Standing on tiptoe: a programme of English language aimed at
improving proficiency using a mixed-mode of delivery.
iArlys
van Wyk
ABSTRACT
Central to this paper is the understanding that lack of language competency
precludes students from meaningful engagement in any programme of academic
learning. This paper describes a programme of language learning which aims to
improve language proficiency of students enrolled in a mixed-mode, distance
education programme. The programme was researched, developed and
implemented over a period of four years in which time the programme was also
evaluated. The paper describes the course, the mixed-mode methodology as well
as details about materials and approaches used to teach academic reading and
writing. The paper will include a detailed description of the writing component as
well as examples of course materials used to facilitate academic writing.
Introduction
Government policy guidelines for addressing inequalities in Higher Education
have spurred innovative thinking regarding tertiary access in South Africa. The
Career Preparation Programme (CPP) at the University of the Free State is one
such initiative.
The CPP is a one-year course that provides an alternative access route to tertiary
and higher education for out-of-school young adults who have matriculated, but
fail to meet the entrance requirements of tertiary institutions in the region.
The aim of the programme is twofold: firstly, to provide an alternative access
route to tertiary study and secondly, to prepare scholastically disadvantaged
learners with the skills and knowledge they will need to achieve success at
tertiary level. Once they have completed the requirements of the course they are
free to continue their studies at the Free State University, the local Technikon or
a vocational college of their choice.
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The programme consists of a combination of University courses and Technical
College courses. The course is presented at Further Education and Training
colleges in Bethlehem, Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Welkom, Oudtshoorn, Sasolburg
and at the Qwa Qwa campus of the University of the Free State. All courses
completed by the students are accredited by tertiary and higher education
institutions in the region. Students choose one of three programme options,viz.
Economic and Management Sciences, Human and Social sciences and Natural
and Agricultural Sciences.
The CPP programme is run in the seven regions already mentioned using a
mixed mode of delivery and classes are presented on a weekly basis at the
local Further Education and Training Colleges. The classes are presented by
specially appointed facilitators. The English programme has four hours of
contact-time weekly. Facilitators are trained by the co-ordinator who is based at
the University. This training involves an initial three-hour training session and
then the co-ordinator meets with the facilitators at least twice a year in the
towns where they teach and keeps in weekly contact by telephone or e-mail.
Each facilitator receives a manual containing course objectives, methods used,
rationale, the assessment policy with examples of assessment, and guidelines for
monitoring student progress and introducing each component of the programme.
It is necessary, at this juncture, to take a brief look at the language
proficiency of the target group before detailing the English programme itself.
Data gathered from the target group revealed low English language proficiency.
All of the students on the CPP select English as their medium of instruction and
therefore their low levels of proficiency is a source of concern as it suggests that
this would be a barrier to their academic success.
Quantitative data obtained from a language placement test revealed that
students enrolled on the CPP achieved an average score of 22%, compared to
an average score of 47% achieved by full-time, first-year L2 students on campus
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who took the same test. Samples of students’ writing and their scores on a
reading proficiency test further suggested that these students could be labeled
as high-risk learners. Thus, the language needs of the learners would have to be
a fundamental consideration in the development of the English course
If a language programme is to meet the immediate language needs of a group of
learners, then it is necessary to determine what communicative tasks or skills are
needed by the learners and then to decide which teaching approach to use to
achieve these goals (Eskey 1997:135). Thus, learner needs and the context
should determine and inform the teaching approach. If learners read poorly and
are not able to understand the discourse of their academic materials, then
learning becomes a struggle to comprehend and integrate content. Weyers
(1999:341) emphasizes that it "is widely accepted that target language input,
specifically comprehensible input, is the first vital component in the language
acquisition process". Failure to concede to this basic student need leads to the
student's failure in acquiring the language of learning (Larsen-Freeman & Long
1991:142). It is, however, true that comprehensible input alone is not enough to
ensure second language acquisition (VanPatten 1996:5). Language input and
activities should therefore be carefully selected so that learners can hear or see
language that expresses some meaning (i.e. meaning-bearing input). These
activities should push the learner to attend to particular features of language
while they are reading or writing, listening or speaking (VanPatten 1996:6).
Comprehensible input alone does not ensure SLA, but initiates a process in which
the learner's attention is focused on form through the use of genuine
communicative activities; in this case, genuine academic communicative
activities. Thus, an English course that aims to facilitate language learning at
tertiary level should enable students to develop the skills needed to use that
language in the academic discourse community, viz. academic communicative
skills (Richards 1985:5). What are those academic communicative tasks which
students are required to perform at tertiary level?
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The emphasis of a programme of academic literacy should fall on the local
situation, the needs of the student population and factors such as their prior
learning experience.
At most higher education institutions testing and assessment are done in writing
and most work is based on reading tasks. Thus, not only must students acquire
the language skills to cope with the reading and writing tasks in English, but as
pointed out by Blue (1993:11), students need to be made aware of their
language needs in relation to the tasks that they are required to perform. It is
relevant to look at the specific academic tasks that the target population are
required to perform on the CPP as this will shape the choice of content for a
language programme for this target group.
Learners on the CPP are required to perform some of the following academic
communicative tasks:

the ability to understand instructions, perform discipline-related tasks and
make notes in contact sessions;

the ability to read textbooks and study guides;

the ability to write assignments and tests; and

the ability to write examinations.
Thus, any language programme which aims to address the immediate needs of
the learners has to address the development of the above skills otherwise it
cannot be regarded as learner-centred or as adequately dealing with the
academic literacy needs of the learners (Eskey 1993:11).
The English Academic Literacy Course focuses on developing students’
academic reading and writing skills to a level that will give the students a fair
chance of success at university study. Research (Grabe, 1986) supports the view
by Blue (1993) that “ the most important factor that needs to be considered in
relation to academic success is simply proficiency in the language of instruction”
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(p.5). Thus, the challenge in designing the curriculum for the course was to
facilitate L2 acquisition while simultaneously easing students into the conventions
of academic discourse.
The academic reading programme has three main components, viz.
1. extensive reading
2. intensive, classroom reading
3. vocabulary building.
The methods selected and currently in use to achieve the reading goals are the
following:

