Research Articles (Unit for Academic Literacy)

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Decolonizing academic literacy with ተዋሕዶ/Tewahedo and multiliteracies in higher education
(MDPI, 2025-04-29) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
This study proposes Tewahedo epistemology, an Ethiopian knowledge sys‑ tem grounded in the Ge’ez language, as a decolonial framework for re‑visualizing aca‑ demic literacy in higher education. Tewahedo, meaning “oneness” or “unity”, integrates multiliteracies—written, oral, spatial, and visual—within a communal and culturally em‑ bedded ethos through its Tergwame (ትርጓሜ) epistemes and And@mta (አንድምታ) traditions. The aim of the article is to challenge the dominance of skills‑based literacy models by po‑ sitioning Tewahedo as a decolonized alternative, emphasizing contextualized knowledge, communal meaning‑making, and epistemic belonging. Through a literature review, the study explores Andәmta as a communal and dialogic system of knowledge sharing, rooted in Ge’ez and Amharic hermeneutics. This framework serves as a template for Africaniz‑ ing and decolonizing contemporary academic literacy development. Findings reveal that Tewahedo epistemology offers ancient yet innovative strategies for fostering interpretive, explanatory, and multimodal competencies in academia. The study argues that adopting a unified Tewahedo‑based academic literacy framework can cultivate intellectual agency, de‑ colonize educational spaces, and center Indigenous Knowledge Systems. It calls for educa‑ tional reforms that promote cultural diversity, legitimize Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and nurture academic belonging for students in multilingual and multicultural contexts.
Poetry in motion : the taxi and taxi poetry as sites of mobility and creativity in Imraan Coovadia’s The Institute for Taxi Poetry
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2024-12) Muller, Alan; alan.muller@up.ac.za
This article examines how Imraan Coovadia’s The Institute for Taxi Poetry uses the taxi industry as a dynamic cultural space to explore intersections of mobility and identity in an alternate post-apartheid South Africa. Drawing on Mary Louise Pratt’s concept of contact zones and Mimi Sheller’s framework of mobility justice, this article argues that Coovadia reimagines the taxi as a metaphorical and literal space where diverse social and cultural interactions manifest. Through a comparative analysis of two central characters—Solly Greenfields and Gerome Geromian—the article highlights differing poetic expressions and scales of mobility. While Geromian’s cosmopolitan approach embodies global mobility, Greenfields’s deeply local focus challenges narrow interpretations of rootedness, reflecting a local scale of mobility and intimate relationship with his environment. The article contends that Coovadia critiques simplistic binaries of local and global by emphasising how these scales coexist and shape individual and collective identities. Ultimately, The Institute for Taxi Poetry reconfigures the taxi and its associated poetry as sites of cultural connection and negotiation, reflecting broader social dynamics and tensions within a post-apartheid context.
Transforming academic literacy : centering indigenous identities in the classroom
(MDPI, 2025-02-14) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
This article explores the transformational potential of centering indigenous identities and heritage within academic literacy instruction in higher education. The dominance of Eurocentric pedagogies in higher education has often marginalized African epistemologies and cultural narratives, limiting students’ engagement and sense of be-longing. Drawing on examples such as the Ma’at and Tewahedo traditions, this work argues that academic literacy should embrace Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the cultural capital students bring to the classroom. By integrating indigenous identities into disciplinary discourses, educators can create more inclusive learning environments that challenge historical power dynamics and elevate marginalized voices. This analysis high-lights practical strategies for educators to foster critical thinking, reading, and writing while affirming students’ identities. Ultimately, this article demonstrates that activating Indigenous Knowledge Systems can create classrooms that are inclusive and reflective of African identities.
Developing an inclusive African theory of academic literacy
(The International Journal of Literacies, 2025-01-16) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; Dewa, Nokuthula Ntombiyelizwe; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
South Africa has enjoyed post-apartheid democratic freedom for thirty years. However, three decades after apartheid’s legal end, institutions of higher learning still grapple with a significant crisis of student attrition. Approximately 25% of South African students drop out annually without completing their degree or academic year. According to the current article, this high dropout rate is partly attributed to a lack of a coherent theory of academic literacy, which could mitigate the feelings of alienation experienced by African students. This article argues that the dependence of African universities on Global North constructs of academic literacy limits students’ experiences of inclusion and belonging to specialized disciplinary domains. To address the crisis of student attrition, as well as experiences of cultural alienation in universities where African students are enrolled, this article proposes developing an African Theory of Academic Literacy (ATAL). The objective of this theory is to empower academic literacy educators to ground their teaching, learning, and assessment practices in an Afrocentric paradigm, thereby fostering a stronger sense of inclusion among novice scholars within their disciplines.
