Developing the academic literacy of undergraduates studying by distance education in South Africa

English: This research has been conducted at a time of major transformation in higher education, both in South Africa and internationally, which involves the re-engineering of education processes, such as content delivery, assessment and learner support, in order to meet the needs of lifelong learning in an information society. Distance education, as an important component of South African higher education, is a key to this transformation due to the convergence of traditional and more open and flexible forms of higher education and as such needs to respond to multiple challenges of enabling access to growing numbers of non-traditional higher education students; improving teaching and learning; implementing new information and communications technologies; articulating with new qualifications and quality assurance frameworks; and rationalising and optimising available institutional resources to respond to these challenges. A review of the fields of distance education and academic literacy revealed that older 'transmission' type paradigms, epitomised by content based correspondence education in which the distance learner absorbs theoretical knowledge in isolation, are inimical to the development of academic literacy. Academic literacy is understood as that complex of knowledge, attitudes. and values which allows meaningful and successful participation of the student in the academic culture and, more broadly, in developing personal and professional competencies which equip the student for productive involvement in the society at a high level. Constructivist orientations to learning are generally considered to facilitate meaningful development of academic literacy. This study aimed to: } Illuminate the development of academic literacy in students studying undergraduate courses through distance education in South African higher education; } Identify and describe effective practice of distance education institutions, and effective learning behaviours of the learners themselves, in facilitating the development of academic literacy; ~ Identify and describe problem areas in the development of academic literacy in undergraduate distance learners; ~ Recommend improvements in practice and further research to facilitate the development of academic literacy in distance education. A mix of empirical and theoretical methods was used in a cycle of deductive and inductive research to pursue these aims. Data was gathered using postal and e-mail questionnaires to distance learners and lecturers and this was supplemented by interviews. The most important findings emerging from the study are: ~ Transmission models of teaching and learning are still very much in evidence, although some innovation is taking place in the areas of support, communication and materials development; ~ For many distance learners there is a critical lack of engagement with lecturers and with fellow students which precludes meaningful development of academic literacy; ~ For the most disadvantaged students, access to sufficient learning support, a prerequisite for academic literacy development, is problematic. Major conclusions drawn from the study include the following: ~ Innovations in support, communication and materials developments need to be implemented more quickly if a significant number of students are to benefit; ~ A critical threshold of involvement in the process of developing academic literacy, by means of constructive learning in a range of contexts, needs to be established in order to ensure acceptable learning outcomes in South African distance education; ~ Learner support structures need to be made available to the majority of students to ensure equity, student retention and mission achievement; ~ Sustained research by institutions of learner support needs, learning dynamics, and experience of services is vital to the successful adaptation of the sector.