An extensive reading programme which means that students read as much as
possible, from a variety of texts, and where reading is experienced as
pleasurable, and reading materials fall well within the linguistic competence
of the students (Day & Bamford 1998:8). Students are required to read two
books a week from a selection of Graded Readers. The books vary from 50100 pages each. Student reading proficiency is tested at the beginning of
each year and according to the results of this test, students are placed at an
initial reading level. This is a level at which the student can read books easily
with good comprehension (Day & Bamford 1998:97). The majority of
students fall within two reading levels (low intermediate range). Students
move up level by level as the year progresses. By the end of the year
students will have read approximately 40 books and moved up four levels;

A programme of intensive reading. Intensive reading involves the reading of
short academic texts rigorously. These sessions are characterized by three
stages, viz. pre-reading, while reading and post-reading activities. The basic
aims of the pre-reading activities are to motivate students, to activate their
existing background knowledge and to alleviate potential problems that they
may encounter when reading. The while-reading questions are important
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because these are the questions that draw students' attention to problematic
features of the text and also point to meaningful relationships within the text.
The post-reading activities give students feedback on how well they have
understood the passage as a whole and at the same time give students a
sense of achievement ( Eskey & Grabe 1988:224, Grabe 1986: 32); and

Vocabulary development is included as it is an important component of
reading development as well as SLA and students study academic words from
the textbook (Making Connections by J. Pakenham published by CUP).
Students study the words which are reinforced through an independent
booklet of vocabulary activities which is provided to each student. Students
are regularly tested on these academic words and see them at least three
times each before testing occurs.
In addition to the reading component, the writing component forms the other
major component of the English Academic Literacy course. The main objective of
the writing component is to help students learn to express information and ideas
clearly by developing sentence control, an awareness of audience, clarity of
expression, textual oraganisation, relevance, and logic- writing skills they will
need to succeed in the academic community.
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The writing methods focused on are paragraph writing which is the first
attempt at achieving the writing objective. Students are taught explicitly how to
organise their paragraphs with topic sentences, supporting sentences, and
cohesive devices. Students learn a variety of methods for brainstorming ideas
and gathering data. They begin by writing topic sentences, then supporting
sentences. L2 writers cannot rely on native-speaker intuition when they are
writing. If these students want to control their sentences (to the degree
expected at tertiary level), they must learn that control explicitly (Ferris &
Hedgcock, 1998).
Writing expertise is a “gradually building dialectic process between domain
knowledge of the writer and the specific tasks” (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996,p.245). It
is therefore important that a writing programme be combined with a reading
programme, such as the one described above, which aims to build this world or
domain knowledge. Writing tasks that require students to apply problem- solving
skills help them their domain knowledge. Because academic writing techniques
analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of information from many different
sources, this process of reading for writing must be taught explicitly. Students
first read extensively and then respond to their reading by writing short reaction
pieces and then move to more involved compositions such as expository essays.
Students are taught the traditional writing process of planning, writing, revising,
and editing. During the revision stage, students work collaboratively with
partners, using a checklist of criteria to look for in their partner’s essay. Students
benefit from this peer reading approach in a number of ways.
 When students know that their writing is going to be read by their
classmates, most will put more effort into that writing.
 When students regularly read one another’s writing, they become more
aware of writing for an audience.
 When writing for an audience, students become more aware of the specific
ways in which their writing may not be as clear to another readeer.
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As mentioned earlier, students must write reading reactions for each book
they read in the extensive reading programme. Because they read one or two
books per week, this means writing one of two reactions per week. During the
first part of the course, in the first semester, they are required to use the same
general format: one page and two paragraphs. In the first paragraph, they
describe the setting of the story, one or two main characters, and the story’s
basic plot. In the second paragraph, they give a personal reaction to the book,
answering questions such as:
Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not?
Did you like or dislike a particular character? Why?
Did the story remind you of a personal experience?
These reactions not only enable instructors to monitor students’ reading, they
also allow students to develop their writing skills in a relatively undemanding
context. Although the reactions require thought and effort, they are not as
cognitively challenging as argumentative expository essays, which students
compose in the second semester. The novels that form the basis of this writing
are fresh in students’ minds; thus, students do not need to create entirely new
ideas or arguments.
Once students have developed these basic writing skills in the first semester of
the programme, they are better prepared to tackle the second semester’s writing
task – the expository essay.
In conclusion, Academic literacy is taught in context with a focus on the realworld skills learners will need to succeed in the academic discourse community.
The reading and writing processes act as scaffolding for each other because the
ability to produce a written text in an academic setting depends on an initial
reading task. This academic literacy course in the CPP aims to introduce learners
to academic discourse and the kinds of communicative tasks they will be
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required to perform in this context. The teaching of academic literacy is a
labour-intensive project which requires teachers and learners alike to stretch
themselves as together, we stand on tip-toe to achieve the almost unattainable
in the space of one year.
The research done and the insights gained from the academic literacy course
have helped develop several on-campus language skills training courses for the
58% of students who study in a language that is not their mother tongue.
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Dr Arlys van Wyk is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Classical Language at the
University of the Free State. She is co-ordinator of a Distance Learning programme of English Academic
Literacy in several regions of the Free State.
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