Co-designing and implementing transdisciplinary academic literacy in higher education
(Universidad de Granada, 2025-01-16) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
Transdisciplinary education combines disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. Unlike the latter paradigms, transdisciplinary pedagogy deliberately integrates diverse academic fields with knowledge, practices and perspectives beyond institutional boundaries. Local and community knowledge play a crucial role in this context. Although there is substantial research on disciplinary and multidisciplinary paradigms, the intersection of transdisciplinarity, Afrocentricity and academic literacy remains underexplored. This article proposes an Afrocentric framework for transdisciplinary literacy within the broader paradigm of Africology, demonstrating its potential to transform educational practices.
Mismanagement and misinterpretations in asylum interviews : perspectives from South Africa and Sweden
(Oxford University Press, 2024-09) Ottosson, Lisa; Angu, Pineteh; Gustafsson, Kristina
This article explores the interactions between key actors in asylum interviews in South Africa and Sweden. It is based on forty-one interviews with asylum seekers, interpreters, state officials, and legal representatives. The analysis is guided by theories on professional encounters, bureaucratic violence, and interdependence. The result is presented in two themes: the emergence of mismanagement due to repressive policies and cost-cutting measures, and misinterpretation due to poor interpretation services and failure to recognize the hermeneutic aspects of asylum seekers’ claims. These issues lead to mistrust in the asylum system and in each other’s capacities, as key actors fail to take joint responsibility for the interview act and its outcome. The conclusion is that all key actors operate within a destructive process of mistrust, reinforced by an increasingly repressive political framework as its strongest driving force.
Editorial
(University of the Free State, 2023-09-29) Sibanda, Brian; Sefalane-Nkohla, Puleng; Joubert, Michelle; Rambiritch, Avasha; Drennan, Laura; Angu, Pineteh
The Covid-19 pandemic brought about a profound transformation in the landscape of higher education. This special issue delves into the complex and far-reaching impact of the pandemic on academic continuity, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by academic literacy practitioners during this extraordinary period. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented and rapid shift in higher education. Universities and colleges worldwide were compelled to abandon traditional in-person teaching methods and pivot to online learning modalities. This abrupt transition disrupted established academic routines and posed numerous challenges for educators, students, and institutions alike.
Exploring factors influencing teachers’ expectations of learners’ reading practices
(Stellenbosch University, 2023-08) Cekiso, M.P.; Olifant, F.M.; Boakye, Naomi Adjoa Nana Yeboah; naomi.boakye@up.ac.za
Research demonstrates that teachers’ expectations could influence learners’ reading achievements, both positively and negatively. Specifically, teachers’ expectations determine the level and type of instruction they would map out for learners, which can, in turn, impact learners’ academic outcomes. The goal of the current study is to explore the factors influencing teachers’ expectations of their learners’ reading practices in two South African schools. The study was qualitative and followed a case study design. A sample of six teachers was purposively selected based on the criterion that they were English First Additional Language teachers of reading in the Intermediate, Senior and Further Education and Training Phases. The researcher employed semi-structured, face-to-face interviews to collect data and a process of inductive analysis of the qualitative data. The results revealed that teachers’ expectations concerning their learners’ reading practices were determined by several socioeconomic factors. These include learners’ reading culture, ill-disciplined learners, a lack of parental support regarding reading, a lack of resources, poverty, and a lack of knowledge and responsibility. The findings also demonstrated that, despite unfavourable learning settings, teachers had unique strategies for improving their learners’ reading achievements.
The end(s) of The Tempest in post-apartheid South Africa
(Routledge, 2024) De Waal, Marguerite Florence; marguerite.dewaal@up.ac.za
Following the sea change that led South Africa into the democratic era in 1994, theatre-makers have explored the resonances and limitations of The Tempest as an expression of local realities. In this article, I provide a partial performance history of the play in this period, tracing the ends (and endings) towards which it has been staged in five productions: two in 1994 at Maynardville Open Air Theatre and Rhodes University respectively, and three more at Durban University of Technology (2003), the University of the Witwatersrand (2004), and the Baxter Theatre (2009). These showed varying creative responses to the text, suggesting a double bind in performance: the network of associations attached to the play are both inescapable and frequently inadequate for articulating complex and variable post-apartheid experiences. Theatre-makers have thus, at times, moved beyond usual boundaries of the text, suggesting a need for something other than The Tempest to give voice to contemporary concerns. This was most fully evidenced by two further productions from the 2010s: Miranda’s Tale (2016), and Kunene and the King (2019). In relation to the preceding productions of The Tempest, these two plays demonstrate significant departures from the text and the politics it has come to represent.
