarvis, Peter. (1983). Adult Learning – some theoretical perspectives, Adult and Continuing
Education: Theory and Practice, Croom, Helm.
12. Smith, R (1991). How people become effective learners, Adult learning, April.
13. Lewis, R (1986). What is open learning? Open learning, June.
14. Degener, Sophie C., (2001). Making Sense of Critical Pedagogy in Adult Literacy Education, Internet
website: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=562
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Appendix 1:
Academic literacy involves far more than the ability to read and write. A common definition for academic
literacy is ‘the ability of the learner to use language appropriately to achieve particular academic,
professional and vocational goals.’ Academic literacy is required to develop metacognitive skills which are
crucial at higher levels of learning.
Metacognitve Journal
A higher level of critical thinking occurs when one is aware of one's thought processes. In the
Metacognitive Journal, learners analyse their own thought processes following a reading or other
activity. The Metacognitive Journal encourages learners to reflect on their reading processes, their final
drafts, or their presentations.
Key questions: What enabled you to gain the most from this experience? What would you do differently
if you had more time?
On the left side of the paper, the learner records--What I Learned. On the right side of the paper--How I
Learned It.
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Appendix 2:
TEC policy statements with regard to literacy are:

TEC is committed to the development and provision of opportunities for adults to develop their
literacy skills.

The TEC is implementing the Government’s Adult Literacy Strategy. The Strategy aims to
strengthen the capability of the adult literacy sector to provide world-class learning
environments, develop tutor skills, and increase learning opportunities.

Any adult who wants to develop their literacy skills for everyday living, participating in the
community, supporting their children's education, undertaking other tertiary study, improving
employment prospects, getting a better job, enhancing on-the-job training, gaining on the job
qualifications can participate in the literacy programme.
The above policies coupled with the Tertiary Education Strategy (TES) objective 5 and the Statement of
Tertiary Education Priority (STEP) 5 viz. Educate for Pacific People’s development and success, TEC
wishes to assist Pacific Peoples education services to grow their capability and enhance Pacific People’s
learning opportunities provide the essence of government initiatives and the key performance areas to
be achieved. First key performance area given in STEP 5 viz. increased participation by Pacific Peoples in
tertiary education, particularly in academic education is the most important one out of the five.
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Appendix 3:
Out of 15 ALICE strategies, the five most frequently used strategies were:
1. (a) Carry out an Initial Needs Analysis for individual learners using the questionnaire and note down
the weak areas so that specific academic literacy development activities can be recommended;
(b) Distribute handout with 150 word forms in the Birmingham Corpus ranked in the order of
frequency of occurrence and reassure whether learners are comfortable with all the Anglo-Saxon
words that are prerequisite for basic literacy. Then distribute the handout on University Word
List with the most frequently used and widely used 150 over Greeco-Latin words and compel
learners to practice sentence construction with these words for their assignments until they
grasp the ability at correct expression, grammar, punctuation and spelling (See attached
handout).
2. Highlight the difficult words and the academic jargon, concepts, models and theories appearing in
learning resources and explain them; introduce these new words in academic context to help clarify
meaning. Encourage learners to reflect critically on concepts, theories and ideas and make notes;
3. Provide written models of the discourse the learners are learning and provide samples of strong and
weak assignments with teacher comments (Note: measures to prevent plagiarism must be in place);
4. Teach learners to use P/O/E (Predict/Observe/Explain) concepts for report/assignment writing and
also for writing answers to problem solving questions;
5. Reading the academic text aloud paragraph by paragraph and discussing the contents to check the
understanding. Use emotive topics/examples during discussions where learners get emotionally
stimulated to make notes for reflection later.
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Appendix 4:
Criteria for measuring the ALICE Score:
Operational literacy (25%):
Weighting
Evidence of correct grammar – operational literacy
15%
Evidence of correct punctuation – operational literacy
5%
Evidence of correct spelling – operational literacy
5%
Cultural literacy (25%):
Evidence of use of relevant jargon – cultural literacy
20%
Evidence of use of referencing – cultural literacy
5%
Critical literacy (50%):
Evidence of critical/relevant expression – critical literacy
20%
Evidence of metacognitive skills – critical literacy
30%
TOTAL
100%
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Appendix 5:
Academic Literacy Scores
Name
INA
Ethnicity
Score
Score
(before ALICE)
(after ALICE)
Peter (2003)
c+
Maori
54
90
Simmy (2003)
c0
Fiji Indian
44
75
Farah (2003)
c+
Fiji Indian
54
80
Bernie (2003)
c0
Rarotongan Maori,
49
82
Sao (2004)
c0
Samoan
39
75
Sefo (2004)
c0
Tongan
43
80
Liz (2004)
c0
Samoan
40
75
Heather (2004)
c-
Samoan
35
69
Ness (2004)
c+
Maori
49
80
Pat (2004)
c+
Samoan
50
88
Sone (2004)
c0
Samoan
48
70
Som (2004)
c0
Indian
43
79
Lahiru (2004)
c+
Sri Lankan
42
75
Muni (2004)
c+
Fiji Indian
54
89
Total
644
1107
Mean
46.00
79.07
s.d.
6.04
6.56
21