Abstract
M.Ed.
The study explores how an academic literacy programme facilitated epistemological
access in selected subjects offered by a university in the Gauteng province of South
Africa. A narrative case study conducted within the interpretivist and qualitative
philosophical research paradigm is employed to gain in-depth understanding of the
academic literacy module. Special attention is paid to how it was explained and
experienced by lecturers who acted as its facilitators. Their insights, obtained through
interviews, are made sense of by contextualising them within the programme. The
findings emphasise concerns that are highlighted in the literature on academic literacy;
namely, that epistemological access is only best acquired when the literacy
development occurs in a relevant disciplinary context. The view is further supported
theoretically by the curriculum documents of the institution in which the study is
conducted. The identified inconsistencies between theory and practice were a result
of lack adequate financial support and staffing. The conclusion is that while the
university has sufficiently conceptualised what needs to be done to enhance students’
academic literacy, the approaches used are those it denounces, for example, a ‘one
size fits teaching approach’. The recommendation in the study underscores the need
to contextualise the academic literacy module within the various disciplines offered in
the faculties of the university.