Rethinking literacy pedagogy in the context of 4IR : learners’ access and reading motivation
(AOSIS, 2023-12-18) Olifant, Florence M.; Cekiso, Madoda; Boakye, Naomi Adjoa Nana Yeboah
BACKGROUND: In the education sector, technologies are (or can be) repurposed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to facilitate teaching and learning. However, this shift may impact on learners’ access to reading materials and reading motivation. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine whether Grade 8 English First Additional Language (FAL) learners’ motivation to read is influenced by access to reading materials in a traditional classroom setting or through online reading platforms. METHOD: Likert-scale survey questionnaires were used to measure this relationship. Data from 466 Grade 8 English FAL learners from six South African township schools were collected and SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: In traditional classrooms, the findings showed that increased access positively influenced motivation, whereas this effect was not evident in online reading platforms. However, in both settings, motivation increased when learners had access to a diverse selection of reading materials. Finally, the findings indicated a parallel relationship between learners’ low motivation and limited access to reading platforms. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that while traditional classrooms continue to play an important role in global education, the ongoing evolution of technology-based learning platforms has compelled a shift in reading practices toward online platforms, which are reshaping the educational landscape, demonstrating the increasing significance of technology-mediated learning in modern education. CONTRIBUTION: The authors recommend enhanced collaboration between teachers and learners to devise innovative methods for motivating online reading, ensuring learners’ inclusion in the 4IR literacy pedagogy evolution.
Improving the reading proficiency of mature students through a task-based language teaching approach
(AOSIS, 2023-08-29) Adjei-Mensah, Susana; Boakye, Naomi Adjoa Nana Yeboah; Masenge, Andries
BACKGROUND: Mature age admission at universities is increasing rapidly all over the world and Ghanaian universities, both private and public, are no exception. The language proficiency of the admitted mature students, especially in reading, is often low, which affects their comprehension abilities and academic work. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a task-based language teaching approach to improve the reading proficiency of mature students. METHOD: An intervention using a designed instructional model was undertaken with a group of mature students. Control groups were included and instructed through the traditional mode. The study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, with pre and post-tests, interviews, and observations. The quantitative data were analysed using t-tests in combination with effect sizes, and the qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that the mature students who participated in the intervention obtained higher post-test scores than the control groups. The improvement in their reading proficiency as shown in the test results was statistically significant, with large effect sizes. The qualitative data supported the findings of the quantitative data and provided further insight into the improvement of the experimental group. For example, frequent feedback, an enabling classroom environment, motivation, and collaborative learning were some of the factors that emerged as contributors to the experimental group’s improved post-test results. CONTRIBUTION: The research has been beneficial in providing an alternative teaching pedagogy for mature students. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, recommendations are made for the use of an adapted taskbased language teaching approach for improving the reading proficiency of mature age students.
Left, right then left again : educators at the intersection of global citizenship education, technology and academic literacies
(Sage, 2024-03) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; Muller, Alan; alan.muller@up.ac.za
The purpose of this article is to critically consider the roles that academic literacy facilitators fulfil in exposing students to Global Citizenship Education (GCE). In university disciplines, literacies are primary tools that students employ to interact with global events, knowledge, theories and problems. As such, multimodal literacies including written, audiovisual and cyber texts facilitate students’ access to the world through critical communication. Consequently, the authors construe GCE as disciplinary instruction that connects students to lived experiences beyond their own national borders. To demonstrate GCE, the authors employ the following methods for accessing, interpreting and generating knowledge: Firstly, a literature review is conducted. In doing so, key concepts and theories that define academic literacy and GCE are identified. Secondly, by combining reviewed literature that highlights GCE methods and scholarship pertaining to multimodal literacies, the authors make recommendations for integrating GCE into disciplines. In conclusion, the authors emphasise academic literacies, including digital discourses, as effective conduits for GCE principles and make further recommendations for future studies and methods that may be applied towards uniting literacies with international course content.
Afrocentricity and decoloniality in disciplinarity : a reflective dialogue on academic literacy development
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
This study explores a transformative method to revise an academic literacy study guide in a Humanities faculty in South Africa. The methodology includes a critical literature review, positioning the study within the framework of Gee's discourse theory and Lea and Street's academic literacy model. The researcher functioned as a research instrument, critically evaluating the practical reasons for the guide's revision and challenges prompting changes. The transformed text maintains its previous structure while adopting discourse, Afrocentric, and decolonial paradigms. Revisions aim to align with disciplinary discourses, critical thinking and to prepare students for nuanced literacies required in the Humanities. The inclusion of Afrocentric and decolonial paradigms involves introducing students to the origins of literacies in Africa, incorporating Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and utilising a Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) narrative. The discussion reflects on the anticipated effectiveness of the guide and addresses potential challenges during future implementation.
