Abstract
M.Ed.
This study focuses on a tutor development programme within an academic literacies
module called Language for the Economic Sciences (LES). Coordination of the LES
module encompasses tutor development as tutors are the primary facilitators of the
module. LES forms part of an Extended Degree Programme within the Faculty of
Economic Sciences devised to meet the needs of “underprepared” first year students at
the University of Johannesburg (UJ). To this end, LES falls within the ambit of academic
development at UJ as it is designed and coordinated by an Academic Development
practitioner.
Higher Education in South Africa has in the recent past shifted from relatively elitist to a
mass system of education with the aim to foster democratic nation building. One of the
major changes that has occurred is the merger of a number of institutions of higher
learning. As a result of the mergers, a new type of comprehensive institution offering a
broad spectrum of academic formative, as well as vocationally oriented programmes,
has been established. This study focuses on the UJ, as an example of a merged
institution, and will examine how teaching and learning has been effected by the
changes at UJ. This research is informed by the notion that the interface between tutor
and student is vital for students to attain literacy as well as academic language and skills
proficiency in their chosen field.
Thus, the research problem posed in this study is: What is the role of tutor development
in an academic literacies module? Much of the literature on tutoring practice discusses
the need to train tutors and offers various means through which this can be done. Using
an Action Research design and a global analysis of the data collected, the findings of
this study suggest that in addition to the appropriate, focused and rigorous training of
tutors, they also need to be developed for effective tutoring to occur. Moreover, the
sustained support and mentorship of both individual tutors and tutor groups allows for
the maximum benefits of tutoring to be realized by all stakeholders.