A failure by any other name: The phenomenon of underpreparedness
Keywords:
academic literacy, disadvantaged schooling, education, psychology, questioning, underpreparedness
Abstract
This study presents an analysis of the performance of students from disadvantaged schools (DS) on first-year psychology examination questions. The analysis focuses on the process of enquiry that underpins different kinds of questions (factual, relational and conceptual) of increasing levels of difficulty. The findings indicate that success or failure is not simply a measure of the reproduction of content but is a function of the (in)appropriate form of responses that students generate in engaging with different kinds of questions. This has important implications for the conceptualisation of academic literacy and the development of responsive curricula in the South African higher education context. In order to further understand the reasons for the disproportionately high failure rate among students from disadvantaged schools, the responses of DS failing students are compared to those of their peers from advantaged schools (AS) who also failed the course. This comparative analysis reveals very different patterns of questioning engagement among the two failing groups of students, providing empirical support for the argument that underpreparedness is a distinct systemic phenomenon rather than simply failure by another name.References
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40. Top 100 schools survey. Sunday Times 2009 Oct 18.
2. Craig AP. Adult cognition and tertiary studies. S Afr J High Educ. 1991;5(2):137–144.
3. Kallaway P, editor. The history of education under apartheid 1948–1994: The doors of learning and culture shall be opened. New York: Peter Lang; 2002.
4. Miller R. Conceptual issues in theorising about cognition. S Afr J High Educ. 1989;3(1):154–159.
5. Molobi E. Academics and the struggle for a democratic education. In: Flanagan W, Hemson C, Muller J, Taylor N, editors. Vintage Kenton. A Kenton association commemoration 21. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman, 1994; p. 103–109.
6. Gower P. Matric boss quits. Mail and Guardian 2009 Oct 12.
7. Malala D. Universities aim for both access and success. Mail and Guardian 2007 Jan 29.
8. Paton C. Out for the count. Financial Mail 2009 Aug 28; 39–41.
9. Bourdieu P, Passeron JC. Reproduction in education, society and culture. London: Sage; 1977.
10. Boughey C. Multiple metaphors in understanding of academic literacy. Teachers and Teaching. 2000;6(33):279–290. doi:10.1080/713698740
11. Boughey C. From equity to efficiency: Access to higher education in South Africa. Arts Humanit High Educ. 2003;2(1):65–71. doi:10.1177/1474022203002001006
12. Hlalele DJ. Do learning skills acquired in the university access programme enhance participation in academic practice? S Afr J High Educ. 2010;24(1):98–110.
13. Jacobs C. Mainstreaming academic literacy teaching: Implications for how academic development understands its work in higher education. S Afr J High Educ. 2007;21(7):870–881.
14. Yeld N. Critical questions? Some responses to issues raised in relation to the national benchmark tests project. S Afr J High Educ. 2007;21(5):610–616.
15. Northedge A. Enabling participation in academic discourse. Teach High Educ. 2003;8(2):169–180. doi:10.1080/1356251032000052429
16. Williams K. Lecturer and first year student (mis)understandings of assessment task verbs: ‘Mind the Gap’. Teach High Educ. 2005;10(2):157–173. doi:10.1080/1356251042000337927
17. Morrow W, King K. Vision and reality: Changing education and training in South Africa. Cape Town: UCT Press; 1998.
18. Morrow W. Bounds of democracy: Epistemic access in higher education. Pretoria: HSRC Press; 2009.
19 Bourdieu P, Wacquant LJD. An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press; 1992.
20 Bradbury J, Griesel H. Text as impetus for learning. In: Adey D, Steyn T, Herman N, Scholtz G, editors. State of the art in higher education. Conference proceedings of the SAARDHE Congress. Pretoria: UNISA, 1994; p. 323–331.
21. Hardman J, Ng’ambi D. A questioning environment for sc affolding learners’ questioning engagement with academic text: A university case study. S Afr J High Educ. 2003;17(2):139–146.
22. Ströhm-Kitchener K. Cognition, meta-cognition, and epistemic cognition. Hum Dev. 1983;26:222–232.
23. Gadamer H. Truth and method. London: Sheed andWard; 1975.
24. Moll IC, Slonimsky L. Towards an understanding of cognition in the academic support context. S Afr J High Educ. 1989;3(1):160–166.
25. Bradbury J. The questioning process in the development and production of knowledge. PhD thesis, Durban, University of Natal, 2000.
26. Meyer M. The revival of questioning in the twentieth century. Synthese. 1988;74:5–18. doi:10.1007/BF00869616
27. Meyer M. Science as a questioning process: A prospect for a new type of rationality. Rev Int Philos. 1980;34:59.
28. Vygotsky LS. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1978.
29. Morrow RA, Brown DD. Critical theory and methodology. London: Sage; 1994.
30. Miller R, Bradbury J, Wessels S. Academic performance of first and second language students: Kinds of assessment. S Afr J High Educ. 1997;11(2):70–79.
31. Miller R. Mark my words, part 1: Teachers. S Afr J High Educ. 1996;10(2):13–24.
32. Paxton M. Tutor responses to student writing. S Afr J High Educ. 1995;9(1):189–198.
33. Sparks RS. An analysis of an assessed written examination. S Afr J High Educ. 1998;2(2):78–93.
34. Van Staden WJ. Constructing and marking (assessing) examination questions with special reference to the subjective-type questions. S Afr J Afr Lang. 1993;13(2):32–37.
35. Bertens H. The idea of the postmodern. London: Routledge; 1995. doi:10.4324/9780203359327
36. Eagleton T. After theory. London: Penguin; 2003.
37. Latour B. We have never been modern. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf; 1993.
38. Pinker S. How the mind works. London: Penguin; 1997.
39. Ricoeur P. Hermeneutics and the human sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1981.
40. Top 100 schools survey. Sunday Times 2009 Oct 18.
Published
2011-03-10
Section
Research Articles