Cultural entanglement, displacement and contemporary Durban in Imraan Coovadia’s High Low In-between
(Routledge, 2023) Muller, Alan
This article focuses on Imraan Coovadia’s High Low In-between and investigates how the novel’s join protagonists, Nafisa and Shakeer, navigate their contemporary Durban. The mother and son, I point out, present two disparate subjectivities that engage with both the urban milieu of the city and a globalised world in very different ways. Both experience a sense of displacement in the city, but, as thew novel progresses, they manage to embrace Durban’s contemporary cultural entanglements and feel more at home. Nafisa, a doctor in the inner city, learns to engage with the city through walking its streets while Shakeer, a globe-trotting photographer, discovers his ability to notice Durban’s local specificity and entanglement of places, people, and cultures.
Being black and non-citizen in South Africa : intersecting race, white privilege and afrophobic violence in contemporary South Africa
(Wiley, 2023-09) Angu, Pineteh; pineteh.angu@up.ac.za
Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by growing feelings of pain, anger and frustration amongst black communities triggered by pervasive social inequalities. This has given birth to a new form of political and social activism shaped by crude violence, vandalism, destruction, brutal killings of women and children as well as thuggery in different black communities. It has also led to an upsurge in violence particularly on Africans from other parts of the continent. In this article, I attempt to examine how racial politics and resilient white privilege intersect to trigger afrophobic violence in South Africa. I draw on existing literature on broad conceptions of race and xenophobia to make a set of assertions about racial valuations, the resilience of white supremacy and black on black violence. In the article, I argue that black South Africans' pain, anger and the performance of violence on African migrants are on one level a consequence of resilient structural racism and racial practices, which continue to marginalize, emasculate and dispossess blacks. These racial practices force black South Africans to look elsewhere to express their anger, pains and frustrations.
Academic, keyword, and plain English subtitles for natural sciences students : intralingual views
(AOSIS, 2023-08-31) Kruger-Marais, Elmarie; Kruger-Roux, Helena
The study is an analysis of the reaction of students in a faculty of natural and agricultural sciences (NAS) to subtitles and also includes an investigation of their responses thereto. Reception of and responses to academic English (close to verbatim transcription), plain English, and keyword English subtitles were explored by showing participants subtitled videos related to the content of their module. Participants were then asked to complete demographic and affective questionnaires, and participated in focus group interviews to investigate their reception of the various subtitles. The results show that participants responded particularly well to plain English subtitles. The focus group interviews indicated that they found all three sets of subtitles useful for note-taking purposes, adjusting the speed at which they accessed and processed information by pausing the videos, highlighting important information in the study materials, and being able to engage aurally and visually with the materials. From a higher education perspective, this emphasises students’ readiness for subtitles as an academic mediation tool. CONTRIBUTION : This article aims to fill existing gaps in the fulfilment of higher education institutions’ language policies, which have been exposed by the thrust for multilingualism in higher education. Research into academic subtitling as an academic mediation tool can be used to bridge this gap, thereby supporting innovative research in higher education.
Coloniality as appropriation of indigenous ontologies : insights From South Africa and Ethiopia
(Sage, 2023-01) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
The purpose of this investigation is to frame Global North colonialism in southern and eastern Africa as ontological appropriation. In the article’s conceptual framework, ontological appropriation is colonial claims to aspects of African realities without acknowledgment of their original sources and creators. In the case of southern Africa, Global North appropriation of Khoi and San agriculturalist ontologies is illustrated. Additionally, attempts by the Global North to claim origination of Ethiopia’s ancient ontologies are cited as evidence of colonial appropriation. In accordance, the methods of the investigation involved a review of scholarship related to indigenous ontologies in South and East Africa. Moreover, scholarly voices speaking to epistemic encounters between the Global North with Africans are observed. Thus, a thesis of ontological appropriation is generated. Results of the investigation indicate sustained Global North warfare, and epistemic assaults led to the fall of Khoi, San, hunter-gather, and pastoral ontologies in the South. In contrast, in the East Ethiopia’s ancient theocracy, and monarchies prevented Global North acquisition of land, and ontic dominance. The article concludes colonialism was a deliberate attempt to modify, and control African ontologies. As a result, in southern Africa Khoi San ontologies transformed from hunter-gatherers, and pastoralists to colonial servitude. In Ethiopia, however, monarchical, and theocratic ontologies are vibrant to the present age. Hence, this article’s contribution to new knowledge is its accentuation of divergent hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, and monarchical responses to colonialism in ways that enabled, and resisted colonial appropriation of indigenous ontologies.
Can academic writing transform epistemicide to emancipation?
(Common Ground Research Networks, 2022-11) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
Coercive Management Behavior (CMB) exists in universities as it does in cooperate entities. Consequently, CMB constrains research productivity and pedagogic commitments and can induce epistemicide. In response to CMB, this study sets forth two objectives. Firstly, the analysis aims to discover if academic writing can constrain staff’s experiences of epistemicide. Secondly, it aims to discover if academic writing has power to transform staff’s experiences of epistemicide to emancipation. Accordingly, a two-part research question is put forth: Can academic writing constrain and transform experiences of epistemicide into emancipation? To address this question, the study adopts a qualitative line of inquiry, so data collection involved a review of literature theorizing CMB, epistemicide, and writing for emancipation. In addition, secondary sources, including journal articles, PhD theses, MA dissertations, and digital media, are scrutinized. Beyond this, the study employs Discourse, epistemological, and ontological frameworks to elucidate epistemicide and writing as a tool for epistemic emancipation. The results reveal that scholarly writing transforms staff’s experiences of attempted epistemicide, including collegial ostracization and ethnic bullying, into epistemological emancipation. For instance, writing in academic platforms enables CMB targets to redirect their Discourse, epistemic, and ontological attentiveness toward knowledge generation. Moreover, scholastic dialogues embedded in peer reviews constitute safe spaces for targeted departmental members. Thus, academic writing enables ostracized scholars to transcend office borders by elaborating knowledge systems in ways that make them feel emancipated. In conclusion, experiences of CMB and attempted epistemicide are unavoidable for some low-ranking scholars. Regardless, academic writing emancipates targets’ epistemologies, ontologies, and Discourses despite sustained opposition.
“You are essentially just a number”: discourse elaboration and devaluation among natural science students
(Hindawi, 2023-05) Eybers, Oscar Oliver; Paulet, Emma; Van der Schyff, Natasha; oscar.eybers@up.ac.za
This article analyzes first-year natural science students’ experiences of discourse and devaluation as new members of the Natural and Agricultural Sciences Faculty at the University of Pretoria (UP). This study aims to highlight students’ perspectives on navigating digital learning during COVID-19. Second, the analysis aims to highlight how intersections between languages, digital learning tools, and students’ identities intersect in an academic literacy module. Lastly, the investigation aims to formulate methodical propositions that academic literacy facilitators can apply to generate experiences of discourse elaboration as opposed to devaluation. This study was conducted at the Hatfield campus of the University of Pretoria, Gauteng province in South Africa among first-year natural science scholars. To unearth students’ experiences, this analysis employed a qualitative and phenomenological line of inquiry. Accordingly, the researchers interviewed 17 students in 2021 as part of a pilot project for a master’s degree project. All structured interviews were conducted via live video transmission using Zoom. The results of the study indicated that most of the participants missed face-to-face interactions with peers and academic staff. The majority of participants indicated that the sole utilization of eLearning induced discourse devaluation. Simultaneously, participants expressed discourse elaboration through interacting with digital literacies in the LST 110 module. Key variables that shaped students’ diverse experiences of discourse elaboration and devaluation are languages, identity, culture, and digital learning tools.
An interdependent literacy model to assist with critical reading comprehension in the English First Additional language classroom
(Unisa Press, 2022) Olifant, Tilla; Boakye, Naomi Adjoa Nana Yeboah; naomi.boakye@up.ac.za
Various attempts have been made to assist the multitude of South African learners who experience literacy challenges, particularly critical reading challenges, in the classroom. Although a number of critical literacy models that focus on reading literacy have been developed to alleviate the reading comprehension crisis in South Africa, poor reading comprehension continues to prevail among South African learners, as shown in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reports. This article argues for a focus on critical reading comprehension in the classroom. Based on a review of the Four Resources Model of Critical Literacy and the Interdependent Model of Critical Literacy, the researchers propose a new model to the literacy debate, the Critical Reading Interdependent Literacy Model (CRILM), which is designed to be used at school level and is suitable to be used from Grade 4 and beyond. CRILM is based on an instruction and learning framework that promotes a participatoryinteractive- interdependent relationship between educators, learners, the text, and the author. Through the text and author, learners will be able to initiate critical insight and societal knowledge development from within the English First Additional Language classroom. Centred on the educator, the learners, the text, and the author, as well as their relation to reality, this proposed new model hypothesises the interaction and interdependence of all the participants during the reading process for the successful development of classroom critical reading comprehension.

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